Another Week. Less Walking.

Bit of a step back to move forward kind of week. Decided after another jog-attempt-fail on Wednesday morning that perhaps all the walking miles from the previous couple of weeks were actually hindering the recovery process rather than helping it. My line of thinking was to limit what hurts to the absolute minimum, but do everything I can to maintain fitness so that the transition to running when the knee issue finally clears up is as fast and efficient as possible.  So after racking up 18+ miles on Monday/Tuesday, I made the decision to rest until Saturday morning where I’d attempt a few easy 50m jogs. I still stayed busy on Weds/Thurs/Fri and did plenty of pushups, situps, planks and several rounds of my typical physical therapy exercises. I tried some easy spinning too, but this aggravated the medial knee so I decided it was probably best to stay away from the bike for a while.

After a few days off, I’d hoped Saturday morning would be a positive step forward. The first couple of 50m jogs were okay, but pain soon developed underneath the kneecap. Frustratingly, I abandoned the idea of an actual short run and stuck to a 30 minute walk instead. Ah well, no real biggie, more recovery time required.  At least I had a fun morning hanging out at the Chills In The Mill Harwoods Half where Ally and a few friends were running. Definitely a fun event. Maybe next year I’ll run it too?

Anyway, the remainder of Saturday felt good and on waking Sunday morning the knee felt better than it had in weeks. All fired up for another attempt at a run, I headed to the local soccer fields and, after walking a mile or so to warm up, started running. I lasted about 60m before the pain kicked in, slowed to a walk for a bit, then started jogging again. Nope, still too painful. Back to the drawing board….

• Mon – 2.6 miles (500 ft gain)/6.2 miles
• Tue – 4.1 miles/2.5 miles (520 ft gain)/3.1 miles
• Wed – cross training/physical therapy exercises
• Thu – cross training/physical therapy exercises
• Fri – cross training/physical therapy exercises
• Sat – physical therapy exercises
• Sun – 2.1 miles (500 ft gain)
• Total – 20.6 miles (1,520 ft gain)

What next?

Just a short walk today (Monday) to stretch the legs, but I’m excited for a follow-up appointment with TJ Stites at Pivot Physical Therapy in Norfolk, VA tomorrow. I saw TJ way back on Christmas Eve (just over 4 weeks ago), so I’m interested to find out how he thinks I’m progressing and what the next couple of weeks have in store. Thankfully we’re only in the latter stages of January and there are still 11 months left in 2019. Plenty of time to log some miles, run some races and do what I enjoy doing most – running. Fingers crossed!