With surgery scheduled to remove yet another basal cell carcinoma from my right bicep on Wednesday afternoon, I front loaded my workouts to early in the week to get as much accomplished as possible prior to my appointment.

Tuesday morning I ran laps around my neighborhood from 5:30 to 6:30 AM and loved that it’s now daylight when I finish! I realize most people take a picture of their Garmin (affiliate link) with their distance and pace on display, but the point of my picture was to show that it was daylight at 6:31 AM! BTW, my average pace was underwhelming at 10:15.

 

On Wednesday morning I hit the hill at 6 AM and was treated to a pretty sunrise before the clear and crispy blue sky made its way onto the scene to help me finish my run. After almost an hour of eight 1/3-mile hill repeats, I headed home to lift weights and do a yoga class.

 

By early afternoon, I was in my dermatologist’s office taking in this view out of his window. My visits with Dr. Ha are like family reunions where we catch up, mostly talking about recent vacations or upcoming plans. When I told him about our June trip to Wyoming and Utah where I’ll be running the Grand Tetons Half and then joining in on some bike tours around the Southern Utah’s National Parks, Dr. Ha asked if Bill and I ever go on vacations where we just sit by the pool… LOL

As my doctor stitched up the one-inch incision on my bicep, he told me not to lift weights for a month. I gave him a sideways you’ve got to be kidding me look, to which he said, “All right, two weeks.” I begged for a week and he just shook his head, probably grateful that most of his patients listen to doctor’s orders better than I do… As he walked out of the room, he turned and told me that if I do lift before two weeks are up, to wrap my arm tightly with an ACE bandage to help support the incision area. He knows me well!

 

On the way home from surgery, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up milk and fruit. Obeying doctor’s orders, I carried my purchases to the car in my left hand and kept my right arm somewhat relaxed at a 90° angle where it felt most comfortable. Once home, I trained one more client and then took a short nap.

That night I slept on my back to protect my arm and woke up at some point to excruciating neck/shoulder pain on the opposite side of my where I’d just had surgery. Because of the risk of bleeding due to my surgery, I wasn’t supposed to take aspirin or Advil for 48 hours. To make a long story short, Tylenol didn’t cut it and the pain got worse as Thursday progressed.

I suspect that carrying the heavy groceries all on my left side caused me to scrunch up the muscles on that side to keep my body balanced, and that resulted in a knot in the back of my left shoulder which pinched a nerve whenever I moved my head. By Thursday evening I couldn’t handle the pain any longer and took two Advil and a muscle relaxant left over from a previous injury. Voila, that worked and by Friday morning I was feeling pretty good. I continued with Advil throughout Friday and by Saturday I was feeling almost back to normal and have been able to stop taking the Advil.

Yesterday, I ran a solo 10K and pushed myself a little harder than I have been for most of this winter – I just signed up for a fun-sounding 5K on Cinco de Mayo and have two weeks to get ready! I’ve done zero speed work and I’m not at all in 5K shape, but this is going to be another fun race with no expectations. My main goal is to get as many of my running friends as I can to sign up with me.

 

So far I’ve obeyed doctor’s orders and haven’t lifted – I even skipped planks on Thursday and Friday, but more because of my neck pain than my stitches. Shhh… don’t tell Dr. Ha!

 

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…

Looking ahead to this coming week…

  • Tuesday – I’ve got a little recap from my spring marathon project two years ago
  • Thursday – I’ll be recapping my first coaching experience with the National AIDS Marathon Training Program

 

In addition to what I mentioned above, here’s a complete run-down of my workouts (completed mostly in our home gym) from this past week…

 

  • Questions:
  • Have you ever had a pinched nerve? If so, how did you handle it?
  • Do you have any fun races coming up?
  • Did you race this weekend? 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Wendy from Taking The Long Way Home for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

 

I’m also linking up with Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC for her Training Recap linkup. Be sure to check out how Courtney the other great bloggers joining the linkup are doing on their spring marathon and half marathon training.