Current Weight: 155.4
Starting BMI: 27.7
Current BMI: 24.7
I'm scouring the internet for what's going on with my knee. Let's back up.
After my run with Amanda last week My knee hurt a little bit Sunday and Monday. Strange because I totally thought it would be my hips that were bothering me. Running Tuesday hurt a bit after the first mile, not bad, but enough that I thought I should ease off the training a bit this week . It doesn't help that at the new job (which I LOVE) I'm running around grabbing (often heavy awkward) product and then sitting for long periods of time. It's a weird mix of up and down, and total non-movement that seems to aggravate my knee, but I digress. Yesterday I ran my first taper 12 miler and was pretty slow (about 20 minutes slower than Amanda's 12 miler) and in some pain from my right knee and subsequently my left hip (I don't think I have an injury in my hip, considering it ONLY hurts when I've ben running for a long time, and only after my knee starts to hurt, which makes me think that it's a result of changing my gait because of my knee pain).
From everything I can find it's an overuse injury, treatment of which involves rest and ice. With literally two weeks before this marathon, that's kinda not what I want to hear but what I expected. I'm no stranger to joint injuries, I have had plenty and I can pretty much tell that this one (although annoying) isn't something to go to the doctor for, because what they will do is run some scans (charge me tons of money) and tell me what I already know. That I need to rest and when I do run if the pain gets bad stop.
So my plan of action this week is as follows:
1. As soon as the running store in town opens today I'm going to go get a knee brace designed for running to wear for the next few weeks. I tried just getting one from Walgreen's but it's short and bunches up behind my knee, not good when you need to go a long distance. While I'm not a fan of braces all the time, if I'm going to try to make this work, I'm going to need some extra support.
2. I'm going to do some very light stretching on my hamstrings and quads, looking at where the pain is, it could be caused just by over-use (the job thing, fact that I wear heeled boots at work, and that my favorite sitting position involves my right leg tucked up under me all probably don't help the matter), but I could also have some tightness in both my hamstrings and quads.
3. I'm going to evaluate my knee pain and run this week as seems wise. I may just take the week off (which seems bad, but what I can tell from many running blogs, should not be detrimental to my fitness) I may substitute some cushy treadmill running for my usual pavement running in the hopes of being nice to my knee. I may do some running if it feels good. As I tell my dancers, "You only get two knees, and if you ruin them, the surgeries are not fun and are hard to come back from. Don't mess with your knees."
4. I will be realistic when it comes to next weeks long run (even though it's a taper) and will stop if pain starts. Again, I would rather be able to run the Marathon in two weeks than get all my training runs in and then not be able to run.
5. I will come back to this post and remind myself of this plan when I start to feel like i should just man up and push through the pain.
I texted Amanda a bit last night, making sure she knew what I'm going through, and letting her know that if this turns out to be a thing, she should totally run without me. Not to be all Wah wah me, seriously, just so that she knows it's okay.
So Amanda, if this all works and I get to run almost pain free race day I AM SO looking forward to running with you...
BUT IF I have to run slower on race day there is a choice: 1. if you decide to stay back and run with me I will of course be super happy to finish with you. This experience has been so much richer because you were there going through it all right along with me. 2. if you want to run ahead, I will be okay too. You have done AMAZING in your training, I've had a few hiccups, and besides you've been running longer than me. So if staying back with me would detract at all from your experience I want you to run on. As we said last night, we don't have to make these decisions now, but as I always do I want to have a game plan. Because on race day if it all goes well I'll be glad we had a plan, but if it doesn't I don't want either of us to feel guilty about what happens (I don't want to feel guilty if you stay back, and I don't want you to feel guilty if you leave me behind).
Regardless I'm crossing that damn finish line.