Week in review Oct. 30-Nov. 5: I “knee”d to evaluate

Nothing special this week.

Well, this is why I can’t have nice things.

I ran my first double-digit run in a while two weeks ago. Since it had been so long, it was a little tough, and I had some soreness afterward. But I didn’t think much of it, since it seemed to be typical post-long run stuff.

I noticed that my left knee, the one without any real cartilage, was still tender a few days later. Maybe I should have taken a few days off, but… I wanted to hit my running mileage goals of 1,000 for the year and 100 for the month. So I stuck to easy runs of no longer than an hour, and it felt OK. Maybe a bit sore the day after a run, but it was always fine by the second day.

Friday was going to be my last after-work run in daylight before Daylight Saving Time ended, and it was a perfect night for running. The air was crisp and cool, the sunlight was waning, the trees were still red and orange. I clicked off mile after mile, hitting about goal marathon pace minus 10-15 seconds (!!!) and every one felt easy (!!!!!!!!). I started to think that maybe I could pull off a spring marathon.

Then… bam. Knee pain. I’m not sure if I pushed off funny, or if 6 miles really is the threshold, or if I was just running too fast for my joint fitness, or what. I walked for a while and tried once or twice more, but I was done doing any real running.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

So, long story short, I didn’t do as much running as I would have liked. Saturday and Sunday ended up being filled with friend and family stuff so I just wrote them off as rest days.

Run: Four times, 3 on the treadmill and once on the road, for just longer than 22 miles in 3.5 hours. (This included a short run on the 31st to make 100 even for the month of October.)

Bike: Once on the trainer for an hour.

Total: Five workouts in 4.5 hours.

I'm frustrated, mad, and a little depressed that I am going to have to alter my goals for the rest of the month and year. I might get on the bike or in the pool later but right now I am just going to be grumpy that I have to take an enforced running break. Boo.