Last week was a shitty week. I’ve never used that term in my blog before, but there’s not really a better way to put it. I think I had a little racer’s hangover from Snowmass. didn’t even win the 12 hour, but, I was very happy with the effort. I was recovering quickly and ready to get back to training. I was feeling so good early in the week that I was able to throw and split a cord of firewood and then go for a barefoot trail run/hike with a friend Tuesday morning. Tuesday night things started going bad as the relentless daily rains rolled through, this time with the season’s first strong coldfront. It pitter-pattered on the RV roof all night long, and the mercury dropped.

Wednesday morning started cold, wet, gloomy, and only got worse. As I was taking a step up into the RV after fetching some water, my lower back suddenly had a spasm and I fell to the floor. It’s not the first time something like this has happened, so I didn’t panic. However, I knew this would put me out of commission for a few days and not be fun. I was cooking breakfast while it happened. I was cold and still trying to warm up. The roof on the RV was leaking. I had a physical therapy appointment for my shoulder rehab in 15 minutes that now looked like I couldn’t make because I could barely walk. It was not starting out to be a good day.

I called the PT office to tell them my situation, but they convinced me to suck it up and come in anyway, even if I came in late. Therapy helped a little, at least I could walk around ok, but I was still in a lot of pain and not very functional. I tried doing computer work at my desk, but it hurt to sit. The only thing that didn’t hurt was laying down and watching a little tv. Skipped dinner that night but somehow made it to the liquor store to buy some Paisano to help alleviate the pain. Sometimes I forget I’m living at elevation, and if you’ve never drank at elevation, well, it expedites the process. Before I knew it, I was drunk, and then depressed.

After another long cold, wet night, I woke up, with a slight hangover. I hate hangovers, and really didn’t intend to become that drunk, but, the alcohol did dull the pain and I got a solid night’s sleep. I felt only slightly better Thursday, so it was back to the bed and tube for most of the day. It felt like a wasted day. I had a little more vino that evening, careful not to have too much and slept ok.

Friday morning I began to notice some progress. I ran some errands around town and started to do some serious stretching. Saturday was a little better still and I was able to ride a bike into town. By this time, the coldfront had moved out, the rain had seceded, and bright beautiful sunshine was showing its happy face again.

Sunday morning I went to church, and thank goodness I did because I needed some serious uplifting and recharging. That afternoon, I helped my landlord smoke some meat and decided that even though my back still wasn’t 100%, I had to get out and ride. I have chosen the next big race and at this point it is less than a month away. After this back fiasco I have lost a very important week of training, and it is likely to slow me down this coming week, so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I likely won’t be in the shape I need to be in to meet my goals, but I’ll have to make do. At least I’ve got some good elevation training to give me a boost.

And as always, I’ve got Rocky. It was a tough week, I’m facing very trying times, but I’m going to do the only thing a Caveman knows how to do, keep on keepin’ on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8xHjC27YvM