Hurt

Low back pain has finally caught up to me. I went into 70.3 Racine with a lot of back pain yet managed to keep it under control. I vaguely recall riding with Brunold a few weeks prior to the race and that I never rode aero because the back wouldn't allow it.

After Racine, I went on an aggressive work trip covering a lot of real estate via plane and car. On the final day, I sat down in a Caribou Coffee shop in Minneapolis causing a strong dull pain in my left lower back. It felt like somebody stabbed me. It took me 10 minutes before I could get up and walk out. I slightly panicked because I wasn't sure if I could handle my flight home two hours later. After gripping the area and finding some ice it calmed down.

Nevertheless, this would begin my bout with back pain for the next seven weeks. There were times where it was good, but I continually aggravated it by trying to ride the bike. Big no, no! It usually went like this: run a bit, swim a bit during the week, then attempt to ride the bike on the weekend.

Today, I made the call to stop biking. I'll still run and swim as best I can because those activities don't seem to cause aggravations.

Interestingly, because I never let the problem heal I eventually injured most of the components in the lower back: left SI joint, right SI joint, lower lumbar spine. It also meant I got to experience the differences in those pain patterns: pain with walking, pain without walking, pain while sitting, no pain with sitting.

Kona is a few weeks a way and at this point, I'm just going to rest the back for three weeks, show up in Hawaii and do the best I can with a healthy back and untrained biking legs.