The Curse Of The Ironman?

It seems that ever since I finished Ironman Arizona last November, my training and racing efforts have been kind of cursed. Much of this is of my own doing, I simply do not have the motivation to train that I had while preparing for an Ironman, but part of it is just plain bad luck. I am fortunate that I did not encounter any major setbacks while training for the Ironman, the biggest was when I pulled my calf muscle, but that was almost a year out and I had plenty of time to recover. This season I have not actually completed even a sprint triathlon. I had a DNF (did not finish) in the Pasadena Triathlon due to mechanical problems on the bike and I had a DNS (did not start) for the Redondo Beach Triathlon on Sunday.

I was looking forward to participating in another triathlon. This is a sprint triathlon that I could probably have finished in about an hour and ten minutes. The swim is half a mile, the bike is six miles, the run is two miles. I picked up my racing package on Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening I was packing my gear for the next day. I was essentially done, but wanted to retrieve the water bottles off of my bike and fill them up. My bike was already in the car and so I went out to get the bottles. I open the front passenger side door and reached into the back to grab the bottles off of the bike and pulled. One was a little stuck and so I pulled harder and the bottle came free. I was in an awkward position and something in my back suddenly hurt as I got the bottle out.

I didn't think that much about it, but as I was walking back, it hurt more. As I climbed the stairs it was getting worse with each step. After I stepped in the front door I said to The Great Magnetic Wife, "I think did something to my back." I tried to stretch it out and this didn't seem to help, only hurt. I sat down. If I didn't move it was okay. The moment I did any kind of movement it hurt a lot.

I hoped that it was going to get better overnight. We set coffee for 5:00 am and went to bed. I was having trouble going to sleep because of the pain. I eventually got up and tried to sleep sitting up because this was less painful. Eventually 5:00 am came around and the back was in a lot of pain. I was not going to be doing a triathlon today.

I spent the day resting and moving as little as possible. By night time I had improved and even went for a walk. This morning I have a lot less pain. Is this the curse of the Ironman? Probably not. I am just thankful that I did not have these problems this time last year when I was training for the Ironman.

John Thum