How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

Weather - 37 degrees, cloudy.

Running 28 miles in snow did not take much out of me, perhaps because I have run numerous 20+ milers in the snow already. I have a stiff right knee, which I believe will clear up in 2 or 3 days. Other than that, just general fatigue, with no muscle soreness.

My energy was sky high today, and it was warmer than it has been in weeks, but I took it easy and ran just 2 miles, plus some strength exercises.

I already want to get back out and do some long runs. It is definitely in my blood now.

#443

Weather - 29 degrees, cloudy.

Taking it easy, icing my knee, massaging my legs - fun times.

#444

Weather - 8 degrees, clear, windy.

Lots of energy today. My knee is slowly getting  better. Hamstrings were a bit tight yesterday, but on the mend today. A few more days of easy runs should get everything back to normal.

#445

Weather - 13 degrees, clear, windy.

Not much to write about today.

#446

Weather - 21 degrees, cloudy, windy.

Everything except my knee feels 100%. I am not a doctor so I can't diagnose how long it will take for the knee to recover, or what the problem is.

I felt the knee get tight at mile 20 of the race.  If it was a training run I would have stopped, but being a race and not feeling any extreme pain, I decided to finish.

The extra 8 miles obviously placed some stress on the knee, so now I have to patiently wait until it heals.

The positives :

- only hurts when I run and walk stairs. Normal walking causes no discomfort.

- It has gotten 30-40% better since the race.

Negatives :

- Can't run more than 2 miles a day until it heals.

- Don't know if it will get better in 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months.

I will just have to take it day by day, and hope for the best.

I ice it 4-5 times a day, and stimulate the knee by massaging it for 30-60 minutes. The little bit of running I do will hopefully help to hasten the healing, rather than hinder.

I will take a page out of Benn's book and remain positive.

#447

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

Weather - 48 degrees, clear, windy.

I got up early and ran 2 miles, and then walked 3. No improvement in knee, but did some new stretches, massaged the leg, and drank nettle tea. 

Later in the afternoon it got up to 58 degrees, melting 95% of the snow.

#449

Weather - 40 degrees, sunny.

Beautiful day, with the next couple of days going up to 60 degrees. 

I was only able to run 1.5 miles before my knee started hurting.

However, this being  a friendly type of injury, I can do just about anything except run.

Yesterday evening I had too much energy to go to sleep so I went over to Brookens gym at 11:00pm and put in a good workout of 8 sets of strength exercises and also did some jump rope sets. The park district has cable tv set up in the office so I got a chance to watch a few minutes of Million Dollar Baby.

Today 1.5 miles was not going to cut it, so in the late afternoon I went for a 3.5 hour walk. As the sun was setting I arrived at the arboretum and walked the hill for one hour in the dark, but since the moon was almost full there was plenty of illumination.

Walking 3.5 hours made me feel pleasantly spent, as if I had run 90 minutes, and walking the hill raised my heart rate a bit.

At least I am figuring out ways to get a good workout.

Tomorrow I plan on walking 3-4 hours, with more hills.

#450

Weather - 62 degrees, sunny, windy.

Beautiful weather for Feb 9, I guess it makes up for the awful cold of the past 10 weeks. 

This was the toughest 1 mile run I have done in some time.

I planned to walk a full South Farms loop today. I started at 11:30am. When I got to Crystal Lake park I stopped for 15 minutes and did 3 sets of strength exercises, then I continued on to Busey Woods.

I looped around the woods then headed across town to the arboretum. I was covering ground quicker than I thought, and time was flying by, just like a long run.

When I was approaching the South Farms the wind became stronger, and when I got on the road it was stiff and blew directly into me.

I was starting to lose energy, so I ate the snadwich and Cliff bar I had in my pocket. When I got near the end of the road I ran 1/2 mile but my knee felt stiff , and my other leg was sore because it was not used to walking so many miles.

I stopped running and found my knee was now having trouble walking. I started to get glum, I was at the furthest, remotest part of the run, the wind was relentless, I couldn't run, could barely walk, and I started to get blisters on the balls of both feet. I have not had blisters in a long time, but I guess walking uses different parts of the feet than running.

My thoughts turned negative, "I'm not counting a half mile, so my streak is over", "I'm gonna stop blogging until I can run again", and  "I won't be able to run until June or July".

When I made the turn to head back to town the wind was at my back, my knee felt better, and I started walking faster. The blisters would remain manageable until the final half mile. I tried to throw away the negative thoughts, and decided I would try to run another half mile when I got to MBK so that I could keep my running momentum going.

I did complete the final half mile run, but I decided to cut short the loop, and ended up with a 3.5 hour walk, same as yesterday.

So I survived another session, just have to take it day by day and react positively to whatever circumstance brings.

#451

Only able to go 1 mile today. 

I will probably stop running for now, and start up when my body recovers. Injury is a part of the game, so I just have to occupy myself with something else until I am better. 

Will stop blogging while I am recovering, thanks to everyone for the inspiration, this has been a great 18 months.