Month: March 2016

Woohoo, knee seems to be getting better…

After a couple of weeks out, I managed to get some reasonable miles in this week – got in a 4, 5 and 6 in the week without too much in the way of problems and risked a 12 miler on Sunday.

The 12 mile went well, at least as good as it was before the pain – felt good on the run and could have gone further, but need to be careful with it.

Have been having a massage at home twice a week, and continuing my inner leg workout and hopefully this may see me through to the end now, just need to keep it reasonable on the mileage.

Not that long left to go, only about 3.5 months, and my schedule had me running about 16 miles this Sunday, so perhaps 4 mile down – now that ain’t half bad!! The schedule really ramps up from this week on though, with Sat and Sunday runs, so will start slow, but it will mean at least a half marathon every Sunday from now until the big one!

Will also be looking to get some long distance walks in on some Saturdays to break up the constant running, and hopefully start getting on the trails now that Spring is here – just need to find some good ones which aren’t too muddy….

Easter next week, so away for a couple of days, but will be taking my running kit to ensure I don’t slack too much.

Miles: 27

Beers: 15

Well, things are looking a little more positive this week. Its been two weeks of rest, so started pushing the mileage this week.. Have been doing my strengthening of the inner muscles, and Sian has been great continuing the massage..

Did a couple of small runs in the week, just to check how things were feeling, a three, a five and another three, and it was all good. Went back to see the physio guy on Friday, and 20 mins and £40 later I was told that there was an improvement. Seems like a pretty good job if you can get it, there were two before me, and someone after and that was before 10:00am, 40 quid a time, nice work.

Went to the races on Saturday, so no long walk, just a lot of standing around, so through I would push it with a 7.5 on Sunday. Was pretty successful, things were starting to tweak by the end, but that might just be rustyness, the pain was actually in a different place to the “real” pains from before, so that was good. Iced a little and a massage, and no real pains today.

Need to be careful pushing the mileage now, so out for a couple this week, and perhaps risk a 9 mile or so on the weekend… Not really that long to go before its on, so there is a balance between getting the practice and killing my body again.

Miles: 20

Beers: 20

So, a bit of an update…

Week of the 15th, I went out for the “normal” four times, a four a five a six and a seven – was getting pains in the knee on most of them, and on the Sunday, which was 7.2 miles I had to walk home (about 1.5 miles) – rubbish!

So I called a place in Cheptsow and booked an appointment for someone to check out whats wrong with my knee.. I left it until the Weds, and went out for a little run of about 5 miles and got the pains again – but now I knew where they were and what they felt like. On the 26th I went to see the man.

Turned up a little early because I did’nt know what the traffic was like, and waited for ages until he was ready. Once in, he asked a little about my “history”, and before you could say boo, it was shoes and shorts off now! Hmm… So he got me on the bed, face up with thankfully clean and unholy pants on, and tried my legs. They were a little tight lets say. After about 5 mins he said – ah, this looks easy – you have: Chondromalacia patellae.

As he showed me, this basically means that your knee doesn’t track up and down, in a straight line, but gets pulled to the side (to the left in my case) the main cause for me was that my outer quads were far too powerful for my inner ones – something probably brought about by cycling he said, and also my ITB was very tight. Interesting as he pushed his fingers under my kneecap to show the tightness I got rather a lot of pain – this was an immediate sign of the problem. After 10 mins or so of massage, he did it again, and whatyaknow, it was significantly better.

There we are then, I need to loosen up my ITB and strengthen my internal quads – magic. 25 mins and 50 quid later I was off to squeeze a ball between my legs.

Its been a week since then, and I went out last Weds just to see, and was in a bit of pain, just doing the 3 miles. But today, I went for a 3 miler also with a ITB band attached, and it felt great. Don’t want to count the chickens, but fingers crossed.

Went down to Pembs on the 27th, where I was supposed to be doing the “man-up” half in St Davids, but I had to shy off that – which was a shame as it looked “interesting”. I think GD did it though – good man.

Miles: 6 (this week)

Beers: 10