My love affair with the treadmill

Tags

Lower Back Pain, Running, shin splints, Treadmill

I know that many people hate the treadmill. People call it the dreadmill. I love mine. Here is how I came to love a piece of machinery that many people despise….

You might remember that earlier this year I was moaning about my sore back. Then we had some terrible weather. Well, dear readers, it has basically been non stop raining here. When I say that, I mean it. Almost every day we have had rain, some days heavier than others. Record breaking rain some would say.

My sore back took its sweet time to get back to normal too. I was diligent with my exercises, but to be honest, the rain was a great excuse for me to delay training for my half marathon later this year. So I sat on my arse, and did nothing.

And then I got bored. So so so sick of not running. But every time I was ready to hit the road again, it would rain. So I did not run – for weeks…. It sucked

The thought came to me. “What I need is a treadmill.” This thought would not go away. So I started looking on Ebay. And I found one. Last Sunday, I picked up my treadmill after parting with a measly $220. The guy we bought it from forgot to give me the power cord so it wasn’t till Thursday this week that I took it for a spin.

This is my beast.

OMG, this thing is amazing. I have been running so much faster than on the ground, which is to be expected. But it is making me work so much harder, and I am loving it. Today I got out a quick 2.5km before breakfast with the intention of cranking up my speed. At one point I was running at 9km an hour, which for me was FAST! My heart was racing, sweat pouring off me and I felt invincible.

The best part of running on this is the reduction of impact. After a big hiatus, two runs on the road would have me sore and tender, but apart from the usual running niggles, there is no pain. Not in my shins, or my back. Which makes me confident that I can get some more kms in my week than I can on the road.

Wow, I am so much happier now that I am running again. All hail the treadmill.

 

Sore back

Tags

Lower Back Pain, Plank A Day, Running, Yoga

Long before I began running in earnest, I had a recurring back problem. My physio explained that a bulging disc is behaving like an overstuffed hamburger and all the innards are poking out. Gross. Anyway the moral of the story is that my back sometimes hurts like a bitch. My sciatic nerve goes nuts, I get pain in my piriformis muscle, all around my right hip, up into the muscles near my ribs, numbness down the front of my leg, tingling in my ankle and there is so much moaning and bitching. IT SUCKS.

For a few months now, I have been almost pain free. I have worked hard to strengthen my core, I have stretched, I have done exercises to strengthen my gluteus minimus or whatever that muscle at the side of your hip is called. I felt strong, like I had banished that pain for good….

Maybe the 20km last week was too much? Maybe I tweaked my back over the weekend doing Plank A Day? Whatever happened, I have been sore as hell yesterday and today. I even had to reach for the Voltaren pills last night to get to sleep. Stretching is not helping. I feel bleh.

One of the things that really helped me heal last time was acupuncture, maybe I need some of that.

Anyway, no running till this back gets sorted out. Yoga all the way….

I HATE NOT RUNNING!

Meh.