4.12.11 - Tuesday
Well shit! I made it through six weeks of booty school and didn't have any real pain issues. Then came the start of week seven. Yesterday I woke up feeling a little soreness in my lower back, but since I've had much worse back pain, I thought nothing of it and went about getting ready for class. I figured I might be a little sore because we took our son to the carnival the day before and I rode the giant slide with him. It was a little bumpy on my backside. But so much fun.
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| Evil slide... |
You see, I had an MRI in 2003 that revealed two herniated discs in my lower back. I've had several stints in physical therapy over the past few years, and I am able to manage my injury well. Once a year or so, I "throw out my back" which usually means I can't walk for a couple of days and I have to get a prescription for a 6-day steroid pill that usually clears up the inflammation and buys me another year. I only get the drugs if I'm paralyzed. I hate the way they make me feel - dry-mouthed, irritable, ANGRY. My back issues are one of the key reasons that staying fit is so important to me. I've been told that I can avoid surgery if I stay in shape and don't let my weight balloon.
Yesterday's class was an all-weight class. I started the cardio warm-up and felt okay. Then it was time to get the weights. I knew the second I picked up the first dumbbell. People with back problems know what I'm talking about. That moment you know...if you don't stop now, you're in big trouble. But did I stop? NO! I did two sets of squats with 30 pounds of weight, two sets of traveling lunges with 30 pounds of weights and two sets of split-squats with 30 pounds of weights. During the third set of traveling lunges, I said to Jessica, "I am really feeling this in my lower back." But what I should have said is, "I'm about to be a paraplegic!"
I put my weights down, but continued the traveling lung series. Jessica could see that I was grimacing so she pulled me off the line and told me to roll my back with the trusty foam roller. (By the way, everyone should have a foam roller. It's a must-have for the active.)
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| Foam roller |
So I rolled my back for a little while, then I did another set of squats and lunges without weights. At this point, I'm in tears. I was in serious pain, frustrated that my body was defeating me and really tired from a night of crappy sleep. The emotions boiled to the surface and I started sobbing. All I could think is, "Not now! I've made it so far..." There was no way I could do the leg lifts with weights, so Jessica and Leandro sent me home. They were both so kind. Leandro hugged me and told me to get a massage. Hey, when The Butt Master says "get a massage", you go get a damn massage! I hobbled to my local Chinese massage parlor for a 30-minute lower-back rub. Then I came home, ate ibuprofen like it was candy and laid on the floor with a heating pad for the rest of the day while my sweet little boy rotted in front of the television. I felt terrible. Especially since it was such a beautiful day yesterday. My plan was to take him in the jogging stroller for a post-class run in the park. Damn.
I went to bed early and prayed to every god in the heavens that I would be all better today. No dice. I woke up sore, stiff, but walking. 800 milligrams of ibuprofen and a few stretches later, I decide to go to class. Today was a cardio class so I knew I could modify movements and keep things relatively painless. I was okay for most of the class, but skipped the heavy ankle weights in favor of super light weights for the leg lift series. Better than nothing.
When I got home, I dug out my old lumbar corset and will be sporting it till the bitter end of booty school. It's oh so very chic. It looks like this:
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| Lumbar corset |
Only mine has some lovely sweat stains from the time I had to wear it during the summer. Nice.
There is some good news however; Today was weigh-in day. I lost another pound and am now at 146! That's a 17-pound loss for this hefty gal!! So this week doesn't totally suck...
