I have had serious knee pain just under the knee so I have taken quite a bit of time off (3 weeks).  I decided that enough is enough and I was running starting new years day.  I have been trying to stay somewhat in shape but my knee limited what I could do and the pools have been closed for the holidays.  Today I finally ran and it felt great to get back out there.  I'm not going to say my body felt great, but my spirit was as happy as could be.  I truly have missed running.  The knee felt ok.  Not great by any means, but it felt ok.  Lots of icing, stretching, and ibuprofen at this point.

I was planning on 4 today but by the time I got going I ended up doing 6.

The knee pain was less than yesterday which made me really happy.  I was able to go really slow being on the trails and it was nice getting back out there for a second day.

Weekly Report:

Got to run twice this week to start the new year.  I have recovered as long as I can.  1 trail run and 1 road run for a total of 8.8 miles.  After the few weeks I've had I'll take it.

I am planning on running a 50 miler and a half marathon within the next 5 months so I need to get to work.  My buddy Rhett is turning 50 this year (although all my kids say he looks like he's barely 35) and we are planning on a 50 miler for his 50th birthday.  I've got a couple other things I want to do with him this year too so it should be a busy and fun 2021.

I'm cautiously optimistic about how my body will react this week.  I've really been working on getting things healed as well as I can and this week will be the test.  Nothing long this week, just some consistant 3 mile runs each morning followed by a slightly long 6-7 mile run on Saturday.  I'll throw in some swimming and core work during the week too.  

Took it slow today.  

Still have the knee pain but nothing is getting worse.

Today I wore a knee brace.  Didn't seem to help much.  My plantar fasciiatis seemed to bother me the most today.

Swim followed by a run.

Knee felt the same but I am going to try a new tape technique and see if that helps.  I also found that a good stretch of the quads seemed to loosen things up a litte and feel better.  Plantar felt much better.  Worked on some new things last night with it and I think at least initially they helped.

Swim was nice.  I wasn't expecting the pool to be so cold initially but after a few minutes I adjusted and things felt good.  Still had some pain in the knee when I am kicking off the wall.

3 miles on the trails.  The heel was tight for about 1/2 mile and then totally loosened up and felt great.  The knee is still giving me the same pain.  Nothing worse maybe a little better.  I've been trying everything to try to calm it down and maybe it's working and I need to give it more time but at this point I don't know.  I'll keep doing what I'm doing because it's not getting any worse.  

Core workout after the run.

This was my long run for the week.  Not much to call home about but it was big for me.  I have really been trying to battle this patella thing so to finish a 6 mile run with no major pain was big for me.  

Weekly Report:

Well, I achieved my goal for the week.  My leg is not really happy with me but the silver lining to this is that my pain is not getting any worse.  It basically has stayed the same for the week.  I'm not sure how I am going to tackle this because it's a new injury for me but I'm working on my stretching and rolling.  I've tried to be really good about this but at times I think I have got a little too aggressive and made it mad.  I am going to keep running as long as things maintain where they are at but I am not going to increase my mileage much.  

I also got 1 swim in this week.  I'm hoping to get in a few more this week but it's a little tough with the limited times I can go to the pool.

I am heading to Lake Tahoe this week with my family for a little vacation and business meeting so I'm hoping to get to run a few trails if they are runnable.