Sciatica/Workout Update

Here's an update on what has been going on since I last blogged regarding my workouts and my back injury.

Last Friday, I did go back out in the morning pre-work for a power walk. I slowed my pace down some (probably not enough though, it's hard to do when you are used to pushing yourself) and did okay. Was very happy that I felt good for the most part and was looking forward to my Saturday workout.

On Saturday, I usually do 3 miles or a full 5k distance-wise. I felt a bit weak during the walk, so not wanting to push myself too hard too soon, I cut the workout short by a mile. I also decided to pick up another knee support for my left knee thinking that some extra support might help.

I had plans to go to EPCOT with my best friend on Sunday and woke up feeling good. I already planned upon doing a walk prior to the day at the park, so I headed out. I ended up doing just over 5k distance-wise which I was pleased with. I felt pretty good coming home post-workout. I then got myself ready and met my friend for our day trip to the theme park.

The day continued to go well until after dinner time. While in Captain EO, my left foot and leg began to feel numb and fall asleep. This didn't please me at all, as I was trying to have a good time. After that, the feeling would subside a bit, but never really went away. I found myself massaging my foot and leg the rest of the night once I got home. Definitely not my idea of fun. And, no matter what I did to try and calm my foot, nothing seemed to work.

Since I was having so much trouble on Sunday night, I opted to take Monday as a rest day from my walk. I figured that maybe doing the 5k and then walking in the park was overwhelming on my back/sciatic nerve. That being so, I hoped and prayed that it would calm down with a rest day.

At work on Monday, nothing seemed to calm my numb and uncomfortable foot. I merely had to grin and bear it it seemed. When I got home after work, I opted to take half of a muscle spasm pill that I had gotten from my doctor for my back injury. I was really hoping it would help calm that nerve. Since Monday had been so uncomfortable, I planned to again rest on Tuesday from my walk.

Here it is Wednesday and I'm still dealing on and off (more on) with the sciatica discomfort. I am not having any back pain per say, it's all in my left leg and mostly foot. Not a fun experience to say the least. I've rested since Sunday's walk and theme park outting, so I'm debating on whether I should continue the rest through Saturday's Reindeer Run 5k or attempt to do a slower walk tomorrow morning. At this point, tomorrow would be my only workout prior to the race since I rarely workout the day before just to allow my body to relax going in. So, I'll have to see how I feel in the morning I suppose.

Rest is important, but sometimes too much rest is going overboard as well as crazy as that sounds. I have read online that resting for a couple of days for sciatica and then slowly resuming walks and low intensity workouts is a good thing. I've also learned that my sciatica discomfort may not subside for awhile, it's hard to say how long it might stick around. I recall last winter when I rarely ran due to my wussiness in the cold temperatures. I was hoping to conquer that a bit more this year and get out there more often.

Bump in the road

It seems that I have hit a bump in the road in regards to my 10k training. In the last couple of days, I've begun to experience sciatica pain in my lower back and a bit in my upper legs. The more I thought about this soreness, the more I realized that my leg problems with the "jelly leg" from Sunday's 4 mile walk was most likely a part of this same problem. In fact, this may go back to Thanksgiving Day.

On Thanksgiving, I took part in a Turkey Trot 5k here in Orlando. For the first time, my mom decided to sign up, so it became a bit of a family affair. Thousands of area runners and walkers joined in on the trot fun. By the end of the race, I was feeling good, a bit tired, but good. I felt so good later that day in fact, that I walked another 2 miles in the evening with my father. It was quite a slower paced walk, but I went out and did the extra mileage. My body isn't really used to doing anything further workout wise post-race. I tend to take it easy and not do anymore workouts on those days. I suppose adding those extra couple of miles may have been too much for my body to take.

The next day, my quads were extremely sore. I hadn't recalled being that sore since I was doing my weight loss workouts, or maybe since I began running in 2009. Either way, it had been awhile since I had experienced that level of soreness. I didn't workout that day, but I did go back out for a 3 mile walk on Saturday. My legs were still a bit sore, but they seemed to be a lot better. Then came Sunday, the Hal Higdon training calls for a 45-90 minute walk for this particular time of training. Heading out the door, I felt good so I had it in my mind that I was going to push to do 4 miles if I continued to do well. The first 3 miles went well, my body is used to doing that kind of mileage, so it's a piece of cake. Trouble didn't occur until I hit the last 500 or so meters of my 4 miles. At that point, my left leg became weakened and felt like "jelly." I made it home okay, after pushing myself to get there and then I felt alright. My leg seemed to calm and the weakening went away.

Monday's walk went alright, didn't feel as energized as usual, but that has happened some mornings, so I didn't think much of it. Tuesday's 2 mile walk did have a problem though. My left leg again experienced some weakness during the workout. It didn't have the "jelly" sensation that I had on Sunday, but it did feel pretty weak. Wednesday is a rest day for me, I tend to keep this day as a definite non-workout day, so I didn't workout at all. Today, I would have normally gone out for my usual 2 miles or more, but due to my sciatica/back soreness, I opted to take an additional rest day so as not to push my back too much.

Today, I have iced my back some and also used the heating pad when I can. The soreness is still here, it fades a bit but has yet to go away completely. At this point, I'm conflicted on whether or not to go out for tomorrow's power walk. On one side of the coin, exercise is good for my back injury, just not overdoing it. If I do go out, it would definitely not be at the intensity that I normally do my walks in, I'd have to not worry about my pacing. On the other hand, I'm wondering if another rest day is in order. I could take tomorrow off and then resume my workouts on Saturday, allowing my soreness one more day to relax and rest. I'll most likely see how I feel in the morning, play it by ear. If I feel okay and stretch well, I should be okay to walk at a slower pace. Either way, I'm listening to my body and my gut feeling on it.