Training Log Archive: Bash

Lousy sleep because in-laws. It may be awhile until 'Bent and I can take the pooches on another family run so we had a "training" run with them in the Craigleith/Alpine area. At first BazingaDog practised off-leash running on the 80' long line but it got underfoot on single track. The dogs enjoyed a couple of good wallows in snow patches on a warm day. We cooled them down with dips in Georgian Bay before and after.

A combination of perfect sunny weather and (finally) happy neck muscles led to our first Georgian Trail ride. In a typical early season rookie move, I brought two left bike gloves.

Tree Hugger ABC is just west of the Cranberry Golf Course. 'Bent and I rode to Thornbury and explored around the harbour. So pretty there! Hermes and Bob sure know how to pick a home town.



My neck felt fine while riding but at the 32K mark, I felt... nothing. Time for carbs and water RIGHT NOW! This is why I don't lose weight with exercise. Fun day - so nice to feel human again.

Windy!!! We hosted Andrew Cameron, Kim Brooks and kids for an overnight visit. So nice to catch up. :)

Another trip to chiro to keep things moving in the right direction. I think I should be able to start running again.

Neck pain woke me up just before sunrise, maybe because I've only taken one ibuprofen since Saturday - a big decrease from last week. I'm still hurting a little but the improvement since Friday's chiro appointment has been phenomenal. Hiking Raid The Rib didn't affect it at all.

I can't move my neck all the way in any direction but I can get 80-90% of the way before the pain kicks in - huge progress. The exception is when I turn my head 45 degrees to either side, then try to lower my chin to my chest. Ouch - good thing that doesn't come up very often.

Some takeaways from the experience:

1) Holy shite - pain in and around your brain is the absolute worst. Forget about anything on your "to do" list. Give me knee and ankle pains any day.

2) When pain keeps you from sleeping properly for days, your brain becomes mush and things seem hopeless. My sleep hours last week look better than they felt because they were the total of short naps over a 24-hr period. There wasn't much REM sleep for 4 nights.

3) When you see me slouching, please poke me between the shoulder blades - hard. Bad posture is riskier than I knew.

4) Yay, universal health care - even though it doesn't cover chiro treatments for random neck pain so I paid full freight. Total cost to feel human again: 3 appointments with 2 healthcare practitioners and 1 prescription: $129 Canadian.