I ran approximately 7 miles this morning in 54:30. I was supposed to meet Tyler, but he never showed up so I ran alone. My back felt decent but not great this morning. This is a positive for me because I helped a neighbor move a couch into his apartment last night and my back was fairly sore afterwards. I was worried that I would experience a fair amount of pain, which never materialized.
About 5 miles into the run I performed a little experiment. I mentioned on Tuesday that while hiding in some tall grass I had to squat super low in order to remain unseen while doing my business. Upon commencing running once more I noticed that my back felt better. Today I decided to see if there was something inherently special about holding a super low squat, so I stopped, spread my legs out a little wider than normal (to simulate the attempt to avoid getting my nastiness on my shoes when in the bushes) and I squatted down really low, holding the squat for about 20-30 seconds.
I didn't notice anything special at first, but I remembered that on Tuesday I had also bent forward at the waist to get my torso lower to the ground. When I did this I felt like there was a slight stretch in my low back, and when I stood up I felt less discomfort. It made me think that my pelvis rotated just slightly when I squatted like that, prompting a slight decompression on one side of the vertebrae. Unfortunately, whatever happened did not last and within a mile I felt no different than I had felt previously. The positive is that I felt better after I held the squat, while the negative is I still do not know what actually happened to make things feel better.
I may try squating as such on occasion during my runs or while at school/work if my back is feeling off. Maybe I will get a better idea of what is happening through repetition. I also think that I should name the squat. Since I discovered this while doing my business maybe I should name it based on it origins? Something like "nature's squat", or maybe the "squatting dog", or "excreta's squat".
| 