Return of the Run

My left knee has been acting up, and after months of attempting to self treat/ignore the pain, I finally made an appointment to see a Nurse Practitioner.  I didn’t want to go through another terrible injury like I’d done when I was dancing. For the last four weeks I was good. I followed the advice of the Nurse Practitioner, and I rested.  No running, only very little dancing, icing, ibuprofen, stretching etc. I also purchased the neoprene knee sleeve that was recommended.  Until last week, I’d been waking up with some pain and inflammation. On Saturday, I finally felt it was time to attempt a run.  I put on my knee sleeve, sprayed on some sunblock and headed out.

When I first started, I felt good, but I knew I was going too fast.  I was hitting a 9 minute mile, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sustain that, so I tried to slow down, but it was tough. It felt so great to be running again! I didn’t bring my iPod with me, so I just enjoyed the nice weather. I did a loop around Pan Pacific Park, which is actually pretty hilly, which may have been a mistake.  After I hit the mile mark, my legs started to fatigue.  I think some of it was that I had started out too fast, hadn’t really hydrated well during the day, and well, let’s face it, after four weeks of no exercise, my legs were confused. I headed home at a much slower, mostly walking pace, and while I was disappointed that I wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped, I was really, really glad to be able to get through a run with almost zero knee pain.

My knee was a little sore, but not much at all, and I made sure to stretch for a good twenty minutes and then ice when I got home.  Even with the stretching, I woke up Sunday stiff and a bit sore.  :( I have a long road ahead of me, especially if I want to even attempt the Nike Women’s Marathon in October (I do). But, at least, I don’t feel like I’m totally back at square one, and I don’t feel like it’s an impossibility.

The truth is, I haven’t been doing the strength training I know I need to do.  I guess it’s time to really get on that, huh? It’s funny because I used to be the person who preferred strength training to cardio, but now, it’s so much easier for me to hop on a treadmill and run than to think about doing weights.  Do you prefer cardio or strength training?

I’ve been thinking about buying The New Rules of Weightlifting for Women.  I’m just not sure if it’s worth the investment. Yes, I know, it’s only $20 but still. ;)

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Catherine, August 1st 2011 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in 2011, accomplishments, life, Los Angeles, training

Good News/Bad News

Good morning everyone! I have to work late tonight so I don’t have to be at work until 11:30 this morning.  However, I was up at my usual weekday time to go see a Nurse Practitioner about my knee.   I was at Kaiser at 8:15 this morning for my appointment, and paid my stupid $20 copay for the NP to tell me exactly what I knew already.  I have Runner’s Knee.  That’s the good news.

She wrote me a referral for Physical Therapy and here comes the bad news.  I called to make an appointment, and hopefully get in this morning, since it was just before 9am and I had lots of time to kill before work. The earliest appointment they have available is not until August 4th at 2:30pm.  When I asked when I could get in for a morning appointment, since I work during the day, and am an hourly employee and do not have the luxury of simply taking an hour and a half to two hours out of the middle of my day, I was told “We don’t have any morning appointments.”

“None?”

“No, we only have afternoon appointments.” Basically, the ONLY available appointment times are after August 4th, 3 weeks away, all at 2:30pm

So, it looks like I will not be going to any Physical Therapy appointments.  In the meantime I’m supposed to find a neoprene sleeve and keep off my knee. The NP also gave me a little illustrated booklet with stretches and exercises (all of which I’d already found on the interwebs,) to do at home.

All in all, I’m glad I went if for no other reason than to find that I have no done any damage to ligaments or tendons in my knee.  I’m annoyed though. I spent $20 for someone to tell me exactly what I already knew, and can’t even go to physical therapy. Lame.

Now, I’m at home watching the recording of Hanson’s 5 of 5 that I recorded from Palladia and hanging with the kittehs before I need to head out to work. Hopefully this will cheer me up so I’m not in a bad mood the rest of the day.  It’s gonna be a long one.

4 Comments

Catherine, July 14th 2011 | Tags: , ,
Posted in 2011, life, Marathon, training

Caved

Sunday, I managed to run 3.22 miles. Tuesday, I ran 4 miles, and yesterday I ran 5. Although, saying I “ran” 5 is a bit of a stretch since I did a hell of a lot of walking. My left knee is not getting better. It still hurts, even after icing. I had diagnosed myself with runner’s knee a while ago, and sort of attempted to “rest.”  Clearly, I didn’t really REST, but it was the closest approximation of rest I could manage. I’m an idiot.

So, I caved. I made an appointment to see a Nurse Practitioner on the 14th. I’m pretty much worried she’ll tell me to stop running. When I talked to my dad after work yesterday, he said “maybe you need to stop running.”

My answer?

“I already paid for the marathon in October and the half marathon in January.”

“Well, you have to decide which is more important… your knees or race fees…”

“Dad. It’s like $300.”

“….they’re your knees.”

So, until the 14th I’m still going to struggle through my training plan. That sounds smart, right?

Super typical.

8 Comments

Catherine, July 7th 2011 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in 2011, lessons, life, training

Running Dreams

Before my first half marathon last September, I used to have dreams about Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum chasing me in a golf cart because I was too slow. I don’t remember having any bad dreams before my second half marathon, but with my painful knees and a 5k coming up tomorrow, well, dreams came back with full force.

Last night, I had a dream that I was run walking in a Disneyland marathon.  This is odd since Disneyland only has half marathons, but in my dream there was a half and a full.  I started out walking with one of the mom’s from my dance school, and things were ok, until we got to a point where she wanted to stop. I was certain we’d gone almost the whole half marathon distance, so I said, ok I’m not going for this full for any time I just want to finish. I’ll walk with you to the bathroom.  Then, I realized as I was getting ready to head back to the course to run the rest of my full marathon, that I had no fuel, no phone, nothing on me that I would normally have on a long run, AND my garmin said we’d only walked 3 miles!!  In my dream, I had a nervous breakdown trying to find my way back to the course, which I did find, but only at mile 11.  I realized then I’d have to go back, find where I left the course and start over, otherwise my chip wouldn’t have recorded all the miles. Once I found my way back to the course my legs were like lead, I could hardly move them, and felt like I was moving through syrup.  I’m pretty sure this dream has more to do with my fear that my knees may not heal in time for me to properly train for the Nike Women’s Marathon in October than anything else.

I woke up with my heart racing. Does this happen to you? Do you have running related nightmares?

 

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Catherine, May 6th 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2011, life, Marathon, training