Elite Jogging For Dummies

My third run in ten days.  Let me recap the reasons for my absence: On Friday, June 29th my SI joint on the left side in my back somehow "slipped" while I was pulling on a pair of socks (...sock injury ...!!!) and I was hobbling around in pain for the next several days, doing the SI manipulations that Dr. McIntyre taught me and doing no running.  And this seems to have been connected in some way to the case of "runners knee" that had flared up over the prior two weeks--the apparent result of letting my left hamstring stay way too tight for about four months.  I think the back problem had something to do with overcompensating for the knee problem.  The knee hurts most when climbing and descending, the two things I have been doing most recently.

ANYWAY  ...  after a lot of rest, a very painful "massage" torture session, and no small amount of brooding, I am able to run a little bit. This morning I ran up to City Creek and ran a couple of miles on the trail, which felt nice ... it's fairly flat. The knee did bother me, but not the back.   I know what I need to do to improve the knee and it starts with keeping the hamstring loose and untying the knots that currently pass for muscles.

Today I ran at lunch from work. I headed up City Creek Canyon on the trail, turning around at the trail junction that takes you toward the radio towers.  It was warm today, but pleasant running conditions overall. I had my shirt off on the trail, blinding two hikers.  I put it back on as I returned to the city as I didn't want the glare to cause any traffic accidents.  I'm a good citizen, see.

 The knee was somewhat bothersome, but as I've tested it out while running I think there is a general problem of being very "right side" heavy in my stride and footstriking.  My left leg just feels "weaker" in some way. I did a couple of drills in memory grove that sort of tuned me into this fact. Something to think about and work on.
 

An easy tour of the neighborhood, still just testing out the knee. It certainly had its painful moments,  but mostly performed well. it is really hard to say if I can continue running on the knee like this or if I really do need to give it a lot more additional time to heal.

I am doing some additional stretching and massage and I think that helps.  Keeping the mileage low and the terrain flat should also help.  Frankly, however, I just want to sprint up and down mountains

This morning I had big plans to run up Red Butte Canyon (albeit on the road) but at about 2.5 into the run, I noticed that my knee was hurting with every step. This bothered me. So I stopped and stretched for five minutes or so. This helped but I was still being pretty careful and kept the run short. 

Another ~6 mile run. This seems to be about the right distance for my knee to handle, so long as I stop at mile 2 and stretch out the hamstring.  Today I actually had fairly decent aerobic energy and felt pretty good other than the intermittent knee pain.  

 I think I've decided what I need to do is go swimming more.  We'll see!
 

Nursing the knee. I swam 800 meters in the indoor pool at Steiner.

I swam 900 meters in the outdoor pool at Steiner.

Parked at Steiner and ran 2 miles, then I swam for about 20 minutes. I mainly practiced my bilateral breathing, as I'm terrible at breathing on the left side and I would be a much better swimmer if I were comfortable with breathing on both sides easily. 

 As for the run, the first mile was ok, the second mile had the predictable knee pain in virtually every step. It did ease up when I altered my gait, but I really shouldn't have to do that.  More stretching and rest required.
 

two mile run and then a swim. This is more interesting: 

http://antonkrupicka.blogspot.com/2009/06/mt-massive.html