Not quite as bad as it seemed -- Jan 24th - Jan 30th

Mon: rest day - lower left side back, hip & buttocks pain (SI joint locked & L4 disc pressure)
Tue: rest day - lower left side back, hip & buttocks pain (SI joint locked & L4 disc pressure)
Wed: rest day - lower left side back, hip & buttocks pain (SI joint locked & L4 disc pressure)
Thu: 5.04 km, 5:30/km, 27:41
Fri: planned rest day
Sat: 7.5 km, 5:08/km, 157 avg heart rate, 38:29
Sun: planned rest day

Weekly totals: 2 runs, 12.54 km, 1:06:10 total time

2011 totals: 14 runs, 115.73 km, 10:13:25 total time

I thought the pain I was feeling during the early part of last week was going to keep me out a lot longer than it did.  Thank GOD it didn't!  It still put a damper on my week, but the relief far outweighs the unplanned rest days.

Thursday's run was a pleasant surprise.  I wanted to run real nice and easy, you know, take it easy on my body.  During the run I had a couple twinges in the left side of my lower back, but they didn't feel serious.  I didn't wear my heart rate monitor because I wanted to run by feel.  Looking at my Garmin after the run, I was actually surprise that I ran as fast as I did (don't get me wrong, I'm not saying 5:30 /km is fast!).  I certainly wasn't trying to run as fast as I did, so that was a pleasant outcome.

Following Saturday's run, I was pretty disappointed in myself.  I ran to hard (effort wise) and fast.  I was concerned I might have harmed myself.  Luckily, there were no negative ramifications from my lack of discipline.  Again, there were a couple twinges in the left side of my lower back, but fewer and less perceptible than Thursday.

Based on the experiences and how I felt after my run Sunday , January 23rd, I have decided to go back to running every other day until I feel 100%.  Now, I could feel 100% in a week or three months.  That's fine.  Not until then will I add days or extend my runs to > 8 miles.  I would rather get some consistency back in my running rather than increasing the lengths of my runs.  It is my opinion that if I can get to where I am running 3-5 miles most days with another run a little longer (1 hr), and do this week in and week out, that will lay the foundation for then starting to increase the length, both time and distance, of one run a week.  It will build by neuromuscular strength without the additional stress of doing a long run.

That being said, I am feeling better each day.  I am doing a lot of stretching and strengthening work for my neck, lower back, core, hips and legs.  It seems to be helping significantly.  There are periods of time when I feel no pain, soreness or discomfort at all.  This provides a big boost mentally.  I am optimistic for the weeks to come.  I plan to start doing some light weight training for additional strength and to hopefully build some durablity/resilency.

Maybe I am already building some durability as shown in my quick recovery from this most recent ailment.