While I've been writing about running recently, I haven't actually been doing a whole lot of it these past few weeks. I feel like a total fraud. Allow me to explain.
My right knee has gone from not feeling fabulous to being the bane of my existence. I was hoping a little knee pain was something I could ignore, but, as it turns out, it's not. My typical remedy for sports-induced ailments is to ignore them. Injuries are annoying setbacks and I just don't want to deal with them. So I don't. Believe it or not, this approach works sometimes. (Ok, it rarely works. Whatever.) My plan was to take it easy on the running for about a week with the hopes my knee would feel fine after a few days of rest. Well, that didn't exactly happen. My knee actually felt worse after this break than it did before it. It got to the point where I woke up in the middle of the night crying because my knee hurt so badly. I was icing my knee each night before I went to bed. I was even downing an embarrassing amount of Advil to run just two miles. This is when I realized I had a problem. (A problem with my knee. It's not like I'm going to OD on Advil or anything.)
I had a similar issue with the same knee two years ago when I first started running. I went to the doctor and she casually labeled my pain tendonitis. I hate that word. Tendonitis seems to be a catch-all diagnosis for joint pain that can only be cured with rest. I also hate rest. Anyone who knows me understands that I have more energy than a sugar-doped teenager. I am terrible at resting. But I am good at pushing myself physically, which is what I did to fix my aching knee the first time around. Instead of sitting around waiting to feel better, I did squats and leg presses to try and strengthen the muscles around the joint. That plan seemed to work. My knee ended up feeling great and I was able to start training for a half marathon. I've been taking the same approach for the past few days while trying to rehab my sore joint. I've done hundreds of squats: regular squats, wide-leg squats and single-leg squats. I've also tried to incorporate more balancing activities into my workouts because I read those really help strengthen your IT band. I've even gone as far as teaching on one leg. Yes, I stand in front of my class of middle school students, discussing topics such as conflict in literature, perched like a freaking flamingo.
But you know what? I think it's working. My knee is still sore, stiff and pretty annoying, but it's not bringing me to tears anymore. I generally feel stronger and more stable. I was able to run eight miles on Monday and I was even able to walk afterwards. Trust me: that's progress. I'm still icing at night and taking Advil before I run, but I really feel like I am on the road to recovery.
I have a lot of training to do over the next few months to be ready to run the Boston Marathon. I was really excited about it at first, but this whole knee issue had me questioning things. Am I strong enough to do this? Will my body make it? What if it's not tendonitis or an IT band issue? Then what? The past two weeks have really rattled my confidence with regards to running. I've never been one to take it slowly or to follow rules when it comes to training: if there's a goal I want to achieve, I'll go out and do it. Simple as that. If anything, this injury has taught me I need to be smart about my training. Maybe it's not the best idea to just run a ton of miles and hope for the best on race day. I should probably have a plan. I have yet to read a book or an article about training for a marathon, and I'm not sure I ever will. But what I do know is that I am going to front-load my training with a lot of strength exercises (meaning: squats). I may end up looking like this, but at least I'll make it to the finish line.
Data from this week:
Distance Monday (11/04): 8.05 miles (solo run)
Time Monday: 1 hour, 10 minutes (8.46 splits)
Distance Tuesday (11/05): 2.23 miles (with Sole Train youth running group)
Time Tuesday: 30 minutes
(Wednesday's workout was 45 minutes of interval training on the elliptical)
Cumulative Distance Since Blog Started: 25.72 miles
Cumulative Time Since Blog Started: 4 hours, 8 minutes
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