Friday, November 12, 2010

I Think it's my Psoas...

I angered the triathlon gods this week by saying that my weights workout with Ahmed on Wednesday morning "wasn't really that hard." So now I am suffering from ridiculous soreness in the most awkward parts of my body - lower abdomen, inner thighs, and (almost) everything in between. The triathlon gods always get me for stuff like this.

So yesterday, when I burst out laughing over something Ken says at breakfast and then immediately want to die because it feels like some place behind my abs is on fire, I start wondering what it could be. I've had sore abs before, and I've had sore abductor muscles (not fun, but I can deal with it) - this, however, was a whole new level of pain I'd never felt before. And then I remembered the one (unfortunately) memorable time I had a masseuse who decided to work on my psoas muscles, and right away I knew - it was my psoas. Psoases? Psoasi? I'm really not sure about the plural here, but they're definitely there, and it definitely sucks. If it wasn't equally painful on both sides, I'd be worried I had appendicitis. I'm blaming it (and, I think, rightfully so) on the new "suspension trainer" Ahmed recently installed in the Playtri gym, making it look not a little bit like a medieval torture chamber (well, maybe just to me, and I am biased at the moment).

For those of you wondering, the psoas muscles (psoas major - the psoas minor, interestingly enough, is only found in less than half of the human population) is a part of the hip flexor group (curse those knee abductions on that cursed suspension trainer!), and connects to the iliac muscle to create the iliopsoas (still there? or have you zoned out by now?). The muscles actually start behind the abdominal muscle on either side of the belly button (approximately), meaning it can cause what feels like abdominal pain or soreness. When it is heavily massaged, it can make you want to puke (that's my own scientific addition - from some personal research I've done).

I've never had a sore psoas before - it is acutely uncomfortable. Laughing is particularly painful, as is straightening my legs. And having Ken jab at my stomach saying "so is this where your psoas is??" An unforeseen consequence!

But enough about my psoas-es.

It's friday, thank God, and the weekend is almost here! I'll be spending all day at work today proof-reading the BRAND NEW Playtri website and making sure it is in top shape before we announce it to the world. It is going to be super sweet - you can actually view it now, but I'd go ahead and wait until we finish with our edits. I'm taking a break to run before lunch (I missed my run yesterday - whoops), and then after work I'm going to go kick Ken's butt at the bowling alley. He maintains that he'll win because as a triathlete I have no coordination, but then, he's a runner - and that isn't any better. So it's on. We'll probably both get our butts handed to us by his classmates who are unencumbered with endurance athlete status, and the resulting lack of grace and coordination.

Then, on Sunday, it's the Brondas Duathlon, where we will smash the relay competition to a messy pulp. Because we're awesome.

See you all on Sunday! (Unless you're doing Clearwater - in which case, GOOD LUCK!)

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