Rosario 800s, kicked out by JH to Dr L

RUN 3.9 miles in 32 mins (total 45 mins 4.7 miles)
BIKE COMMUTE 5.6 miles
PT with JH, ez day

As per the usual, I went to the track doubting what I could do, then pulled out a run to be happy with. I'm learning to avoid that voice of doubt, like I said last week it just needs a good punch now and then.

BE suggested "Rosario 800s", Ben's modification of Yasso 800s. I'm not fully clear on what the pacing and timing and etc of these are, I just do the basic idea of the workout. I think you run the first 800 at marathon pace, then the next 800 at 25s slower pace. Then repeat for a total of 8 or 10 sets. That's not an exact description. I looked up and read about it, but didn't really read it. I did ask McMillan what my marathon pace would be based on my recent 5K and 10K times, but got back some ridiculous number of like 3:11. Yeah, McMillan needs to know that I haven't run over 10 miles yet.

Anyway. It's dark at the track, we had a moon but no sun at first. The sprinklers were on but only at partial pressure so we had these piddy little squirts of water hitting the track. WU, then run. BE takes off at his pace with his paper-list of goal splits per 200 tucked under his watch. I didn't think about doing it that way -- by 200s, I just tried to do the math as I went.

First 800 in 4:21 (lane 3 800 so really 0.57 miles), then I slowed to 4:20 for the next 700 (really 0.50 miles), then walk 1 min and 100 y back to start line. To my surprise, I held these numbers very constant for all 3 repeats. Felt great, no specific complaints from the body, aside from the chest feeling that's still there but much better than Sunday.

Off to work, so swim due to to-do list for Titanic wedding. Then off to JH, and all morning I'd been debating how much and what to tell him. I've noticed that I'm more honest to him and Dr L than I am to myself. Looking back now, I realize I barely met his eye all morning, what a loser move on my part! So I described it, and the workout seemed to go ez and fast. In the ball/hamstring curls, I definitely could feel problem in my back, those have never been that uncomfortable before. Then lunges, a new modification of the forward lunge right and left, then lateral right and left. This was like a moving meditation. I couldn't worry on anything else while doing these. Calming.

Then JH "kicked me out" and said I need to go NOW to Dr L, don't call, drive, and either get seen or get a face-to-face discussion. And to seal the deal, maybe I didn't look convinced, he texted Dr L to let him know the story. I felt punished in a way, that I totally earned and only blame me for, and I hate to admit that I seriously thought about not going to Dr L!!! In the face of my issues, what I admitted to JH, and the knowledge that it was the right thing to do!

But I don't like imposing myself on others, inserting myself into Dr L's already busy schedule, advocating for myself. I felt the urge to apologize. Instead I gave thanks.

I was lucky enough to get seen in what would have been an otherwise normal appt. Described the symptoms since Thursday -- the feeling to need to bend over and "unweight" my back, the urge to roll and massage it. Sunday's chest symptoms. To me pieces of a puzzle that may or may not fit together.

Checked my slouch and rotation. Yup and OH YUP. When I did the knees-together, hold-the-bar-at-shoulders rotation, I was 55 left and 24 degrees right!! I tried but couldn't go further. He asked where I felt it, checked and sure enough, a postural stabilizer (thoracic rotalis something, I'll have look it up) was "the worst he'd seen" for that muscle. I like challenges, I guess.

This took some major pressure and twisting from him, and afterwards it hurt. But....my chest pain is gone?  Earlier I could still feel vestiges of it? Or am I just distracted by this new pain? New measurement --61 degrees and feeling much better!

There's nothing specific I did to cause this, and nothing specific I can do to avoid it again. It sounds like it was a slow-load on the muscle, layering of adhesion probably during swimming, then the race just put it over threshold. Since there was compression on a nerve, I had the feeling that I needed to bend over to relieve that pressure. Since it's connected to the ribs and sternum, it could explain why I could feel twinges of rib discomfort like a band around my chest, and my explain the reaction across my sternum.

So now it hurts, I'm supposed to ice it. I'm supposed to be packing and getting ready for leaving tomorrow morning for home. Yet here I am, more interested in getting these notes down before they leave my head.

So. Litchfield? Hahahaha.  And the Equinox half?? HA! (Why not?!)