08 July 2007

Setback??

Pain in my knee - oh no.

The temperature is a bit more reasonable this weekend. Highs in the mid 80's. No reason for old men (even cute old men) to chastise me for this running activity that I've got myself addicted to.

Saturday was my short run. I took Sadie on a back route to meet Jeanie and Shasta at the doggy play park. Pullman is a bit dog unfriendly when it comes to the city parks. We've had a couple people complain in the past about having the dogs off leash (while playing fetch or Frisbee!) in the city's leash twilight zone. The dog catcher was even called on us once. I called city hall and asked where there was a park we could take the dogs to exercise because my border collie had trouble catching a Frisbee while attached to me via leash. The nice lady on the phone told me we had to go outside the city limits. Just to exercise the dogs?!? Whatever... We found a fenced in, seldom used rugby field on the university's campus and called all our friends with dogs and we kind of take over the park once a week with a big dog party. Sometimes up to 8 or 10 dogs. So far so good... When the students come back for the fall semester we will probably have to find another park though because this is the park that the marching band practices on.

So Sadie and I ran to the park as a pre-Frisbee warm-up. My legs were super heavy and weak. Probably still feeling it from the triple digit 6 miler on Thursday. But I also think my diet is still way out of whack from my wisdom teeth surgery last week, which added to my overall feeling of fatigue. With four big holes in the back of my mouth that have to be rinsed out after I eat anything I think that I've been not eating as many times throughout the day (my granola bar and fruit snack attacks) for convenience. So yesterday after the run I made sure I ate as normally as I could.

Today was my long run for the week and I felt much better...at first. It was a scheduled 15 miler (my longest ever) and I choose to veer away from the flat Chipman Trail where I did my last long run and head to the hilly wheat fields where it's simply more relaxing, scenic, and solitary. The route covered paved roads, gravel roads, and some dirt roads. The only thing I was missing was a dip in the river. I felt very strong for the first 12 miles. Very strong. I was attacking the hills and felt like I was keeping a nice steady pace.

Mile 12 to 13 was a bit of a struggle. This section had a few hills that I could only walk up. At around mile 13 I started feeling a pain in my knee. The same pain I had about 3 months back when I decided to take 2 weeks off to rest it. I slowed my pace considerably, hoping that would help. But it didn't. I walked a bit and then tried to run maybe a 1/4 mile, but the knee was not feeling good. If I absolutely had to I could have run through it (like if I was being chased by a killer sloth) but I didn't see any point in trying to push through it. So the last 2 miles were mostly a brisk walk. It's funny because a couple times I tried to jog at the same pace I was walking and the pain returned. But walking it felt fine. I'm not sure what that means. I have no pain sitting here right now, but I'm sure if I went out and tried to run it would flare up.

This is frustrating because I'm a little nervous this may be something that may not go away as quickly as I'd like. Rest day tomorrow and then I'll see how the knee is feeling on Tuesday.

I've been following my training schedule almost on cue in terms of miles per week. Last week because of my surgery I ran about 5 miles less than called for. So I don't think I'm over training. Maybe it's just a little thing that won't be there on my next run... We'll see.

Oh, and I ran out of water. I'm carrying 42 oz. with my fuel belt but it wasn't enough for me and Sadie. Pretty soon I'll start running with milk jugs full of water.

Saturday - 3.5 miles
Sunday - 15 miles

PHOTO 1 - a taste of wheat and hills
PHOTO 2 - Sadie thinks I'm scared of that hill...

Keep running!

Scott

17 comments:

  1. Warning: unsolicited advice coming....No matter how it feels right now, ice and ibuprofin. Keep it going for a couple of days. Ice after your run too. And remember - do your long runs a little slower than marathon pace. Remember you are already taxing your body by increasing miles - you don't want to push so hard on the new distances. That adds more stress. Save your speed for the shorter runs for now. Your experience at mile 12 is what happens when you go out too fast on long distances. The good news is that as you increase your mileage, you'll find that wall comes later and later. Good luck! ...end of unsolicited advice...

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  2. I'd definitely take the advice ;-)

    Sorry I can't help much, since you know I know virtually nothing when it comes to this stuff LOL. Although I will ask, are you picking up your feet? Sometimes when I "shuffle" especially towards the end when I'm feeling a bit more tired, I notice my knees start to ache a bit. I can't remember the mumbo jumbo on why this (knee pain) happens when you shuffle but dude talks about it in Chi Running LOL I know, that was a TOTAL help :P

    Dude, TOTALLY hear you on the water deal. Mine only carries 22 oz so I have to leave out bottles at home, run back home and then continue on. Can we say annoying?

    Great job on helping Paul out with his workouts! :P

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  3. thanks michelle. advice is always welcome. and if i don't like it then you'll notice a "comment deleted" tag where yours used to be. ;)

    i didn't feel like i was going too fast ever on the run, but i think trying to run ALL the hills proved to be my undoing...

    should i stay away from hills on long runs from here on out??

    and marcy, you should thank me for helping paul. if he didn't have a spotter then his form would be waaayyy off. :)

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  4. I think you hit on it. Doing increased long runs and hills together are not recommended-yet. Do a hill work out once a week separate from the long run. And the advice about rest, ice and ibuprofin is excellent...

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  5. I hope the rest day tomorrow will help your knee. Tremendously. I agree... ice and ibuprofin... It can't hurt, can it?!

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  6. Where is the pain? Top of knee, front of knee, side of knee? Knowing that may help you self-diagnose, but either way, I agree with the others: ice, IB, stretch, rest.

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  7. Wow! I love your pictures. the scenery looks awesome. Looks like you are making great progress. Congratulations!

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  8. One more thing. Be extremely careful when stretching. Many injuries occur when not stretching right. Find a trainer and/or a good book on this topic. Just DO NOT overstretch.

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  9. Hope that knee feels better fast. I agree with back of pain...listen to her! :-) Great pics too!

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  10. You are one blessed dude to have such beautiful running scenery!! Sure wish I could be your running partner...

    I agree with the others...ice is a wonderful tool in the hands of a runner...and on the knees of a runner...and the shins...and ankles...and maybe quads...oh, you get the idea = )

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  11. I'm not much for giving advice. I had a running injury book that I used when I began running and over time developed an awareness of my body and what I could and could not get away with. Ice and ibuprofin are always a safe bet temporarily. Take it easy. We want you healthy. Good luck!

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  12. Hey there, first time reading your blog, just stumbled upon it. I too had a similar knee pain issue, caused by running too hard in the winter (on ice) and a sudden increase in mileage (8m runs to 16). 1.5 m into my runs I got the pain in my left knee on the outer bottom part. But when I stopped and walked it was fine...then ran and it hurt. So after about 3 days I went to the doc. and his diagnosis was a "strained meniscus". So I rested it for 8 days and did a week of 4m runs then went back to 8's. Knock on wood it hasn't come back to haunt me.

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  13. Alright - please listen to me!!!

    Make sure you are spending quality time stretching. Following your long run it would not be a bad idea to take an 5 or 10 minute ice bath. Sure it will be cold but the benefits are huge. Stretching is key. Even if you think you do enough do a google search and add some new forms to your routine.

    In my past experience my injury it was all due to increasing miles to fast and not stretching. Be careful!!

    Way to head for the hills on your long run.

    And are there really such thing as dog cathers still??? Wild!!

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  14. this does not sound good. shane is actually experiencing a stress fracture in his femur, so he's out of pocatello for marathon distance- he's probably going to do portland, though.
    good luck! i'm becoming more worried about injuries as i run further. i guess you just do what you can!
    good luck at brundage! we'll be driving back to p-town that day, so we'll be cheering in our car all day long. :)

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  15. i'm sorry you had pain in your knee. i hope it's better by now!

    by the way, you know what i realized? you probably run more in a week than i ran since i started blogging in may. what's your secret to keep running?

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  16. Hi Scott , too bad about the knee. Last year when I was training for my half and was increasing my mileage (probably too fast)I also got some knee pain. If I remember rightly I think my physio said it had something to do with weak abductors which led to increased stress on the knee. Try some exercises to strengthen the abductors.

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  17. you are blessed to have such a photography gift. I was looking back at my going away scrap book and found an awesome picture of a waterfall you took at Elk...something...Idaho. I guess I've been away long enough to forget place names! Cool new blog look.

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