Saturday, April 10, 2010

9 miles and knee pain

So this morning my alarm went off at the usual 5am and I was feeling good to go out and rock 10 miles, well 10 became 9, and 9 turned into knee pain :( All things considered it was a really great run, and I am kind of shocked how well it went, again...considering.


John had no disire to run 10 miles with me so I made him promise me 6 and I would do 4 alone as a warm up. I headed out the door a little after 5:30am and felt really great the first 4 miles- I started comfortably since I still had a lot to do, and my lungs and legs felt great and kept wanting to push faster and faster. I let them a little bit, but kept some in my reserves for the next 6.

As I started mile 2 my knee got a little achy- not pain, not sore, just achy. It went away somewhere within that mile and at the time I didn't give it much thought.

Miles 1-4: 37:34 average 9:24 pace
Mile 1-  9:48
Mile 2-  9:25
Mile 3-  9:13
Mile 4-  9:08

Negative splits and everything I was ready to enjoy the cool weather and rock the next 6. On my way back to grab John I had 4 gu chomps to give myself some extra energy, grabbed my camelbak and we headed back out.

John took off pretty quick but I just hung back keeping a nice comfortable pace, I was nervous about my knee after it had been talking the last couple days and I really wanted more negative splits so I held strong.

Well going into the 2nd mile my knee started to ache again, I told myself to get to mile 2 and see what it felt like. Well at mile 2 John stopped to catch his breath and I tried to loosen up my knee which seemed to be more aggraveted and stiffer than when I started. I told him I would run my pace to mile 2.5 and if it didn't get any better I was turning around there instead of at the 3 mile turn around point.

Well needless to say I hit mile 2.5 and the knee was full-blown hurting at that point- not cool!!! I told him I was heading back and was going to run as long as I could because all the stopping and starting seemed to make it worse. I took off and at first my knee killed but it loosened up as I kept going, and I started to notice that the quicker I went the less it hurt (most likely because of a quicker turn around and less time for impact)- just a guess. But I made an effort to keep up the best pace I could at that point, it hurt less and it would get me home quicker.

Well at about mile 4.5 I must have stepped funny and tweeked my knee because I got a shooting pain and had to stop immediately. I walked for a good 2 minutes (which also hurt) and then told myself to just runa nd finish- at that point the running actually felt better than walking. I finished 5 miles pretty much at our front door, and when I stopped, it hurt worse to walk. Boo :(

Miles 5-9: 48:46, avg 9:45 pace
Mile 5-  9:48
Mile 6-  9:45
Mile 7-  9:51 (where I stopped to stretch, and then turn around)
Mile 8-  9:26 (can you tell running faster felt better)
Mile 9-  9:55 (I walked for almost 2 minutes during this mile, so I can only imagine how quick I was going while running)

I am not real happy with how those splits look, but I know considering the knee pain, it was pretty impressive. Once in the door, I showered really quick and then sat on the floor in the bathroom icing my knee while I got ready for work.


So how does it feel now...pretty normal?!?!?!?!?! I can tell my knee is stiff (but sitting at work for a few hours doesn't help that) and its not painful to touch or move, just stiff when it goes from being straight to bent after a long amount of time. It is more than likely 'runner's knee' inflammation, so for precautionary reasons I will vut my mileage for next week in half- especially since I have a race in a week! The ice and some advil certainly help, so I will relax some today, and probably test it out tomorrow pretty easy.


I felt really frustrated today when I got out there and was having a great run and can feel my speed coming around, my legs and breathing felt great, and then my stupid knee (not even my previously bad knee) has to go and mess it all up. I am hoping 1 cut back week, some strength training, and icing will help it come around, because I really feel like I am starting to fall into a good groove, and I will NOT let something as small as my knee get in the way!

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