Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Please knee, not now...

Yesterday's 10-mile tempo run went as planned, but today I'm feeling a strange pain in my right knee. It hurts when I step forward and if I give a bit of a kick, it hurts more. I hope it's nothing serious and it goes away on its own very soon. Maybe it's from walking around so damn much in flip flops.

Today is a crosstraining day. I'm planning an easy bike ride in Central Park and then some strength training later on -- if my knee cooperates, that is. I'd love to ride over the GW bridge, like old times, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Besides, I'm afraid once I do it, I'll fall in love with it again and be back to my once-a-week 5-hour rides. I really don't need that before November 1 -- MARATHON DAY. I need to stay focused on my running (and not getting injured).

I felt like everyone I know raced a tri this weekend except me. This is really hard to deal with emotionally and now that I'm feeling pretty good physically, it's even harder. I'm so glad I have the marathon as my goal. It's definitely keeping me in check.

2 comments:

baker said...

jenn- so great that you are back on the bike! wanted to tell you, when I started running last year my knee began doing the same thing. Now, by no means am I any expert, doctor, or have any more than 1-2 years of running experience... but I did fix it randomly. sometimes the knee cap shifts to the left and right ever so slightly as you run, creating the pain. what i did was very light leg presses and squats to strengthen the muscle and ligaments above and below the knee so it stayed on a vertical track as i ran. it totally worked and when i ran the 'thon i had zero pain (i mean, aside from wanting to die at mile 20 like everyone else of course).

Jenn Place said...

LOL! Chris, thanks for the advice. It's interesting what you said because I was thinking that when I was also biking and swimming, I never had any pain, so I went out for a bike ride yesterday. When I left, the knee hurt but by the time I got back, it felt better. Magic! Now let's hope it lasts.