Kneeling Punishment

After running four cautious miles on Monday I had a pretty normal day back in the office. I could tell I wasn’t 100% recovered yet, but I felt well enough. When it was time to go home, my knees felt strangely stiff, which I couldn’t quite explain, but it didn’t particularly bother me.

It only hit me later back home when I tried to kneel down to fold away the laundry. As soon as I put weight on my knees an excruciating pain shot through both my legs that quite literally took my breath away. I managed to get into a tolerable sitting position, but that was one of the most brutal pains I’ve ever had to endure. You might think I’d learned my lesson, but I had to go through the same thing once more. It’s not unusual for one of us to be crying when I’m changing Maia’s nappy, but normally it is her, not me.

I can’t explain where that came from. I checked both my knees for swelling, but since it happened to both to them simultaneously I could not compare them to what they usually looked line, and there was no obvious deformation. I felt rather stiff when walking, but it was only when kneeling down that it actually hurt – and then it really, really hurt!

Going out for a run on Tuesday morning seemed a bad idea, but I did it anyway, just to test the waters. I felt rather stiff and awkward for the first 10 steps, and then the legs just relaxed and I didn’t even notice anything wrong. How weird is that, not that I was complaining at the time. I thought I only had time for four miles again, but eventually realised that I had inadvertently gotten up at 6 o’clock rather than 7, because I’m so used to getting up at the earlier time. As a result I stayed out for 6 easy miles, and then had half an hour of cuddles with Maia who was awake and chirpy when I came back home to a still dark and otherwise quiet house. I might have lost some sleep, but it was a nice start to the day anyway.

On Tuesday evening I decided there was indeed some swelling just above the knee caps and did some icing. This brought on some improvement because on Wednesday morning the stiffness had more or less gone, and the running was definitely unaffected. I cautiously increased the mileage again to 8 and took it easy until the last 2 miles when I sped up a little bit. It was supposed to be a nice day, but it was raining and I felt rather cold.

Today, Thursday, after some more ice, I can actually kneel down again without screaming out loud, but there is still some discomfort. At least I manage to get in and out of a chair without groaning, which is a good thing in an office environment, really. I ran 10 miles, and felt rather hot at first with my running tights and long sleeves. But this attire proved to be a good choice after all when it started raining again at mile 4 and never stopped. The run was fine, and while it was still markedly slower than before my illness, my legs are improving by the day. If I feel adventurous, I might try some MP miles tomorrow.

My lungs aren’t entirely fine yet, which I can tell easily on any uphill. I’m a bit paranoid about that since my pneumonia last year, but as long as I’m improving from day to day I can’t see much wrong. The knee issue is just weird and I can’t explain where it came from. Both knees got equally affected at the same time, and the entire episode started without warning. Maybe the illness last week caused some fluid to gather somewhere, but if that’s true and if so why, I haven’t got a clue. But just like the lungs, as long as the situation keeps improving, I won’t be too worried.

10 Feb

6 miles, 52:12, 8:42 pace, HR 139

11 Feb

8 miles, 1:05:18, 8:10 pace, HR 144

12 Feb

10.1 miles, 1:22:03, 8:07 pace, HR 146