Wednesday, December 08, 2010

GET OUT!!!

Word in the family is that I get grumpy and much less pleasant to be around when I'm not able to run in the morning. While I don’t really notice any difference myself, I am inclined to believe them. By Monday evening, Niamh had had enough. “Get out and run or else”.

I wasn’t entirely convinced it was a good idea as my knee was still swollen and felt stiff, even though there was no pain to deal with any more. However, with the family’s peace at stake I sacrificed myself and headed towards Ard-na-Sidhe on Tuesday morning for an easy 5 mile run.

They say you don’t lose any fitness over 3 days, but I'm not convinced. Even after such a short break the legs feel tight and the HR ends up elevated and this time was no exception. But I know that as long as I don’t suffer another setback what little fitness I have lost will return just as quickly.

I did not feel any adverse reaction, but I could not fail but notice in the evening that my right knee seemed to be a bit more swollen than on Monday. Maybe it’s because I was not icing it as much, but the main suspect is the fact that I ran on it, simple as that.

I still went out again this morning, for 8 miles. I hold up my hands, this is OCD behaviour and if my knee falls apart again it will be entirely down to me, no excuses. There’s no need to comment on how stupid I am, I’m perfectly aware of it. The run was fine again, a bit faster than yesterday and feeling a bit better, but with the same worries about my knee hanging over me.

On a much cheerier note, Cian’s long awaited seventh birthday has finally arrived. I missed the party but there were plenty of sweets left and the party was a great success, which is entirely down to the skills of his mother who once more came up trumps with yet another spectacular cake. Life’s not easy for Cian – sandwiched between two older siblings who love to beat him up if they think they can get away with it and a younger sister who gets most of the affection, he’s in a bad position. But he is cute, affectionate and very smart and he is the only one who promised to run a marathon with me one day. Seeing him as the only one of the kids who prefers watching telly to playing outside I’m not entirely convinced, but let’s wait and see.
7 Dec
5 miles, 39:21, 7:52 pace, HR 148
8 Dec
8 miles, 1:01:11, 7:39 pace, HR 149

3 comments:

  1. What I've been doing is fast spinning on a bike when I have niggles or recovery to do.

    Doing non-weight bearing stuff is a godsend to me to keep up the cardio when I've got this kind of problem.

    I like rowing now too for the leg flexibility it provides but if my knee was the problem I would do the biking.

    You can buy a rack for a normal bike that lets you use it as an indoor bike.


    HTH,
    -paul

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  2. I'm convinced that any more than three days off of running destroys 10 years worth of work!

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  3. What are those things on the cake? I thought there were no snakes in Ireland!

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