Running

6.0 in 44:52.  Avg pace 7:29.

Contemplating going to see a doctor for my knee this week.  If I'm going to see a doctor I want the knee to be hurting; so I decided to run.  The pain was pretty much always there, but I can deal with during the run.  We will see how it feel throughout the day though as that is when I seem to have trouble.  It did seem to feel better if I lengthened my stride and kept the pace up.  It was nice to see that I could actually sustain this pace after not running much over the last 3+ weeks.  Splits:

1-8:10 2-7:35 3-7:40 4-7:18 5-7:09 6-6:55

6.0 on the TM in the evening in an effort to get the knee to hurt good enough to justify going to see a doctor (stupid, I know).  The knee actually felt pretty good all day today.  Hurt during the run, but not as bad.  I guess the key will be how it feels when I wake up in the morning.

6.0 in 49:00.  First 3.75 were miserable.  Probably the worst pain I've had with the knee while running.  Then I ran into Melanie B. and talked with her for a few minutes.  When I started back up, the knee felt much better for the next 2 miles.  The last .25 were then like the first 3.75.  

2.11 run/walk.  Trying to get in to see a doc.

2.10 run/walk.  Headed to dr. this morning.

Went to the dr. this morning.  He's a sports med. dr. and I think he does a good job, but he is all the way up in Bountiful.  A little bit of a drive, but I was able to get in to see him rather quickly and I had seen him last summer for some achilles issues.

After telling/showing him where I was having knee trouble and then after looking at the x-rays he could definitely see the problem.  Basically it is "runners knee" and is related to some alignment issues in my knee.  He said after looking at how I walk/run that it is easy to see why I have trouble and that it was only a matter of time before it manifested itself (I think the 17 mile workout about 4 weeks ago triggered everything).  Basically my left knee bends inward a bit when I run.  He said the problem should be fixable by doing some core strengthening exercises that focus on hips/pelvis/core.  He also gave me a cortizone shot to alleviate the pain and did so on the promise that I would do the strengthening exercises.  I will start running next Wednesday and hopefull the cortizone works its magic for the next little while so that I can get up to normal mileage.  Sorry, for the long explanation, but it is more for me to remember than anything.

Lifted for about 65 minutes and then swam for 2 hours.  Good workout.  Knee feels good and I don't notice any pain.  Just feels like I got a shot in it, which I did.