Saturday, May 15, 2010

Turn of Events

Haven't had much of interest to blog about. I could write about how I had to work Tuesday evening and didn't have chance to run. Or about skipping Thursday's run in favor of attending my Son's Senior Class Honor Assembly. Or about how I had the 'pleasure' of an emergency Friday night dental visit when a crown came loose during dinner. None of that would make for interesting reading though.

Instead, I decided to wait for today and my planned 8 miler.

So...the run group was meeting at a different place this morning. The route that was planned out was a loop. The planner thought the loop was 'about' 8 mile. Six of us showed up, and away we went.

The temp was ~50 deg when we started with a gentle breeze. Quite nice actually. We naturally broke into approximately two groups based on pacing. The small group that I was with was doing ~10:45 pace. Something I've been running comfortably for the past few months.

Around mile 5, however, my left knee started to hurt. It started as a gentle nagging pain, but quickly turned into the same pain that I experienced in 2008. Some of you have experienced this yourself. It's the 'you really need to have someone look at this' pain.

I began to ease up on my pace and slowed to something closer to 11:45. It helped somewhat. Also part of the route was on dirt. That was a little better as well. But by mile 7, even a slow pace on dirt wasn't enough to compensate for the knee pain.

At mile 8, we were still a good mile from our starting point. Normally I don't mind going a little longer than planned, but not today. I made it to about 8.5 miles and decided to turn off my Garmin and walk in.

The best description is that it is crunchy and painful. I'm fairly certain that it's a repeat of what ailed me before. I probably need to see the orthopedic for Euflexxa injections again. If I go that route, however, it will likely be a good 2 months or so of down time. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

In any event, I believe I need to do the following in the short term: 1) scale back on distance and intensity, 2) increase the frequency of my PT maintenance exercises, and 3) call on monday to schedule time with the orthopedic guy.

Additionally I will think about doing more cycling. And maybe even get back to the pool again...

18 comments:

  1. Glad you were able to get out for a group run after a busy week, but sorry about the knee pain. I hope it feels better!

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  2. I hope your knee is going to be OK. You sound so calm even though you are in pain!! Nice work getting out there today.

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  3. Crunchy knees are NOT a good thing :(

    Good luck - hope it's nothing major.

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  4. I have never heard of any pain described as 'crunchy'. That just sounds like it is all wrong. Hope it is just a minor thing for you.

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  5. I also know that knee pain! For a while I could predict weather with it. I could feel a storm coming, and for a while I didn't like running in the rain.

    I hope the pain works itself out somehow. PT maintenance exercises and seeing the orthopedic guy are the right things to do. I hope your plan of action helps! Take care.

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  6. Wise to slow down instead of pushing it and to see the doctor. Fingers crossed it won't take two months this time ...

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  7. Bummer about the pain in the knee. I hope it is nothing serious.

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  8. Hi Lisa,
    Oh boy, I am sorry to hear about the knee pain. Yea, crunchy and painful does not sound good:( Take care of yourself and hang in there!

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  9. oh dear, that's no good :( hope it gets better soon

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  10. *sigh* They just don't make knees like they used to... I hope yours heals quickly :-)

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  11. "crunchy" is never a descriptor a person wants to use to describe his or her knee -- sorry the pain has returned!

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  12. wow that sound painful. "CrunchY" is never a word that should be associated with your knees. Take it easy girl!

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  13. Oh, knee pain, not fun (Ok, crowns coming loose, not fun either). It's good you paid attention to it. Rest it up, no point risking it. I hope it feels better soon.

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  14. Oy..hope it is nothing too serious. I have to get my act together for proper PT/Massage this time around. I sorely need it.

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  15. Oh man Lisa sorry to hear about your knee again! That stinks! Hope you can deal with it without the shots!

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  16. Oh no, not again!!!

    I hope having gone through this before you may have caught it sooner and not have to be out as long from running. Healing vibes coming your way from Orlando!

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