George Harrison may not have been singing about training for a 100-miler with his song "I got my mind set on you" but I thought it funny when this song popped up on Pandora while I was icing my slightly swollen right knee. The surprising thing is that I'm not the least bit worried. The ITB issues I had last year made me focus on all aspects of my running (e.g. foot placement, nutrition and most important PATIENCE). I was able to overcome the weak link in my running (a weak right glute) and fix the acute pain on the outside of my knee. I have since incorporated a nice strength and core workout into my training and feel myself becoming stronger and more confident every day with my running. I can finally say that I am at a point where I know my body well enough to figure out these little aches and pains that come with increasing mileage and, more importantly, I have the patience to back off when needed.
What caused this swelling in the knee? The scientist in me doesn't want to make any conclusions without statistically significant data. Possibly an MRI scan to rule out any major issues. Just RICE, take some IB and don't run for 2-3 weeks and see what happens. Luckily, sometimes the answer is much easier. I had a great recovery from my cold and got out for three good runs this week. The first two were pretty chill hour-long runs in the early AM on the treadmill due to the icy conditions we've had in raleigh. I experimented a little with the incline and may incorporate some treadmill incline training due to our lack of hills in Raleigh but I'll wait on that for now. Overall, I don't like the treadmill but wanted to be cautious not to risk a broken hip or arm due to a lazy step on black ice. Both runs felt really nice but I was craving a little single track in Umstead.
I got up early Saturday morning and headed to the park for a nice 1.5 hour cruise. It was perfect weather, cold enough to keep most people snuggled up at home but not so cold I needed anything more than a long sleeve shirt and my turquoise gloves I got at Target for $1. The fall leaves were still covering the trails in the park meaning all the toe-stubbers (i.e. dense rocky/rooty sections notorious in the South) were hidden. I knew the challenge, shortened my stride and stayed focused on each foot placement. About 30 minutes in to the run I started to let my mind drift. I don't remember what I was thinking about at the time but I do remember seeing the tree root jump up and grab my foot causing a brilliant crash-n-burn including, but not limited to, a front rolling dismount and a beautifully executed ass-plant. I sat there for a few minutes and made sure I had all my limbs. Then I checked the trails to make sure nobody caught that on their Iphone and was uploading it to YouTube. Finally, I got up and took a few cautious steps and felt fine so I kept running. I finished up the run and felt really solid and forgot about the goofball move I had made on the trail. However, when I woke up this morning and realized my knee was swollen I can only guess that my knee was lucky enough to assist in the somersault, causing the issues I see today. I'm going to take today off from running and ice the knee, do some stretching and enjoy the holiday season.
Patience and time!
Weekly summary:
3.7 hours of running
2 comments:
"Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. ... It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn."
-Rumi
Now that is deep... and I like it :-)
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