Justin Park

A.M. - 60 minutes on the treadmill at the gym:

5 minutes @ 9.5 mph, flat
5 mins @ 10.0, flat
20 mins @ 10.0 progressive inclines with 3 mins each at 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 and 5 mins at 3.5
5 mins @ 10.0, flat
3 mins @ 10.0, 1.0 incline
3 mins @ 10.0, 1.5
(nature break.... far too common occurence lately... )
14 mins @ 10.0 progressive inclines with 3 mins each at 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and 5 mins at 3.5
5 mins flat with 1 min each at 10.0, 10.5, 11.0, 11.5 and 12.0

P.M. - Millcreek ride (~40 miles). Got a late start and got drizzled on just a little bit towards the end, but it actually felt nice. Good afternoon for a ride.

A.M. - 15 miles. Triangle in normal direction.

A.M. - 5 minute warm-up on the treadmill @ 8.0 (0.66 mi.). 60 minutes on the gym treadmill, all flat:

5 minutes @ 9.5 mph
5 mins @ 10.0
5 mins @ 10.5
30 mins @ 11.0
15 mins @ 11.5
(10.8 mi)

Really hoping to get a ride in the afternoon. Between work and monsoon weather, we'll see if that happens.

P.M. - Little Cottonwood ride to end of paved road at Albion Basin (~25 mi). A bit windy and got rained on a little, but good ride.

A.M. - 15 mile route. Triangle in reverse.... Mayday, mayday, mayday! I started noticing some tightness deep in my left glute sometime after Tuesday's run. It wasn't bad it all and I didn't think much of it. Noticed ever so slightly at the beginning of yesterday's treadmill run, but it subsided after a couple of mins and I had a good run. Felt fine all yesterday. Woke up this morning and it was a little tight. Started to run and it was almost immediately "uncomfortable." It stayed that way pretty much most of the way, a little more so when going downhill. At about the 11-mile mark, I started to feel a little pain around the left kidney area. I didn't notice my form changing, although I'm sure I was compensating. Tried to be careful about not running on the crown of the road. I finished running, showered, and hurried off to work and then right into a couple-hour meeting. The left glute and left lower-back (kidney area) were super sore (almost debilitating) after the car ride and meeting. I was pretty much walking like an old man; slowly and with a limp. About 10:30 I resorted to taking to Excedrin. It helped take the edge off, but it remained sore all day.

Since I've been home, I've been doing hot/cold treatments with heat pad and ice pack. I've been poking around on the internet and it looks like it may be piriformis syndrome. That seems to explain the deep glute and lower back pain (piriformis putting pressure on the sciatic nerve). I've found some release and stretching techniques that I'll do over the next few days and am trying to arrange a sports massage ASAP to find some quick relief.

Running tomorrow morning is looking very doubtful. This blows because I feel like I've been rolling pretty good lately and want to keep it going. But I really don't want to train through pain. So if it means backing-off, losing some fitness, and adjusting some goals, so be it. I'll see how it feels in the morning when I get up and probably head down to the gym with the intention of running, but if its not there, I'm not going to force it. Committing myself to that right now. I think I should be fine to continue cycling.

Who knows what the cause is. My running routine has been similar for the past several weeks, maybe just a little more consistent intensity on the TM runs, and a little higher average weekly mileage. Admittedly, my cooldown/core work/postrun stretching routine has been terrible lately because I'm usually in such a hurry in the mornings to get to work. That's probably led to some tightness and muscle imbalances. Got to work on giving that more attention.

Anyways, sorry for the long soapbox. If anyone has thoughts/suggestions, I'm all ears.

A.M. - Got up this morning, the glute/lower back were tight and it was obvious that trying to run was not going to be a wise-thing. As consolation, had a good ride to Brighton and back (~40 miles). Was fighting a headwind much of the way. The biking doesn't seem to be irritating the glute/lower back, which is good.

A.M. - Today was supposed to be the CF Cycle For Life century ride that I was going to do with a few buddies. But Monday night I got a call from one of their reps indicating that it was being postponed because there was some other 'santioned event' that was using much of the same route (great planning guys!). They've postponed it until September 28th, but since SGM is the following week, I won't be riding it. Oh well.

Ended up doing an 85 mile solo ride. Rode up Big Mountain (via Wasatch Blvd, Emigration) and then back down and out to the Chevron at South Mountain and home via 1300 E. Good ride. Felt good. There were sure a lot of folks out running and riding bikes in Emigration. Can't blame 'em; its a great place to ride/run. I rode with a small pack of guys for a few miles going up Emigration, then gave them a free lesson going up Little Mountain and Big Mountain :). As I was going up Emigration, I saw Fritz by Ruth's Diner (looking as fit as ever and ready to burn up the roads). Fluid-wise, I made the entire ride on two bottles; not a terribly smart thing to do, but I felt fine.

This will serve as a good training ride for Ultimate Challenge and LoToJa. I ended up with 190 total cycling miles in four rides this week...not as good as what Clyde is doing for his LoToJa training :), but the highest cycling mileage week I've had all summer. Hit all 4 of the big canyons on the eastside of the Salt Lake Valley this week: Millcreek (Monday), Little Cottonwood (Weds), Big C (Brighton only; Friday), Emigration/Big Mountain (today). Still not truly enough for a good LoToJa training regimen, but its similar to what I was doing last year and, combined with my running, should be enough to get me through the event.

Injury status: Woke up and the back/buttocks felt tight. I could 'feel it' during parts of the ride (not painful, but there). I'm hoping that the cycling isn't damaging it more... It's my lifeline right now so I'm going to pretend that it isn't. It's afternoon now and it feels okay; the best it has since before it happened. That said, I did drug-up on a couple Ibuprofens a couple hours ago for anti-inflammatory purposes. We'll see what a complete day of resting does for it tomorrow and I'll assess things Monday morning. If I had to guess, I don't think I'll be ready to run Monday. But I'm going to be optimistic and this hiccup will resolve quickly.

The next couple of weeks are going to suck at work, so I'm leary of how my training is going to go. We're doing a cutover to a new ERP system effective August 1st and there's a lot of stuff that needs to happen between now and the end of the month and then troubleshooting the first part of August. Some weekend workdays and long, late hours are in the forecast. I'll be lucky if I can break away for any evening rides. Some shorter weekday lunch ride may be my only option. Pardon my self-pity...