I’m not going to lie, it has been seriously difficult getting back into a regular running schedule after the epic half marathon race that I ran a few weeks ago now.
The left knee injury turned out to be a little worse than I had initially thought. It took me two weeks before I was walking completely normal again, so I figured I better do a little research into exactly what I had done wrong. I’m no doctor (I just play one on TV), but it looks like Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome – PFPS. The patello is your kneecap, and patellofemoral pain is an overuse injury caused by a mistracking patello in your femur or thighbone. This image here sort of explains it.
Basically – overuse (not enough training), and increasing mileage too quickly. Which is what I had thought to begin with, but now that I know it’s actually a “syndrome,” I suppose I should take it a little more seriously, huh?
Not running for two weeks and change has had a bit of a bizarre effect. I’ve read articles and such about serious athletes being injured, and how difficult it is for them to go through rehabbing the injury when all they want to do is just keep up with their sport. Honestly, I can’t say I ever felt much pity at the aspect of them missing out on the exercise. Oh boo flippin hoo, you’ve been running 100 miles a week, and now you’re upset that you have to sit on a couch for a month? World’s tiniest fiddle.
But I’m starting to get the picture now. Even only running for a little over 6 months now, and averaging just about 25-30 miles per week on my good weeks, it has become a pretty significant part of my life. Not just running, but exercise in general. Without it, I start going a little crazy. I get testy. The fact that my left wrist is still in a brace has prevented me from doing anything significant really with upper body exercise, cause my left arm is withering away and the last thing I want to do is beef up my right in the mean time. Yeah that would just be.. weird. So I haven’t been to the gym, and I hadn’t been running, and I think it was all starting to turn me into a bit of an asshole.
You really don’t realize how much you’re getting out of something until it’s taken away.
Stop the presses! Yeah, I know, this is headline news nobody has ever heard before.
So this past weekend we had some really beautiful weather and I was literally dying to get out for a run. I figured I’d keep it pretty easy and light, no concern for going long distances or at any particular speed. Amanda and I chose the Burke Lake Loop for the run, another one of my favorite spots, as it’s always very pretty and the loop is about 4.5 miles – long enough to get a substantial run in but not so long I’d be pushing myself.
Burke Lake is a Virginia State Park about 10 minutes away from home. It’s really beautiful there.
The trail weaves back and forth between spots along the lake shore…
…as well as further into the woods.
A good place for thoughts.
And stuff.
Turns out 4.5 miles actually was pushing myself. Not good. I only got about 3 miles around before my knee started troubling me again. It’s looking like I’m going to have to take things pretty slowly this Summer to build back up again, especially with hopes of a marathon in the Fall.
It was great getting out there and stretching my bones a bit, though. I needed that.
