Crazy weather, crazy body

I was just folding laundry and saw what a difference a few days makes in terms our crazy winter/spring weather here in Southern Ontario. On Friday night, it was bitterly cold and I wore a double layer of pants for my run. Less than 48 hours later, yesterday afternoon, I ran in cut-off pants and a t-shirt, and I was sweating and hot. And covered in mud by the end of the run.

Yes, I ran three times this past week, and all were "good" runs. Wednesday morning was the toughest slog, but it wasn't half-bad. Friday evening I felt really good despite the cold, and I didn't push the pace too hard, having discussed that problem of mine with my physio and my sports dr just that morning. But yesterday afternoon my legs felt so good that I did push the pace, and pushed and pushed it until I was running 4:30/km for the last two full kilometres. It was exhilerating, and challenging. My daughter rode her bike with me, and luckily she figured out quickly that mom wasn't interested in chatting. I ran 6km in 30 minutes exactly (and that includes the lights I had to wait for ... which really annoyed me). The entire run I kept thinking: I don't feel injured. I'll admit that had I gone much further, the twitch in my right hamstring/IT band would have started to twang much more loudly, but my left leg, which has been the source of all this pain this winter did not trouble me AT ALL. Thrilling! As long as I'm able, I'm going to keep treating these short runs as killer speed challenges. It makes me feel like I'm doing some worthwhile training even while recovering from injury.

This morning I woke up with incredible pain in a nerve in my back -- shoulder blade height, close to the spine. I'm panicking that this is something new and that I need go to back to my chiro, whom I haven't seen for about eight months. I can't afford to go to the chiro as often as he wanted me to, so I gave it up altogether. I hate being lectured. Now I'm wondering .... what to do? If I tried a new chiro, I'd have to pay for the initial assessment before getting treatment. And I already have this VERY EXPENSIVE physio hobby right now. I'll see her on Friday morning. Maybe she'll have thoughts. I don't want to let it go too long because the pain is fairly intense. I'm trying stretching and ice, and will attempt yoga tonight.

Here's what I did last week:

Monday: swim (2500m); physio, strength exercises
Tuesday: spin (1 hr); strength exercises
Wedneday: run (40 mins., slow)
Thursday: strength exercises
Friday: run (30 mins, medium); strength exercises
Saturday: NOTHING! OH NO!
Sunday: run (30 mins, fast); strength exercises, plus some extra yoga @ home to make up for Saturday's slacking off (in my defense, I was distracted by my book being reviewed positively in the Globe and Mail, plus I baked bread, plus my husband and I had the house to ourselves overnight because our children were away on a babysitting exchange ... too much celebrating = no exercise)