Weather - 37 degrees, clear. It looks like the weekend will be in the 50's, melting all the snow. I ran 2 miles, and then walked 3. Stopped off at Strawb's and picked up some nettle tea as mentioned by Sno. When I got home I looked up runner's knee as mentioned by Jeff, but found out from continued research that my symptoms match a fired up IT band. Yesterday I had some hip pain (same side as knee pain) when walking to the grocery store, which was odd, I have never had that before. The pain in my right knee is on the outside of the knee, and happens when it bends in certain directions only. During my race the muscles that got fatigued were in my hips, so it makes sense that it could have inflamed the IT band. It also makes sense that running on snow was the main culprit, because of the uneven running surface. I don't think I went too far or too fast, but the uneven surface is what bit me. Looking at treatment, I see I should be massaging the outer part of my leg, from my hip down the thigh. One website advised against massaging the knee, since this may increase the friction problem. So I will stop massaging my knee and start working on my thigh and hip. Stretching the IT is supposed to help, so I need to learn some IT stretches and work on that. This injury can last a while, so I may be running 2 miles everyday for the next 3 or 4 weeks. Oh well, I will try to remain positive and work hard on getting back to normal. I have been running injury free for 1 year and 4 months, that is not too bad. This injury was not caused by my own stupidity, but rather the conditions (snow) on race day. Had it been a training run I would have stopped at mile 20. Maybe I should have stopped anyways, but that is not how I approach a race, even a low key race. I always try my best and want to finish, unless severely injured. #448
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