Day 3 of Marthon Training - All Is Not Right

After an day off yesterday, I ran a tempo run this morning:

2 miles @ 7:50 / mile
2 miles @ 6:29 / mile
2 miles @ 7:50 / mile

I started out in a typical foggy Halifax morning, however, about a mile in it started to pour from the heavens. My running shoes felt like they weighed about 5 pounds each by the end of it. My split times were right about where I wanted to be and I felt comfortable at the pace. I did, however, feel some tightness in my hip and knee which I will get to next.

After running on Wednesday morning, I went for a walk at lunch time as it was a beautiful day. A few minutes into my walk I felt something pop, for lack of a better word, and a sharp pain in my knee. This all went away quickly although I did feel some discomfort in my knee when lifting a box at home later that evening. Anyway, I decided to run this morning to test it out. While I can't say that I felt any real pain during the run, I am feeling some tightness now. I will have to make sure I stretch out well again tonight and re-evaluate from there.

Disaster???

One of the key elements that has been missing in the limited training that I have had for Sunday's 1/2 marathon is the inclusion of interval training - I only had so much time and coming off of injury did not want to stress my leg too much and so opted for tempo runs. I would have preferred to be doing both each week in addition to a long run, but it wasn't meant to be as I didn't want to put too much pressure on the leg.

Anyway, this morning I decided to throw in a 6 x 400m set of intervals at 1:20 pace to get in some quicker stuff just prior to the race. Not such a good idea - on my last lap I felt a twinge in my knee again. Hopefully, it is something minor. I am going to take it easy for the remainder of this week. I will probably just run an easy 3 miles or so on Friday to see how I feel. Hopefully, this is just a minor tweak and nothing major.

A Strange Incident

Slowly but surely, I think I am beginning to round back into shape. I still have some pain in my knee, but with each week it is diminishing - I am seeing progress. Take last week for example, I ran 5 times - something I have not been able to do since getting injured.

Monday: approx 6 miles
Wednesday: approx 4 miles
Friday: approx 6 miles
Saturday: approx 4 miles
Sunday: 8.2 miles

This is not an overwhelming amount of mileage, but considering where I have been I'll take it. All days except for Sunday represent estimates. I was really beginning to get curious about pace and what my real distances were so on Sunday I took the trouble to measure my run online. Lo and behold - my estimate of 7.5 miles was short by quite a bit. Essentially, as part of recovery I was estimating my distances based on my relaxed running pace last year prior to the injury. Typically, I had been running about 8:20 per mile during these sessions. Given that I was running coming out of an injury I had guessed my pace would be no better. Making my calculations, however, I now realize that I am considerably faster right now than I was last year. The 8.2 I ran on Sunday worked out to be about a 7:30 pace. Considering I was running a easy relaxed pace this is much better than I expected. I guess losing 20 pounds has had some impact.

Now to the strange incident. During Sunday's run I had something happen to me that has never happened before. I was running along my usual route when a police car headed towards me with its lights flashing. Thinking that it was going to stop a car for speeding heading in the opposite direction, I remained blissfully ignorant to it. A couple of moments later, I noticed that I was the focus of the officers intentions as the car slowed down and the officer made a waiving motion for me to stop (I can't say pull over as I was already on the shoulder of the road). Anyway, I was perplexed as to what was going on and to make light of things asked the officer, "Am I going to fast?" As it turns out, this wasn't the issue. Currently, there is a criminal in the Halifax area who escaped from prison guards enroute from a prison to day surgery at a local hospital. He is considered armed and dangerous and they, the police, happened to be tracking him a mile or so from where I was running. Apparently, runners can spook tracking dogs causing a potential incident and can be considered "hostage bait" for escapees. So the officer kindly asked me to change my route for the day and rerouted me in the opposite direction. It was all perfectly explainable, but quite strange to come to the realization that your are being stopped by the police while running.

Now We Are Getting Somewhere

I have to admit that I was somewhat... well, largely skeptical when I read about Active Response Technique (ART) therapy on a running forum about a week-and-a-half ago. However, I was desperate, and as the old saying goes, "Desperate times call for desperate measures".

Well, I have to admit that my initial doubt is, thus far, unfounded. After 2 treatments I was able to run close to 5 miles without any discomfort whatsoever. Considering that just over a week ago I couldn't manage more than 2 mile, the bulk of which was painful, I think this represents significant progress. Things are by no means perfect yet, but at least I have hope of recovery on the horizon. One week ago, I would not have thought it was possible.

I am not ready to write about Tempo Runs or Intervals or Long Runs, but I now have hope that I am over the bulk of my injury with real training on my horizon.

The Great Outdoors was Great!!!

Sorry about the long hiatus. Frustration was rearing its ugly head and frankly, I didn't have much to write about as I was unable to run recently. The few times I had tried I had to stop after about 1.5 miles as my running form was way off due to the level of pain I was under.

Since my last report, I have moved on to another treatment approach. I went to see a chiropractor who specializes in Active Response Technique (ART) on Thursday. Without any disclosure from me he was able to detect an abnormality in my right leg that I was aware of but did not think would be implicated in my current problem - he disagreed and who am I to argue. Anyway, I received one treatment from him on Thursday and he seemed confident that I should see marked improvement in 3 weeks. He also gave me the go ahead to continue running - as long as the pain was not too intense.

With the above instruction, I set out for my first run on Friday. I went for 4 miles and it went reasonably well. Yesterday, Sunday, I went for 6 and that too was pretty good. I can still feel pain, but it was not debilitating. Today, Monday, I went again - this time for 7 miles. I feel much as I did yesterday. I have some pain in my knee and my glutes, but nothing I can't handle. This marks the first time that I have run outdoors back to back since early January when this issue began. I am beginning to become a happy camper. Given the duration that this has lasted, while not convinced I am on the road to recovery, I am at least cautiously optimistic. With the way I have felt recently, this is an accomplishment in itself.

Eternal Frustration of the Injured Knee

Well I decided to go for a little longer run today to see if I could get back on track after missing the better part of a week with an injured knee. I wasn't quite sure how far I would go and was going to rely on my body for feedback.

Things did not begin well - within a quarter of a mile I was having a real bite in my knee.. to the extent that I was about to shut things down. Then suddenly things felt better, especially as long as I kept the pace down. I managed to get to one of my turnaround points (4.5 miles) on a trail I run quite frequently. The second half presented several points in which the knee started to bother me again. Anyway, I managed to finish 9 miles with an overall pace of 8:20 / mile. The pace was not really of any concern, however, the pain is. The odd thing about this is that as long as I am not running I do not feel any pain.

Anyway, the next scheduled run on Tuesday will be interesting. Did today's venture inflame things? I am hoping not. I must admit to being somewhat frustrated that the week off did not present me with any real improvement. I had been hoping that today would represent the beginning of my return to my base mileage. It may have represented the beginning of a prolonged period of rest. Arrrghh!!!

Shazzbot!!!

I went for a easy 6.5 mile run yesterday after having run 12.5 the day previously. All was going well, however, mid-run I began to feel a twinge in my right knee. In an attempt to be prudent, I shut things down about 1/2 mile after feeling the twinge and noticing that it wasn't going away. Today, I can feel the same dull ache so tomorrows run may be in jeopardy. That said, it isn't the end of the world. I am still about 20 week's away from the marathon I am planning on entering and I just plan on taking it a little easy for the next while until the knee feels good again. I may go out tomorrow if all feels well in the morning, however, if things don't feel OK, I will take some more time to rest.

I guess the message here is to listen to your body. If it is telling you not to run you probably shouldn't. To try and continue on is likely going to cause more harm than good. So... here is hoping that all feels fine tomorrow, and if not tomorrow then sometime soon.