I Got Curves*

*From the archives: I wrote this in 2007 when I was blogging for Women's Health and training for the Accenture Chicago Triathlon. Most of you probably never saw that blog, so I figure I might as well put these words to good use! Anyway, the point here is that it's all about the core, people. It is the key to performance and feeling good overall; it has really transformed me.

Unfortunately, the curves I'm talking about are not the Beyonce kind. They are the spinal kind. Some highlights of my back story:

Age 8: Diagnosed with mild scoliosis.

Age 12: Visit back specialist who recommends I wear hideous and very uncool-looking back brace. Fear I will become school outcast dressed in three-sizes-too-big duds that "hide" giant metal and plastic apparatus.

Age 12 (plus one month): Come down with flu and brace-fitting appointment is cancelled. In unprecedented move, Gods of Cool consider me for their team: Parents never reschedule appointment.

Age 12-21: Grow up thinking body is deformed. Although curvature is hardly noticeable to the naked eye, it's huge to me. I'm sure everyone can see that I'm going to turn into Quasimodo. (Obviously I won't, but that's hardly relevant to teenage me.)

Age 21: Turn to look at something while sitting at desk in first job out of college. Back and neck "go out." Forced to take week off from work. First of many chiropractors crack my back, apply electric and ultrasound waves, and give me lists of back and ab exercises I deem "optional."

Age 21-present: Chronic back pain becomes fact of my life. I'm hardly ever "pain-free." Acute phases are ridiculous: For weeks at a time standing up is uncomfortable (btw, so is sitting) and I literally walk bent over. Mornings are especially bad. I can hardly move when I get out of bed. If this is how I feel at 30, 35, 40, I think, 60 is really going to suck. I start riding a bike at some point "just for fun" and discover that the endorphins numb the pain, at least while I'm riding. I get really into cycling and buy crazy-expensive bike.

Now: I start training for this triathlon. Karen has me doing core and back exercises three times a week. Countless chiropractors have recommended this too, but I've poo-poo'd their advice as if they were my grandmother telling me to find a nice boy. Where's the fun in crunches and bird-dogs? I'd rather just ride my bike and look at the pretty flowers. So what if I can hardly walk after the ride? My quads look good. Isn't that enough?

Imagine my surprise when it turns out the ab exercises might actually work. Since I started training, I don't hurt. I can stand up straight when I walk and my back hasn't "gone out" since January 1, which I believe is a record for me. I'm still going to a chiropractor for mild aches and pains, but I recover within a day or two. Maybe now I'll be able to go faster on my bike, climb hills better, and put those quads to good use.