AbSno's Running and Back Rehab Log

AbdominalSnoman

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So after a decade plus hiatus from Sherdog I return to find some of the guys still standing. I applaud their commitment and I'm happy to not find it populated entirely by people that think I belong to a generation born directly following WWII. I'm Gen X BTW. But call me whatever. I've been entirely out of fucks for that sort of thing for some years now.

I run at least a mile every day for a bit more than 1,200 days. I've had three streaks since Thanksgiving day 2014 . Both stops were for surgical procedure s. An epidural for my sciatica and I had my dead gallbladder removed. I still have sciatic/back issues and gut problems. I'm 46 and I am a Biologist that manages a Natural Resource group for an environmental consulting company in rural northeast Texas. I've gone back to a vegan diet to try to help my guts out. I've lost 27 pounds since April 3rd, but mostly through feeling awful and trying to crap myself to death.

I had a colonoscopy last week. I'd planned to run before, but I was too busy firehosing out of my butt from midnight on. I ran clenched about 4 hours after I woke up and that sucked. I have severe gastritis and IBS and i don't know why. I have a completely blown lumbar disc with none of the nucleus material left inside. I have a bulging disc right below it. I'm here for accountability. My goals are to run further and faster, lose weight, and rehab my back. I'd love to get back to lifting, but we will see. I love sparring, but I'm too old and broken for that now. I'd love to get back to heavy bag and boxing again, but that isn't even on my horizon now. We'll see where this goes.

My immediate goal is to work up to a 30 minute 5K on or before day 1,300. Hopefully well before, but my guts and back will have to cooperate. I also want to be more active outside of running, working on stabilizing and rehabbing my back while being generally more active.

I took a short stroll into the woods this evening to murder a dead sweetgum tree with 6 rounds from my 44. I had stress and pain today and that seemed to help a bit. I haven't shot a handgun in a while, so I was happy to have a tight group.

tl/dr: Old, fat, broken trying to just be old.

Day 1 of the log and day 1,211 of the run streak 1 mile run 16:39 on Air Assault Treadmill.
 
Day 1,212 1 awful and slow mile 19:32
My sciatica is screaming and I don't have medicine. I ate dinner right before which didn't help. Hopefully good sleep will get my sciatica to calm down.
 
I found a single pill of my back medicine. I put it to work felling small trees, logging, hauling and cutting them into rounds for a few hours for next year's firewood. I managed to find a few dead standing trees small enough for rounds and good species to burn. I taught myself to fell trees with a bow saw and how to hone an axe so limbing isn't jarring or forceful. No chainsaw, axe felling, or splitting is as easy as i can make it. Logs are still heavy, but I lift carefully, and use a big cart for transport.

Exercise:

2-4 hours of firewood work
30 minute manual treadmill run for 1.66 miles

This was more about building a bit of endurance while my back could stand it. I don't have to double my speed to hit a 30 minute 5K, but it's close enough. I wasn't going for speed, but it's still disappointing at how slow I am. Lots of room for improvement!
 
Yesterday Sunday

19- minute mile run
Light stretching

Pill wore off after the work Saturday and I couldn't sleep. I didn't sleep well again last night. I'm going to try to get my nerve pain Rx today.
 
Thanks @NurseKnuckles! It's nice to be back.

I got my back pills today which will let me do work. The nerve pain medicine made it feel good enough that I could rub the area. It feels like half a grapefruit of spasming muscle and swelling. I tried massaging it and it instantly made me feel like puking and it gave hand tremors. I think eventually I'll have to give up and have surgery. I have to work outside at work for the next couple of days so I took it really easy on the run.

I ran 1.1 miles in 20 minutes on the treadmill.

I walked a bit before and after and did some light stretching. The pain is dulled so I can get a good night's sleep tonight.

A nail in a truck tire turned into $500 today. We took it to get patched and asked for an inspection. The two front tires were trashed from a misalignment. We didn't do anything to cause it so I think it was a factory issue with the truck or something that happened between there and the dealership. I used it in a good bit of 4x4 on poor road and offroad when we first got it, but just skid and slip stuff with no real bottoming out or steep crawls. The insides were worn to the core. I'm glad we didn't find out about it with a blowout, but it sucked to spend 10x what we thought was needed. The truck runs smoother now.
 
Yesterday was a late and slow 16:38 mile.

Work was almost all driving yesterday. Not great for my sciatica or my overall activity. I'm back home and today and moving forward will be about increasing my workload and activity. I've got to start doing a daily routine for my back and I have to step up my running and other stuff as I can. Just move more and eat less is the vague starting point.
 
Another minimal effort slow mile yesterday. I didn't even look at the time. I did walk outside for two hours for work, so that's something.

My sciatica and gastritis/IBS have teamed up on me. I slept off and on in my chair until an early bedtime. I'm not feeling better this morning. I slept for the 40 minute commute.

I'm drinking lots of water and fasting for now to see if that will calm my guts. I'll get some fiber supplements tonight and see if that helps. Hopefully I'll be better for some decent activity this weekend.
 
Thanks @MilkManUK !

The run was another slow minimum mile and it hurt. I did some walking, strecthing, and crushed 6 cans for a taste of the old grip strength. They weren't nearly as flat as they used to be, but the crushing was therapeutic.
 
15:32 mile run after about 2 hours 15 minutes working out in the rain. 94 bpm avg. So slow and steady work. Just cutting rounds with a bow saw and cutting kindling with a hatchet. Just measuring work to compare. 120 bpm avg on the run. I need to hit 123 avg on my run to increase my cardio. My back and my stomach were okay today.
 
A very slow mile yesterday with really bad sciatic pain. I guess for now any extra effort is going to make my back suck. I'll start some rehab stability stuff tonight and try for increased effort every other day.
 
Ran a slow 1.5 miles tonight. Sciatica hurt, but not nearly as bad as yesterday.
30 minutes cutting hickory and oak rounds for firewood
ITB stretches
other leg, hip, and back stretches with and without a strap
Ice pack on the injury area and my knees

We had one hell of a winter storm this year and I didn't realize how much firewood you could go through. Since Texas is too "free" to have a reliable electrical grid and I live in a very rural area, I need to have a stockpile of wood for heating and cooking for an extended period. I also need the heat for snow melting because we have a sealed deep water well that doesn't work without electricity. I should get a generator, but I hate small ICE engines and suck at keeping them going. A hand pump for the kind of well we have with installation costs more than a Honda generator big enough to run the pump.
 
2.65 miles in 48:30
Super slow, but I'm building endurance. That's a distance I haven't been able to do in a while. 5k distance soon.
 
Crap 1.25 mile run
My stomach and back suck today. Super bloated gut and I couldn't eat until about 9PM. I did roam around the woods in the dark mud and rain to find some edible plants. I've decided that's how I will fix my gut. I had violet, pony's foot, and sassafras leaves raw. I also made a tea of roasted yaupon holly leaves, sassafras leaves and twigs, and loblolly pine needles. I drank the tea piping hot before I ate. Sassafras and violet leaves are mucilaginous (makes mucous) when eaten. I think that should help with my gastritis. If you aren't a botany nerd like myself, Filé powder is dried and ground spring leaves of sassafras (used in gumbo as thickener and spice) and licorice root is also mucilaginous. It helped more than my super strength prescription acid blocker did today. Pine needle tea is yummy and has 5x more vitamin C than OJ. Just be sure to use a nontoxic species.
 
Minimum mile yesterday
I had stomach and back problems and spent the day shopping in another town. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday of this week and I am hoping they can help me out.

I've been working in the yard a little and up on my roof stripping wet patch off that didn't stop a leak that has developed. Imay cut firewood again and I'm thinking of trying a 5K distance on my run this evening.
 

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