In choosing to take today's run, I made the enormous mistake of missing a meeting I had planned to attend at my job. I completely, entirely forgot about the meeting. Now, I'm clearly disgusted with myself and consider it a massive time management failure, and I only have myself to blame. But I guess the best option is to consider it part of the past and look at the positive side of the series of events.
I ran approximately three miles to and from Stony Brook. The last time I did this short run my right knee was absolutely murdering me. Murdering me. And I know that's crazy because it is, but my knee was in rough shape. Today was wholly different. My knee felt perfect, my arthritis tame. Consequently, I turned things up a notch. I don't know how quickly I ran the miles, but I was satisfied with myself afterward, particularly when a man on Ruggles Street stopped to speak to me. "Wow, you're fast!" "Excuse me?" "I just took the train from Stony Brook and we got here at the same time. Unbe-unbelievable! That's amazing!" An optimal way to finish an incredible run. I've never felt fast or been called "amazing" so I was reasonably stoked.
Then I went to the gym and lifted, lifted, lifted.
Showing posts with label knee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knee. Show all posts
18 September 2008
17 September 2008
blog blog blog
Here's a note to myself and others: I should follow the definitions of a blog as described in my Reinventing the News class. This means I should do a fair amount of linking, commenting and, you know, actually writing. Frequent updates seem to be a major downfall of mine, so let's work on correcting that.
First and foremost, my right knee is feeling considerably better. This does not mean that it's in perfect condition but I am capable of running without experiencing the pain. And, also important, I can walk without sensing that my knee cap is going to explode. Hard to imagine if you've never endured knee pain, but it was something of the norm last week, particularly while at work. Lots of walking, lots of pain. Proper resting, consistent icing and strengthening exercises have served as a sort of remedy. I also plan to relieve some stress by putting a heavier focus on cross-training, particularly now that my university pool is open.
Last night, Cait and I went to the Fens to do some track-style workouts. Like last time, this included the usual jogging mixed with A-steps, B-steps, the old man shuffle, lunges, etc. and sprinting. We cut the stairs out of our routine for time/motivation purposes, much to my relief, although I did climb to the sixth floor of my building upon returning home. Of course, the Fens track is a popular destination for local athletes, so we had the unusual experience of working out around people who were working out. This created conflicts regarding the sharing of the track. A certain group of local young people chose to form lines, standing side-by-side, and perform their exercises, thus making it impossible to go around them. Other joggers - like the man running infinite laps or the woman with the atrocious form - provided material for commentary. And, most of all, the company of others made me extremely self-conscious during my sprints. Was I running fast enough? What did they think of my runner's face? I guess I need to get used to these things.
Another hilarious point: turns out I thought the 5K was this upcoming Sunday. It's Saturday. Sooner than I thought, but not necessarily a bad thing. I'm unreasonably nervous. Wish us luck!
First and foremost, my right knee is feeling considerably better. This does not mean that it's in perfect condition but I am capable of running without experiencing the pain. And, also important, I can walk without sensing that my knee cap is going to explode. Hard to imagine if you've never endured knee pain, but it was something of the norm last week, particularly while at work. Lots of walking, lots of pain. Proper resting, consistent icing and strengthening exercises have served as a sort of remedy. I also plan to relieve some stress by putting a heavier focus on cross-training, particularly now that my university pool is open.
Last night, Cait and I went to the Fens to do some track-style workouts. Like last time, this included the usual jogging mixed with A-steps, B-steps, the old man shuffle, lunges, etc. and sprinting. We cut the stairs out of our routine for time/motivation purposes, much to my relief, although I did climb to the sixth floor of my building upon returning home. Of course, the Fens track is a popular destination for local athletes, so we had the unusual experience of working out around people who were working out. This created conflicts regarding the sharing of the track. A certain group of local young people chose to form lines, standing side-by-side, and perform their exercises, thus making it impossible to go around them. Other joggers - like the man running infinite laps or the woman with the atrocious form - provided material for commentary. And, most of all, the company of others made me extremely self-conscious during my sprints. Was I running fast enough? What did they think of my runner's face? I guess I need to get used to these things.
Another hilarious point: turns out I thought the 5K was this upcoming Sunday. It's Saturday. Sooner than I thought, but not necessarily a bad thing. I'm unreasonably nervous. Wish us luck!
14 September 2008
bend and not break
Listen: I'm going to show my chondromalacia patella what's up, one ice pack at a time.
10 September 2008
go slowly
Well that's problematic.
A recent concern with the drastic mileage increase over the past two weeks got me wondering. We seemed to be following a predetermined schedule of the training we should be doing, in regards to days, miles and rests. Only, it's week three of training and rounding out at 30+ miles felt excessive. My right knee would agree. So I took a look at the schedules again, and it seems that we're a little (OK, four months) ahead of ourselves if we plan to follow the two-schedule training plan. Today would have been a rest day, not an 8-miler and we wouldn't attempt 10 miles until December.
I think I'm going to revert to schedule one of the plan. This is good news on my part because certain joints in my body have not been responding incredibly well to some of the runs. As you know, my arthritis started to act up last week, thus prompting me to buy new kicks immediately. The new shoes have eased, not solved the pain. Expect numerous updates on that in the future. Also, my knee has been hurting since I tried to pump out a 4-mile yesterday. I pumped out that 4-mile in solid time, but each step was borderline brutal until my muscles were totally warmed up. I assume that the 10-mile was too much for my knee to take at this point. Not surprised.
So I'm icing my knee and taking another look at the training plan. Most runs top at 4 miles, with some reaching 5. My bones are happier already. And I'm going to start sampling energy bars and/or drinks to see how they affect my performance during longer runs, because it seems like I always run out of energy somewhere around the 4- or 5-mile mark. Please let me know if you have any recommendations.
A recent concern with the drastic mileage increase over the past two weeks got me wondering. We seemed to be following a predetermined schedule of the training we should be doing, in regards to days, miles and rests. Only, it's week three of training and rounding out at 30+ miles felt excessive. My right knee would agree. So I took a look at the schedules again, and it seems that we're a little (OK, four months) ahead of ourselves if we plan to follow the two-schedule training plan. Today would have been a rest day, not an 8-miler and we wouldn't attempt 10 miles until December.
I think I'm going to revert to schedule one of the plan. This is good news on my part because certain joints in my body have not been responding incredibly well to some of the runs. As you know, my arthritis started to act up last week, thus prompting me to buy new kicks immediately. The new shoes have eased, not solved the pain. Expect numerous updates on that in the future. Also, my knee has been hurting since I tried to pump out a 4-mile yesterday. I pumped out that 4-mile in solid time, but each step was borderline brutal until my muscles were totally warmed up. I assume that the 10-mile was too much for my knee to take at this point. Not surprised.
So I'm icing my knee and taking another look at the training plan. Most runs top at 4 miles, with some reaching 5. My bones are happier already. And I'm going to start sampling energy bars and/or drinks to see how they affect my performance during longer runs, because it seems like I always run out of energy somewhere around the 4- or 5-mile mark. Please let me know if you have any recommendations.
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