From NR: Fall already?!

The the end of summer has officially come as the Fall NMTC Trail Series has begun! I can't believe that it's already September, though - something is not quite right about that. Don't get me wrong, I think fall might be my favorite season and I LOVE the fall trail series but still . . . what happened to the last three months? Didn't we just finish the spring series?

So I took last weekend completely off, no long run for me and in fact, no run at all for me over the weekend. I did an easy run on Monday where my knee was unhappy for the first half and fine for the rest. I've started already running through scenarios in my mind of 'what ifs' for October regarding my knee, but I think I should probably calm down and wait and see what this weekend brings me. It was mostly fine on Wednesday's race, so I'm a little hopeful again. I have another race followed by the rest of my long run slated for Sunday so we shall see. The 25K on roads that I'm planning on racing next week is a big indicator, too. I don't want to run Whistlestop if I'm not in the shape I want to be in.

The first Fall Trail Race is in Superior - Brown's Point. Usually, it's on ski trails and contains some very nice parts and some evil and steep down/ups of the type that throw off your balance if you're on skis. However, the trails hadn't been mowed and the decision was made to move the race to the gravel roads around the area. 2 miles out, 2 miles back. I actually kind of enjoyed having the race on roads for a change, it was fun being able to run abreast with people where we're used to being on more narrow trails. I actually ran with someone for pretty much the whole way, which was nice and made for lots of short talking and joking. I ran even or probably negative splits - I glanced at my watch at the turn and saw 14:something and came in with 28:09. I was worried as it seemed as though there was an awful lot of downhill on the way out, but I didn't notice much uphill on the way back, so it must have been a deceptive slope. I was going hard with about 800 to go when I realized that I have a race on Sunday and I didn't want to burn all cylinders trying to race someone up the uphill finish, so I backed off a bit to make sure I wouldn't be tempted to try and race down the guys in front of me. A smart move, I think since my legs weren't sure how interested they were in going faster anyway :)

Wednesday was a good practice run for my 10K on Sunday, I think - it'll be mostly on rolling dirt/gravel roads. It'll be harder to maintain a nice pace since I tend to end up on my own out there but that will also make it a good test of mental strength to go the pace I know I can go, right?

"Long" Run!

So PT has been going well - I've cut down to once a week, now, though I'm making sure to do what I can on my own, too. On Tuesday, Todd (my PT doc) told me I could run 4 times this week! Huzzah! Also that I should start structuring my week like I would normally be doing, ie a long run, a more tempo-y run, etc instead of holding around 4 miles. So today I did my long run - 8 miles. It felt quite great - the weather was beautiful and called for shorts and a t-shirt. I did the first two miles on my own and then joined up with the usual Wednesday group and did the last 6 with Leslie. It's really nice to be able to run with my friends again! I'll probably hold at 8 miles another week and then try 10.

I've been trying to maintain a good weight lifting schedule, too, under the thought that if I'm going to be injured then I'm at least going to get good arms and abs from it! Hopefully I can keep it going as summer comes since I love having weight room access again and I've always been very lacking in the arm strength side of things. On a side note, when you start adding weight to your lunges, you start to feel it in your butt . . . Actually, Todd added the weight in PT yesterday, but I added some lighter weight to my second set this morning, too.

I'm also getting stronger and smoother at swimming, too, which is fun. On Tuesday I forgot to bring my watch to the pool with me (I like to leave it on the pool edge so I can check in on the time every once and a while - no timing repeats for me, yet) so I decided to just swim a mile and see what the wall clock said then. So I start slow and then pick up the tempo and just see how long I can go a little faster for. I hit my mile and check the clock and it's just around half an hour! Now, I have no idea in the scheme of things what kind of speed that is, but it feels really fast! It also makes me wonder if I lost count in there somewhere but, ah well, it feels pretty cool right now. I'll give it another go Thursday night and see where I stand. Theoretically, I'd love to do a triathlon this summer but I have no idea where I'm going to find the time to shove that in (especially since the main one in town here, I'm doing as a team with my team from last year) so maybe it will have to wait. Actually, a friend of mine (part of Team MegaTough) is directing a triathlon in the UP, which would be fantastic. However, it's a 1.2 mile lake swim, a 56-mile bike course, and a half marathon. I think that's probably too ambitious for me right now. I'm trying to keep my focus on two (well, three) main things: A) get that mileage up and keep it up ALL YEAR B) first ultra!! and C) Wave 1 for Boston 2011.

I'm not so sure how C is going to go now that my main chance isn't even going to happen anymore (Eau Claire Marathon) but I still have Grandma's in June (maybe, depending how happy my knee stays and what kind of condition I can be in by then and whether the weather cooperates this year) and if that fails, there's others in the summer I could try, I'm sure, it would just mess with some of my shorter race plans.

Also - with the exception of the yummy chocolate milkshake I just made for dessert - everything I ate today was breakfast food. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

From NR: How 3 miles turned into 4.5

Happy news - I get to run 4 times this week! Things are looking hopefully for at least running the Half Marathon at Eau Claire. Presuming they let me drop down. My long run this week will be 8 miles, I think.

So I ran on a treadmill Friday (ew) and was planning on doing 3 miles since I did 6 on Wednesday. So I'm going along with my music - I definitely try to bring my iPod along for treadmill runs, it makes them so much more do-able - when not a couple minutes in, I jerk the cord and iPod goes flying off the end of the treadmill. Oops. So I stop, pick it up, jigger the cord under my shirt to avoid getting caught again and continue on my way. A few minutes later, I realize I never restarted my watch. Nargh. Okay, so the treadmill is going to say 3 miles before I've actually DONE 3 miles since I let it run until it hits the speed I want and then I jump on. It's not that big of a difference, really, but I like to know, via my watch, what the time discrepancy is. Hm. Okay, I'll play it on the safe side and run a full minute after the treadmill hits 3 miles. Good plan!

So I'm going along on my merry way, upping the pace from time to time (hitting just under 8 min/mile pace at 2.5 miles!), when I hit 3 miles. Okay, just a bit more and then I'm done. Except the next time I look it's something like 3.7 miles. Might as well just do 4 miles! Especially since treadmill time is usually horrific for me, so it's nice for it to go by more or less easily, for once.

Well, just before 4, my iPod keeps shooting out slow songs. I go through shuffle right now so I need to make a playlist for just good runnable songs, I guess. So I'm hitting next, next, next and nothing good is coming up. Then I decide I really want to end with some Mindless Self Indulgence since it reminds me of my first Ragnar :) So I start searching for it and by the time I find it, I'm around 4 miles but I really want to run this song so I might as well just do 4.5, right? Of course!

From NR: A more happy knee

What a beautiful weekend! We were pushing 50 degrees both days, I think. Yesterday I did a nice long walk and then a two hour nap . . . I think I might be fighting off some crud. I feel fine but I've been tired and sleeping a lot the last few days and there's some bad stuff going around work. It could also have to do with finally getting a membership to the Fitness Center at St Marys (I was waiting for March to start so I could start at the beginning of the month) and jumping back into a normal level of moving. I've rediscovered the weight room - bench press for the first time in 5 years!

Wednesday brought an hour in the pool (10 laps warm up, 5 times 4 laps hard, with 4 laps in between, 14 laps cool-down), an hour and a half trail walk with my dad and puppies and a try at running at the lakewalk. I also changed my own oil for the first time, with my dad showing me how! When I first started my run, my knee had a couple of sharp pains and I almost stopped right there and turned around. I decided to give it just a little bit longer, though, and things seemed to be fine. I ended up doing 40 minutes, total. Next day - no pain!

So the plan was to try again this weekend, presuming no major pain between Wednesday and today. So after work this afternoon, out I went! What a beautiful day! I ran in a t-shirt! I did make sure to wear pants and bring a long sleeve, though, just in case walking home became necessary. I am very happy to report a completely pain free 4 mile run at a decent pace. Here's hoping this trend continues.

In marginally related news, I had a crazy dream last night! I did a short course triathlon (I think it was supposed to be Brewhouse, but had nothing in common with it) as my first triathlon and did awesome so I decided to give the long course a try the next day (they were on different days). Well, the long course had nothing to do with the short. It started with a short run from the start to a kitchen. There we had to compete to make the fastest and best combinations of pizza from slices that were already mostly made. They were to be judged later. Next came the swim. Only it was a loop course on a river (yeah, the river made a loop apparently). It was dark out and just around the end of winter. It wasn't a great river, it flowed fast, was polluted and had rusty junk stuck in it that you had to watch out for. I originally thought we were to bike on top of the river and just as I was realizing that it was weird dream logic and biking on the surface of a river wouldn't work, it turned into a swim course.

So we went onto the river boat where we had our gear bags set and we had to change for the swim. Well, it was cold water so I didn't know what to wear and was looking around at other people. Many seemed to be wearing what looked like skin suits for skiing as a base layer with various things on top. So I settled for my Icebreaker base pants and my yellow Boston long sleeve with a hoodie over the top. I very specifically grabbed those pieces of clothing, which was interesting - I had this big bag and I was digging through it, trying to find what I wanted but it was dark out and hard to see. Then I found out we had to run a bit to get to where we went into the river, so we needed something on our feet as well. I ended up with these weird Vibram/flippers. I distinctly remember having three or four separate flippers on each foot. So we ran around a town for a bit (I remember I was right behind a woman I work with and it was daytime, now) before hitting the water. It was super crazy water, with fast currents and whirlpools and I caught up with these two other girls and we made ourselves a mini team to help each other along. It ended with us taking a quick rest at one of their houses (which was right OVER the river) to change clothes and they didn't want to go on but decided that I needed to since it was my first one and I was trying to convince them that if I could do it then they should come with too, when I woke up.

And I wonder why I slept poorly last night!

Bummer

Last Wednesday, I went on to the group run at the lakewalk and all was pretty good, until that last 'downhill' that was the ramp at the end of the detour. Then my knee spoke up and reminded me that it wasn't happy. It wasn't far to the end of the run, so I figured I'd be fine. After all, it didn't quite hurt enough to make me limp on it. Of course, as soon as I thought that, I realized I was already limping on it. Lovely. Happily, wildknits was willing to walk the last 4 blocks or so in with me.

So I went swimming the next day and really enjoyed it! I was really in the need to do something until I was exhausted. I'm sick of these slow, short runs. I haven't been swimming for fitness since college, which made it tough to keep a good rhythm going but I was able to tire out nice. I plan to do it on a regular basis as cross training and hope to continue once my knee gets better. I even went out and bought a swim cap so my hair doesn't die. Also so I don't keep breathing my hair.

It's really hard to go for a run in the winter when you might have to walk home. Or maybe I'm just making it out to be worse that it is, but I really don't want to be very far from home and have to walk back when it's cold and I'm probably sweaty and dressed for running and not walking. Today I decided to run in the land behind our house - some guy has been out three-wheeling and snowmobiling recently and the trails are mostly well packed. So I figured I could run around back there and never be too far from home if things went awry.

I could have made a loop out of it, but decided to do a horseshoe around my house since the trails were starting to deteriorate at the close of the loop. My knee was also hurting after a mile in and I could have just headed down the hill and finished the loop but I figured since I was never far too from home, I might as well turn around and go back the other way, so I did 2 miles, which is better than nothing. I got home, ran through my short pilates DVD, showered and made dinner. Half way through dinner, I realized my knee wanted to be iced NOW. No, it wanted to be iced half an hour ago. In fact, standing on it at all was rather painful.

Sigh. Looks like more swimming and pilates are in my future.

Stupid Work

Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and place a lot of blame for my knee on work. I had a lovely week or so of vacation, lots of which was spent walking/bouncing around with an extra 13 pounds (in the form of my adorable nephew). My back was sore, my shoulder hurt, my arm muscles were felt, my knee was fine.

I went back to work yesterday and last night/this morning my knee is upset with me. Time to get back to icing on every break, I guess.

From NR: Late Update

Sorry about the super late update on things. Here's the current word, though. I went to a Physical Therapist last Tuesday to get another opinion. I just had too many doubts about my first doctor's visit and I wanted the opinion of someone who knew a little bit more about what might be going on. I called a couple places looking for a free sports consult and someone I work with at the store also works at a PT place that does free consults so she directed me there.

I really liked the guy I saw - he spent almost a full hour with me trying to figure things out. Lots of moving my leg around and seeing if anything caused pain (boy is it hard to relax in that situation!), which pretty much nothing did. He ruled out a lot of things and didn't think my symptoms were consistent with a patella femoral syndrome.

He thinks my problem is an irritated plica. Huh. Something I've never heard of before and it turns out not everyone has it. Though, later in the week, I picked up Joan Benoit Samuelson's Book of Women's Running and flipped through the injury part and, lo and behold! She had issues with her plica and that's what the surgery right before her Olympic trials was for.

Anyway, there are some orthopedic surgeons who are of the opinion that if it (the plica) gets irritated then out with it! The guy I saw didn't think that was at all necessary, yet. So the plan for now is to icing to bejimmies out of it and be careful. I can run as pain allows so it's time to start easing back into my training plan and hope for the best. So far, my runs have not been painful and I skied for 3 hours Saturday with no problems so all is hopeful.

From NR: Nargh

What? You mean injuries can't just go away after a week of being nice to them? Who made that rule, anyway? So I woke up Saturday to a slightly painful knee again and thus no running yesterday. I've been torn about today but decided I probably need to just calm down and back off and wait and at least see what is said when I see a PT person on Tuesday.

From NR: Yay!

So after 8 days off of running, a 3 day weekend from work (which got me really antsy) and 2 days without really hurting, I decided to test my knee and go for a run Wednesday! I wasn't positive that it was a great idea, but last year, after this happened at Boston, I wasn't sure my first run was a great idea, either, and it ended up quite lovely. My co-workers all thought I was insane, of course and I mentioned a story to one of them - I was out running during that super cold snap and I ran by a bunch of crazies who were huddled together outside in the wind trying to smoke. As I ran by them, I thought "Man, you'd have to be really addicted to something to be outside in this miserable cold in order to . . . wait a minute . . ." But at least my addiction is healthy for me, right?

So I was a little worried since it was a Wednesday and thus group run day at the lakewalk - which has been nothing but a sheet of ice most of the winter. Running on ice having been mentioned as a possible contributor for the PFS flare up (man, it'd be nice to have a for sure reason as to why I have this). I decided that if it was still super icy, I would turn around and hit the streets. I also brought an extra jacket tied around my waist in case things went bad, then I could have an extra layer to throw on for the walk back. I also decided that I shouldn't jump straight in with 5.5 miles (though that probably would have been fine) and that I would only do 3. And all of this ONLY if I got through the work day without pain.

Well, I could sort of feel my knee just waiting to make noise all day at work. It's sort of hard to describe (plus, I'm terrible at describing pain) but it's like it's lurking there - I'm aware of it being not normal without it being actually painful if that makes sense. It also twinged a couple of times when I was standing around but since that was different from the 'usual' pain, I didn't count that.

The lakewalk ended up being pretty ice free, only a couple short iffy spots and I slowed down there to make sure. I am happy to report a completely painless run! I'm not sure what the distance ended up being - the turnaround people knew was 3 1/2 miles plus whatever the detour adds. I am also super happy to report no extra pain the morning after. A very good sign. I was planning on running today but I realize that I'm also planning on running Saturday and Sunday and perhaps three days in a row all of a sudden isn't a spectacular idea.

I have to say, I like the whole ice and then heat right away idea. It feels so nice! It seems as though I can feel my muscles relaxing once the heat comes. Plus it's just plain nice to get warmed back up.

For those of you without a heat pack - they're super easy to make! Just sew a tube using cotton fabric, leaving one end open (mine's maybe 15 inches long, I think and maybe 4 inches wide). Pour a bunch of rice in - don't pack it full. If you want something that smells nice, mix the rice up with some scented oil first. Then sew the top and you have a heat pack! Throw it in the microwave for 3 1/2 minutes or so and volia! You can make a nice soft fleece cover for it, too, to give another layer between bare skin and hot pack.

From NR: No reason for panic

Okay! I had my day of tears and self-pity so no more! Or, that's the plan, anyway. So, on to the healing. Right now I'm still hoping for a quick-ish heal because I have Plans and you're not allowed to be injured when you have Plans! Yeah.

I have exercises to do, half in the morning and half at night, to strengthen the muscles that are supposed to be at fault. When I talked (sort of) with a PT guy, he had me do the 'typical test' for PFS - sit down and hold your leg out straight. With one hand, push your kneecap down your leg some, then try and flex your quads. This will make you jump if you're having PFS issues. So I tried it an lo and behold - jump! Then I tried it with the right leg, just to make sure I'm feeling the right thing and . . . jump! Hmmmmm. So it's looking as though things are ready to get angry on my right knee, too, making it doubly important that I do those strengthening exercises on both legs. So this can only be good for me, right? Getting weak muscles stronger is always a good thing.

Happily, I have a three day weekend right now, so that should help with things. It also means I can ice and then heat 3 times a day and that I can sit around a lot. After a very long, exhausting and gimpy work night Friday, I'm happy to not have to walk around concrete for a few days. I'm told that things that make it worse include running on ice (the main way to run right now) and squatting to lift heavy things (also known as my job).

After this happened at Boston, I took 9 days off of running so I'm not planning on trying until Tuesday at the earliest - that will be a week since I woke up with this. Right now, my knee still hurts walking around, which is troubling but we'll see how things go.

I'm having trouble coming up with cross-training options that don't involve bending the knee. Any ideas? I might have to see what I can do about pool access if this continues and see what my knee thinks about swimming.

From NR: A diagnosis?

Okay so after a quick exam and some x-rays the diagnosis is Patellofemoral Syndrome. It seems it goes by a bunch of different names which are often incorrect, no-one really understands what causes it and there's no consensus on how to treat it. Lovely. I generally need to write questions down in advance or they never get asked when I'm at the doctor's. So now I find myself with lots of questions and I guess I'll have to give my doctor a call. I feel as though I don't really completely agree with the diagnosis from what I've read about it but I don't have a better idea and I'm clearly not a doctor myself. I have a list of things that are different from what I've read and I don't know if they're important differences or not. I kind of feel like going to a sports specialist after the doctor I went to (not my normal one, she wasn't availible) had to look up information on it. At the very least, I guess I should call my normal doctor and talk with her some.

Of course, after sitting around all day, not walking around and bending my knee, it was feeling better by the time I went to the doctor. I have exercises to do so I did those and then iced this morning and then my knee felt worse. Hm.

From NR: Well, that's not good

Not a week into 2010 and I'm already failing on a goal! I don't think this one is my fault, though - I woke up yesterday to find my knee in pain again. In the past, I've taken it as an indication of ramping my mileage up too quickly which is not what's going on now. It struck for the first time in my senior year in college. Then again at Boston last year. I don't know where it's coming from this time - the only thing I can think is that my knee isn't liking all the nasty footing that's going on with the ice. It's the same pain as before, though, and I don't really know what to do. I'm icing it when I can and not running the last couple of days and generally gimping around at work which I know isn't good but I don't have a lot of choice.

Signs probably point to going to a doctor, huh? It's just not great to spend lots of money to be told to rest and ice which I'm already doing. It'd sure be great to have an answer as to what it is, though, since I didn't really get a good answer in college.

Argh.