Running: Troubled Training

I have to say that I'm kind of glad that the trouble has started this early. It seems like that trouble has usually occured nearer to race day, but not this year.

Part of the trouble is that I haven't really managed to maintain my training pace since we got Ursa. The time demands of puppy are pretty high even now that she's settled in. This has slowed things a little, but that isn't the major cause of my troubles.

The real trouble has been the muscles spasms in my back and shoulder. I'm not even sure what could have caused it. But it has slowed down my training since it has made long runs very difficult to complete. In the last couple of weeks I've only managed one run longer than 2 hours without the spasms bringing things to a premature halt. Even that single long run was on the edge of something painful in my back.

So training up the curve is on hold while I work with deep tissue massage, shiatsu, and more core workouts. Shorter runs have not been a problem, so I will try to get more of those into the schedule. In a way the shorter runs have been lots of fun since I don't have to worry so much about carrying myself for more than an hour or so. It's also been a great way to get back to basics by working my form some more. The shorter runs also mean I can run faster.

So overall there are pros and cons to the situations. I'm just happy I can still run.