Walking

Inactivity. It's not for me. Monday I walked about three miles in St. Louis along the Mississippi River. Tonight I was ready for some activity and wanted to run, but I'm still giving the knee some time. It's feeling better and I'm thinking about running tomorrow, but we'll see. For the present I took the two younger kids on a walk with me and we walked about two miles. They want to run the Turkey Trot in November so this was a good start.

As far as my left knee goes, I've read that the problem with something like this is usually either in the hip or the feet. Today I did some hip exercises at the direction of The Wife, who helped me with the proper way to do it in order to get maximum benefit for the hip abductor. I'm also thinking that if I wear my heel inserts in my running shoes that might help. I wear the inserts in my regular shoes and maybe not doing so in my running shoes might be causing a problem. I used to do it but stopped at some point and for some unknown reason. If I'm going to make it to the race in Memphis I can't afford too much time off, but I also don't want to hurt myself. We'll see how the knee feels in the morning and whether or not I should run after a week off.

Options

Sometimes this log of mine is useful. Mildly useful. For instance, today I looked at it to see how long my knee has been hurting. Some people write these things in a log book, but I etch them into the Web.

Just so my imaginary readers don't have to look for themselves, it's been since September 6th. Or 16 days. As of today it's still achy and hurting. Walking up and down stairs continues to be an exercise in ways to avoid pain while also attempting to avoid looking like a complete idiot.

As I ran 6 miles in the ol' neighborhood this afternoon I contemplated my options. I'm seriously considering shutting down for a couple of weeks or until it gets better, whichever comes first. The drawback to this is that I would likely not have enough time after that to prepare for the Memphis Marathon. That's a serious drawback. But then so is hurting myself even worse than I already am and not being able to run for an extended period of time.

Another option is to shut down the running game but continue to do cross-training, such as biking and walking. I would probably do some of that with the first option, but in this scenario I'd be more serious about it to try and maintain my fitness level with the thought of getting back into running at a higher level and hopefully make the race.

I suppose the final option is to keep doing what I'm doing. The drawback to this one is clear.

I keep saying that we'll see how it feels tomorrow and plan from there, but after 16 days it's time to take a clear path. My plan calls for a 13-miler this weekend. I'm not going to do that one, mainly since I'm traveling on Saturday and Monday and the timing of my weekend activities (i.e., baseball games) actually helps me with the decision. I hate to stop running for any period during this time of year. I persevered through the hot summer and it feels like I should be able to enjoy running in the good weather. Especially since we have so little of it around here. But that's just pity, and that's not the basis for making a good decision.

Nuts.

Better

First, an update on the left knee. It's feeling better and I'm feeling better about it. After Saturday's long run I was a little worried. On Sunday it actually felt the best it's been in weeks and it wasn't until the evening that I felt a little pain. I'm still taking it easy on the stairs since I don't want to tweak anything. I think changing back to my old shoes has helped, which means I'm going to have to more slowly work in the newer ones again once we get home.

Today my Virtual Running Partner and I hit the streets about 10 a.m. for a nice, easy run. The Texas sky was clear and the temperature was in the low seventies with a little breeze from the north. The run was a little tough, but that's probably because we were up until about 1 a.m. watching a movie. And we had a really big dinner yesterday. But we made our 6 miles and that was good enough.

What was really good, though, was the breakfast afterward. If you can still call it breakfast when you're eating at noon. We took some leftovers from last night and had steak, eggs, fried potatoes, and English muffins. One of the finest post-run breakfasts ever. It's a good thing I don't eat like that after every run. But would it be so bad if I did?

Test Run

Today I'm in Texas. The left knee is still sore, but I figured today would be an important test. I didn't do my long run last week but did do all my runs this week. I've kept ice on it every evening too help out, which it does. The plan called for an 11-miler today, and this being a flat part of Texas I knew there wouldn't be much in the way of hills.

Last time I was here the citizenry was in the midst of a long run of hundred degree temperatures. Today was much better, although the humidity was like wearing a wet blanket. The starting temperature was 65 degrees or so and had one up to 74 by the time we finished. Humidity was at 80% the whole time. We kept it slow enough to avoid a meltdown.

Oh yes, by "we" I mean my virtual running partner and me. It was one of our infrequent chances to actually run together. We took a circuitous route through the Craig Ranch area, including the golf course. It's a nice run and pretty scenic. Much like my home route, though, it suffers from a lack of shade. Which wasn't a problem this morning since it was overcast.

The true results of the test aren't in yet and won't be until Monday or so. The knee felt fine during the run, as it usually does. I iced it immediately upon returning since 11 miles was a pretty long test. I iced it again about two hours later and right now it's a dull ache. It certainly hasn't improved but I also don't think it's any worse. I plan on icing it several more times today and generally taking it easy. That shouldn't be hard since the Cards are making a belated run for the wild-card and OU is playing a prime-time game tonight. Boomer Sooner!

The Jury is Still Out

Never end the title of a posting with a preposition. Or so Grandma would say if she'd been here for the blogging years. Which reminds me - Grandpa had a sentence that ended in seven straight prepositions. I need to find that again.

Yesterday my knee felt terrible. I was about to call it right then. Today it felt a lot better and I thought I would be able to run with no issues. The temperature was in the fifties. And yes, it did go much better. The lower temperature means I can run faster without going into cardiac distress. The change in temperature sure does make a big difference. My pace today overall was 9 1/2 minutes per mile. It felt good and even when I stopped my left knee felt fine.

Even after I stopped to walk up the hill it felt okay. It wasn't until a good 90 minutes after the run that I started to notice a little tenderness. I've iced it once already and that helped, and I'll be icing it again before bedtime. Even so it still doesn't seem as bad. Now the guessing game begins.

Was it because I've worn my older shoes for several runs in a row? And my knee is slipping back into the old familiar, non-irritating pattern?

Or was it because I ran at a more comfortable pace and didn't spend the whole run trying to throttle down? Consciously slowing down doesn't go well for me, I've found.

Finally, was it a delayed reaction from taking it easy with the hills and icing the knee for the past week?

I'm heading to Texas for a few days. During that time I'll be getting in 2-3 runs, all non-hilly. This will probably be telling. And I'm taking only the older shoes. If things continue to improve I'll start working in the newer shoes every few runs.

I'm still not sure I'll make it to Memphis. But the chances just improved drastically this afternoon.

Was This a Bad Idea?

The knee was feeling marginally better, or at least marginally the same, today. And today was a speedwork day. Was it a good idea to do the faster running after the past week?

Let's take a few things into account.
#1 - It was cooler today, with temperatures in the 80s instead of hovering around 100 degrees. That factored into my thinking.
#2 - My knee felt just fine during the run. Even when I had to pause and turn around. Or pause and wait for an ignorant driver to look to his left and realize I was standing right beside his car because he was too distracted to see me coming his way. Putz.
#3 - It was breezy, about 15 mph, and that helped keep me cooled down.
#4 - I was wearing my older shoes again. Don't know if that's helping yet.

I've iced my left knee a couple of times again after getting home. Last night it seemed like it was cold for another hour. When The Wife came to bed I thought she'd feel it through her pajama bottoms. Which are courtesy of the Cardinals and her husband. But I digress.

We'll see how it feels tomorrow, which is a non-running day. I expect to keep up the icing. I'm not thrilled with this pattern but it's all I have for now. I feel like I'm hanging on by a thread to this race and getting in the training I need. Definitely not where I want to be right now.

Testing the Knee

My suspicions were confirmed today. My knee was still sore most of the day, but when I took off on a run this evening there was no pain. A couple of times I slowed to a walk to cross a street or turn around and I could feel the pain. Surprisingly it didn't feel that bad when I stopped after 4 miles. All in all I was pleased that the run went so well. I wore my old pair of running shoes to see if that made a difference. After dinner I iced it two separate times and we'll see if that helps as well. It's still over two months from the race, but I have to get back in the swing of things soon or it's going to be a no-go. And I don't want 2011 to be the year I miss running a marathon.

Wanting to Run

The left knee has been killing me since Tuesday's run. Wednesday night it was so painful I kept waking up. I've considered running anyway, but I'm early in my plan and have time to recover. If I hurt it worse then I'm definitely done for the year, and I don't want that.

It feels like a really bad case of runner's knee. I also had pain like this back when I was training for my first marathon. That was because of running too many hills, and that might be the case again here. I put a lot of hill running early in this plan because that's supposed to build strength. Unfortunately I think my lackadaisical training between April and now has come back to bite me in the butt. Or the knee. Wherever.

Yesterday and today I've been icing the knee like crazy - four times each day. It feels a lot better and I thought about attempting a run today but decided to hold off until tomorrow and ease back into it. The Wife and I went on a walk in the neighborhood tonight and that went pretty well. I iced it when we returned home and that seems to have helped. Tomorrow is a big day at work and I'll be looking forward to my evening run. Let's see how the knee does after that.

Blooming Allergies

I skipped the Monday easy run due to a massive allergy flare-up. We had family in town this weekend and went to the lake on Sunday. The wind was blowing and was the trigger for a horrible day and night. Rather than tempt fate the next day, I decided the best course was to lie low and live to fight another day.

All of a sudden it's like autumn has arrived. Last week the temperatures were in the mid-summer range, and today it was about 70 degrees when I went out. The forecast is for the weather to stay mild and not get hot again for the foreseeable future. Weird.

Since I had the day off I went out for a run about 2 p.m. Seven days ago I wouldn't have attempted it due to the heat, but today it was just fine. It was sunny and breezy - all in all a beautiful day for running. Hill repeats was the order of the day, and I did seven of them. I started with a couple of warm-up miles and then did one hill up the middle of the neighborhood to our east. I came down on the backside of the neighborhood and then did six more up my normal hill of repeating. Or something like that. The kids have named a couple of hills in the area, so I suppose I should do the same with this particular hill. They've already taken Killer Hill and Lungdropper Hill. Guess I need to be a little more creative.

Total for the day was 5 miles, which was okay since I was going for distance. I was surprised to find I was doing the repeats at a pace around 7:30/minute, but I guess that's what milder weather brings to the table. As usual, my cooldown run back to the house seemed slow but was actually faster than I've been going lately. That's the benefit of speedwork.

My left knee is hurting somewhat. It feels like the classic runner's knee symptoms. I'm not sure if it's because of too many hills or something else, but I'm going to monitor it. I don't want it to develop into anything that will keep me from racing in December.

Tropical Run

I didn't really intend to write successive posts regarding polar opposites in conditions. It just turned out that way.

I was thinking about the run in Columbia a couple of years ago on this same weekend. The weather was deceptively cool, and the humidity was deceptively humid. That's how today turned out, too. Only without the early fog.

If the run a couple of days ago was like running in the desert, today was like running in a rain forest. And to start off, the weather forecast was dead wrong. Last night it told me there would be cloud cover until about 10 a.m. This morning there wasn't a cloud in the sky. And constant sunlight makes extended running a challenge.

And the humidity was crazy high. When I returned home it was at 60%. That might not seem high, but it is when you're running and the temperature is about 80 degrees. True to form I tried to keep the pace slower. And I kept telling myself that this will pay off in about a month when the weather turns cooler and I've built up strength. Or so I hope.

I still feel like I'm not all the way there as far as recovering long-distance strength after slacking off for much of the summer. My guess is that it's a combination of that as well as the extreme weather taking its toll. Nobody is going to run well in weather like this. Today's 10-miler was a building block for continuing to increase the weekly long run. It didn't have to be a great run, and it wasn't a horrible run, but it was tough. I'm going to take the glass half-full viewpoint and use it as a springboard for upcoming runs, mixed metaphors aside.

Desert Run

The temperature was 101 degrees. The sun was beating down upon me mercilessly. A dry wind blew strongly from the south. It was like running in New Mexico. Except greener. And with more hills, at least within the city limits. Really, climate-wise it felt like the desert.

It was a hill run. Not the best of runs on a scorching day like this, but better than trying to do speedwork. I didn't push it and walked where I needed to. More shade would have been a help, but I know better than to wish for that around here. The run wore me out pretty good, and I really didn't need the 3-entree meal at Panda Express but then again, maybe I did.