Running does not seem to aggravate the knee. However, as it turns out, sitting in a car for 4 hours, driving to Dublin, did. I was feeling rather stiff again on Saturday, and the journey home on Sunday evening wasn't exactly great for it either, so by Monday morning I felt almost back to zero. However, it wasn't quite as bad and it improved markedly day by day. On Wednesday I felt courageous enough to do some strides, more to test the knee than anything else. The stiffness was clearly noticeable when running fast and even more pronounced when decelerating after the strides. But I did not feel any repercussions afterwards and by Thursday morning the only time I felt something slightly off was when running downhill.
I know of course that the issue was caused by running but strangely enough, running then did not seem to aggravate it, Sitting did, in the office chair and even more so in the car. What helped was compression and icing, which I probably should have started earlier rather than waiting for a week. By now this has 98% cleared up and I'd love the coach to put on some miles again in the training plan, though she has given me a bit of leeway anyway.
With the Euros in 2 weeks there isn't much training I can do at this stage, I know that. I am looking at it as a rather long taper and you never know, that might be a good thing anyway.
- 3 Oct
- 0
- 4 Oct
- 5+ miles, 49:24, 9:46 pace, HR 131
- 5 Oct
- 5+ miles, 48:48, 9:39 pace, HR 134
- with strides
- 6 Oct
- 4 miles, 38:35, 9:38 pace, HR 131
Good to hear the knee is mostly better.
ReplyDeleteSitting isn't good for anyone for extended periods, kinda crazy that most people are now largely forced into sitting for most of their working lives.
With so many modest runs or super easy pace I'm impressed just well you've held yourself back. Are you finding 9 to 10min/mile pace easier now it's been such a regular part of your training?
No doubt about it, 9+ minute pace feels a lot more natural now than it used to. On the downside, sub 8-minute pace feels unnaturally fast.
DeleteGood job that your preparing to run for 24hrs rather than marathon or shorter :-)
DeleteI suspect the injury niggles you've faced will have meant there has been less running around tempo or faster than might have been possible, so less running at paces that keep things tuned up for those faster faces. I'm sure it'll come back with a bit of specific marathon training.