Tentative Steps

Well, the pain issue remains unchanged. I’m resigned to the fact that it will be a constant companion for some time to come. I can live with that. As long as it doesn’t get any worse, I can train through it. I know, I know, just because I can train through it, doesn’t necessarily mean that I should, but so far, so good. Since it flared up last Wednesday, I have covered over 60 miles, and it definitely hasn’t got worse. I’m not entirely sure if it really is ITBS – but then again, it doesn’t really matter to me what exactly the cause is. I just want to be able to continue running.

As to what caused the injury, that’s anybody’s guess, of course. Running on cambered roads is supposed to be a factor, but we’re talking about rural Ireland here. The choice is between running on cambered roads or to stay at home. I tend to run along the crown of the road. Yes, that’s bang in the middle. At the times when I do my running that’s not really an issue, the roads tend to be deserted at 6 or even 7 am. What could be a contributor is the fact that I only brought one pair of running shoes on my holidays, and obviously wasn’t able to rotate pairs as I usually do. Plus, that pair got rather worn out, by the time I came back home they had accumulated just over 500 miles. They still felt ok (I usually get a few twinges when wearing a worn-out pair), and were retired immediately as soon as I got back home, well before the knee problem materialised. However, that’s the only thing I can think of, really. Mike might be on to something in his comment when he blamed my higher paces this time round, even for the easier runs. Possibly. Who knows.

I did indeed run 9 miles on Sunday, as per the revised plan, in order to finish to week at 80 miles. I’m slowly squeezing into the kind of mileage that I produced while training for my ultra, but it’s way short of the 100 miles that I unwisely stated as my training goal a few weeks back. Of course, the knee issue casts a bit of a shadow on my plans. I’m not even thinking about raising the mileage this week, and maybe this time next week I’ll have found more confidence to put some pressure on my system again. Or maybe I’ll have found out that I can’t train through the pain after all. We’ll see.

The one thing I’m planning for this week is another stamina-building double-header. Following the advice from some people who have been through that kind of training themselves I took it really easy today. It was a slow run, much slower than anything in the last 2 months. I don’t want to be tired going into the double header to start with, and basically ran as slowly as I could. I left myself an extra 5 minutes in the morning to ensure that I wouldn’t feel pressured to speed up during the run, but that bright idea was scuppered by the fact that Shea got up at the same time, and I had to prepare some breakfast for him, made worse by the fact that I was starving myself at the same time. It was really windy this morning, which would have driven me onto the Ard-na-Sidhe road anyway, even if I hadn’t planned to do so already. It’s basically the flattest piece of road I’ve got available, and since running downhill hurts like hell it’s the most logical choice for a running route. The Caragh Lake loop with its 3-mile downhill section will be out of bounds for quite some time, I guess.

Anyway, I ran as slowly as 8:40 pace today, which should leave me well rested for tomorrow and Wednesday. I haven’t yet dared to run tempo pace on my hurting knee, but I guess I’ll find out tomorrow if it’s possible or not. Since today I know for sure that running slower doesn’t make a difference. The knee felt exactly the same at 8:40 pace today as it did at 7:36 pace a few days ago, which makes me hopeful that 7:15 pace won’t be any different either. There’s only one way to find out, I guess.

24 Jun: 9 miles, 1:10:15, 7:48 pace, avg. HR 157
25 Jun: 12 miles, 1:43:53, 8:39 pace, avg. HR 140

Weekly mileage: 80