There were no posts about the past two weeks crossroads runs, or a long run last weekend because I didn't run them. My knees flared up after the 16 miler and I decided it was time to take action. I saw a sports ortho a week and a half ago . . .no structural damage, just referral to Physical therapy for evaluation and treatment. The PT discovered my left Achilles is curved more than my right and perphaps this is why I'm having more problems with my left leg. Both of my knees seem to be suffering from strain on the pes anserine area which is at the inside of the knee. Pes anserine means "duck's foot" because the three muscles (sartorius, gracilis, and semitendinosus) look like a ducks foot when the cross the inside of the knee and insert at the top of the shin bone. While this medical gargon is all well and good, I think it is just extra reinforcement that I'm a little daffy. Which, to those of you who know me well, is not news. Both the ortho and the PT said I'm OK to continue training, with continued PT and some at home exercises.
With all of the R-E-S-P-E-C-T I could muster singing like Aretha I took action, I signed up for a weekly strength and conditioning class. I know muscle weakness is the primary reason for my my running aches and pains, so I'll be toughening up with a group that includes that DFMC teammates Brenda, Jeff, and Noah for the next 6 weeks. Our leader is Brenda and Noah's coach Vic Brown. Since the DFMC teammates in the class are injury free this season, I hope I'm onto something! The class started a few weeks back so I jumped in as they were progressing some of their strength training (push ups with extra weight on your back . . .and the first time pull-ups were introduced). Needless to say the workout beat me up pretty bad . . .I think it was Friday before I was able to change the clothes on my upper body without pain or limited range of motion.
Tuesday night, while my legs were still recovering from Monday night strength, I attended the first speed workout at Tufts. I showed up after my first PT appointment and I was styling with Kinesio taped knees which look like gigantic band aids (Shifter commented at yesterday's group run that he'd thought I'd skinned both my knees when I told him the tape was for PT). 12-16 400m repeats with 200 m recovery laps at 10K pace were on the agenda. I think I did all of my repeats at closer to 5K or even 1 mile pace, but I was able to run them all in a consistent range of 1:55 - 2:02. If my pace was a 1 mile pace, the pace calculators project me at a 4:28 marathon. If it was a pace I could maintain over 5K, those speed splits would translate to a 4:00 marathon. I'd be in heaven with either of those! The real test will be at the end of the month at the Hyannis Half Marathon. I'd like to be able to run that in 2hrs flat or less. With the pace calculator, that translates to a 4:15 marathon . . .right in the middle of those predictors. I have run a 13.1 training run at 2:10 so I think this is doable.
My knees held up well during the workout and all day Wednesday. I started to get sore on Thursday after I removed the Kinesio tape so I took a second week off from Crossroads. Had some ultra sound, ice massage, and more Kinesio tape at PT on Friday morning and my pain was again managed for the Saturday group run. I only ran 12, achilles and calves were really tight. I think my worst long run to date, even worse because I started to get the visual aura that preceeds a migraine during the last two miles. But, we can't have great workouts every week, so I'm glad to work the bugs out on training runs versus race day.
On the fundraising front, $100 more in the bank from Optimum Building Systems for a grand total of $3,750. Hoping to have $1,250 more in the back by the next team meeting . . .my 2008 5K gloves have seen better days and I'd love to earn a new pair :-)
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