My Body Hates Me

I realized yesterday, the morning after my tempo run, that my body is not built for endurance running. At least not at the competitive level.

I woke up with searing pain in my upper abdominal area. Whenever I would clench that muscle (sitting up from bed, sitting up from a chair) I would get a nice dose of nausea and stomach cramps. At first I thought it was appendicitis, but I figured the pain would then be on the right side not the left side. Referring to my trusty Trigger Point Therapy Workbook I searched for a trigger point that referred pain to the upper abdominal area.

BINGO.

I found the culprit below my ribs, right on top of the painful area. Pressing into that muscle wasn't as painful as with some of knots on my lower leg but it did induce a really uncomfortable, borderline nauseating feeling. Fortunately, the pain subsided by the time I got to work. What a relief.

I remember the first time I took the intensity up a notch I came down with outer ankle pain a day later. Fortunately for me I had bought my first trigger point book by then (The Pain Free Triathlete) and I managed to massage out the pain.

However the problems did not end there. The next time it was behind my ankles (trigger point was mid calf area), then next came lower back pain (psoas), the next was shin cramps (muscles running down beside the tibia) and now with me massaging all these muscles daily, I was hit with the upper abdominal pain (adding yet another muscle group to the list I have to manage).

My point is that my body is definitely not naturally built for this kind of running. If not for trigger point therapy, I wouldn't have made it past the first ailment. I probably could not have just joined the track team and excelled. But science is truly the great equalizer. Knowing that I can manage this pain naturally, I feel like nothing can stop me now.