In last Wednesday's post I mentioned that my lat and shoulder woes had eased. But in the second half of last week I found myself with a new problem: back pain and stiffness from my neck down to my waist. My back has mostly felt good all this year, and I really hope I'm not slipping back into the problems I dealt with for much of the previous decade. In my life I've had all different kinds of injuries: sprained ankles, iliotibial band syndrome, and knee tendinitis from running; cut fingers in the workshop that were bad enough to send me to the emergency room; and shoulder pain and wrist tendinitis from paddling. But none of that is as bad as discomfort in my back. Back pain and stiffness has a way of making my very existence seem like an ordeal--a bummer, even--every minute of the day.
The problems weren't that bad yet when I paddled on Thursday, and I went out and had a good, satisfying workout. After warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints, I did six two-minute pieces with three minutes recovery in between. My goal pace for each piece was at or slightly above what I think my pace should be in the North Shore Cup next month.
By Saturday morning I felt terrible, and I kept the paddling brief and easy. I paddled for 40 minutes mostly in the harbor, venturing out on the river near the harbor's mouth for just a few minutes.
When I woke up yesterday morning the condition had eased to just a little bit of soreness up near the base of my neck. I went downtown to paddle and ended up feeling good in the boat. I paddled for 80 minutes at a good strong pace with a few surges thrown in.
Back here at home I'm just trying to do all the things I've learned to do in many years of dealing with back aches. I sure hope I can work myself out of this sooner rather than later.
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