Tuesday, November 13, 2012

It's been some time since my last post, Sorry! I haven't been running much lately. Work has been keeping me busy and my knee had kept me from being able to really push myself. I took a 17 day break from running, hoping that the 2+ weeks would take some stress off and heal whatever was going on. I was wrong. Last week Wednesday, November 7, I decided I couldn't sit around feeling lazy any longer and went for a run. I was feeling great, relaxed and maintaining a steady pace. I kept the run short, I didn't want to push too hard. Afterwards, the pain hit. I quite literally couldn't walk without crying. The next day at work, the pain started to gradually fade. Two and a half days later, I was feeling like i could handle another run. My knee still hurt, but I don't do anything in moderation. I'm stubborn and once I have an idea in my head, until it happens I will go crazy. I was talking with a friend while getting ready and of course, being strongly encouraged to rest and not go running. I know now that I should've listened. I told my friend id just wear my knee brace, that id be fine. After spending 15 minutes turning my apartment upside down, I couldn't find my knee brace. I couldn't not run though, the idea was already planted and being obsessed over. I decided I'd run a slower pace and try to go easy on myself. Ideally, I wanted to do an easy 5mile run. I got a little over 4 and had to call it quits. I ran my normal route, which involves going downhill twice, one hill being very steep. My knee was feeling fine, I had a over 2.5 completed and was thinking I had this...until that hill. The second I started running down, I had to stop. Pain shot through me and I had to walk down the rest of the hill. a few blocks later, was a steep uphill, which i pushed through just fine as well as the other downhill. My knee was feeling slight discomfort, but I put my focus elsewhere to distract myself. I knew I wasn't going to be able to get 5 miles so I changed my route a bit to allow at least 4. At mile 3.66 I went down. I had to stop. My knee was in terrible pain. I tried to shake it off and keep going but every time I did, it buckled and I screamed. After a min or two of walking in a circle, I decided I needed to finish 4 miles no matter what. So I made my mind blank and pushed myself. The last 20 feet or so of my run, I was running with a limp but I finished just a bit over 4miles and that's what I wanted. Of course, now I'm paying for it. The next 2 days I could hardly walk without tears in my eyes. Today, all I wanted to do was go running, but I've told myself I will listen to my friends advice. He's a pretty smart guy and 99% of the time is right so I should really listen, plus it will be to my benefit in the end. This weekend, I ordered a jump rope (I don't have time to go out and buy one) so that will be delivered this week, however, I won't be using it quite yet. One piece of advice that was given to me, which I'm surprised I'd never heard before, was a clever little acronym: RICE rest ice compression elevation. Pretty much everything I should've been doing and have neglected to do. The more my body screams stop, the harder I tend to push myself. Call me crazy.

Nov 7 run: total distance: 3.06 miles avg pace: 6'52" total time: 21.02 44degrees
M1: 6'50" M2: 6'56" M3: 6'50"

Nov 10 run: total distance: 4.06 miles avg pace: 7'40" total time: 31:12 65degrees
M1: 7'08" M2: 7'33" M3: 7'51" M4: 8'09"

Also, I haven't posted the end stats for October. They are pretty sad and show how much I wasn't running.
Total miles: 28.2
Total time: 3:24:24
Avg pace: 7'15"

Until next time...