Good morning!
Yesterday was such a whirl wind for me I don’t even really remember much of it. I spent most of the morning trying to get myself woken up. I guess I had some Monday blues. That and I feel a little bit overwhelmed of the amount of work I need to get done before heading out of town this weekend for Boston.
This is what a majority of my afternoon and evening looked like.
I got to the gym after a couple hours of getting myself moving and did another tempo workout.
This one looked a little something like this:
1 mile warm up (around the indoor track)
0.5 mile warm up (on the treadmill)
3 mile tempo (8:27, 8:27, 8:13)
0.5 mile jog
4 x 100 (6:58 pace at a 2% incline)
400 jog in between each
0.25 mile cool down
Total miles came out to around 6.5 miles. Right on track with the mileage I did last Monday.
I have to say my body felt strong. I was a little nervous since I did my long run the day before, but my legs were really well recovered and ready to go once I stepped on the treadmill.
I am sticking with the 8:27 pace for 3 miles until I feel that it is comfortable to me. I will slowly work it down from there until I get to the point where 3 miles at 8:00 min pace is comfortable. I don’t know exactly how long it will take but my guess is a few months.
After I am able to do that comfortably I will begin increasing the distance of my tempo runs. It’s a slow and gradual process but I’m excited to finally feel like I’m getting back in the groove again.
After I finished up my workout I headed over to talk to a physical therapist. I wanted to learn a few exercises to work on my increased lumbar lordosis.
What is increased lumbar lordosis?
(source)
Increased lumbar lordosis occurs when the lumbar region of your back is arched to the point of muscle pain or spasms.
I’ve been noticing pain in my lower back a lot more recently lately. Especially after I have finished running. Wes mentioned that it seemed like my lower back had a bit too much curve in it.
After speaking with the physical therapist she agreed and gave me a few tips for helping to get rid of this. Generally, increased lumbar lordosis is caused back weak core muscles. There was no fighting that. When you tighten your core your back automatically straightens out.
You can see the difference just from contracting my abdominal muscles. An easy thing you can do to start out is try to focus on keeping your abdominals flexed while you are running or just walking around. This allows you to make it habit.
The other main exercises I have to focus on are obviously ab work and increasing the strength in my lower back. I’m actually planning on keeping progress pictures to make sure it is progressing.
By fixing this it can also help improve my form which I am always working on!
Have you ever deal with increased lumbar lordosis?
Tell me about your Monday workout.
I am in PT right now to address this exact issue. He told me all my past injuries stem from this posture I have (I also have external rotation in my left hip). Right now this is causing my glute medius to be a little cranky so I took some time away from running and have slowly been building back up with some run/walk intervals. I have some realignment exercises that I do as well as ones that turn on the right muscles and tell the other ones to quiet down. Trying to work my core too!
Wow really?! Glad to hear I am the only one who has dealt with it! Yes it is important to build up your back and core. Hope we both have some luck getting this corrected!
I’ve never dealt with that, but I’m glad you have a plan! Great workout!
Thankfully it is nothing debilitating just something I need to work on 🙂
A strong core is so essential to a healthy back! Keep working on it (: Yesterday I ran 6, swam 3000 and did core strength!
Yes it is! I am going to keep working on it for sure 🙂
Ha so that photo actually reminds of one of my most popular posts because well it’s the same photo! Here are the stretches I started using http://www.runtothefinish.com/2013/02/loosen-your-hips-to-lose-belly.html
Thank you Amanda!! Will be using some of these 🙂
Interesting! Have you been to a chiropractor? They would have tons of knowledge on this too!
Yes I have seen a chiropractor, but they couldn’t do much plus my insurance doesn’t cover it enough! Hopefully I can focus on the right exercises and get it fixed!
Sorry to hear about your back. Hopefully the exercises you do will help. Luckily I have never had back pain, so I cannot offer any advise. Get better soon!
Thankfully it is not THAT bad just an annoyance. Thankfully I figured out what it is and can correct it 🙂
I think I tend to toook my booty when I’m running, especially the hills in Raleigh, and I’ve noticed after running a few longer ones, some pain and stiffness in my lower back. I think one of the things that helped was switching up how I did my hydration. Instead of always doing a belt, doing a backpack instead has been really helpful!
I have always wanted to try out one of those belts! I have heard great things 🙂
I have been told that I have tight hips and quads which can cause my back to compensate. It also makes it harder to engage my glutes, and in the past has led to low back pain and piriformis syndrome…isn’t it crazy how one flaw in running can create a whole bunch of other injuries?
Yes it is! One tiny thing can alter SO much!
oh wow! that is not fun! i bet lots of hip rotation work is needed to realign, yet?
Oh yes! Lots and lots!
Monday, I was feeling kinda beat from the weekend, so I just went to a yoga class
I’ve never heard of it or dealt with it … sorry to hear you are dealing with more pain. Been a tough year! I’m just glad it is treatable! And as always it comes back to hips?!?
It’s not really that painful just annoying here and there! I am just focusing on working on it!