2 Days 0 Pain = The Right Decision

Sorry for being mysterious and disappearing toward the end of the week. I ended up taking an unscheduled rest day on Thursday. I’ve had a pretty mean case of tendonitis in my right knee. I had been icing and taking ibuprofen (at least when I remembered to take it), but by Thursday, the pain had progressed from a dull ache to a sharp burning pain.

I had a three mile easy run scheduled for Thursday. My knee was screaming as I put my shoes on and  laced up. It was about then that I had a stroke of genius  (I took special note because it doesn’t happen all that often). What if I just take a night off? After all, it’s just 3 miles. Then, with the scheduled Friday off, I would stack up two rest days. Maybe it would actually do my knee some good?

Well – it must have. Saturday I finished a six mile pace run, followed by seven miles on the trails in Peters Canyon on Sunday. All done without pain. Sometimes I just amaze myself…..

The other thing that was pretty amazing is I ran both days without the muscle fatigue that I had been feeling ever since the L.A. Marathon. I had talked to a friend  about it a few weeks back and he assured me not to worry. As he put it, “One day you will go out for a run, and voila! Everything will feel normal again.” I’m not quite normal, but I feel like I’m getting there. A word of advice for anyone anyone else running their first marathon – in the following weeks if you feel physically and/or mentally exhausted for a while – don’t worry - one day you will go out for a run, and voila! Everything will feel normal again.

Of course, all this rest left me a little short on miles this week, with only 27.5 in instead of the planned 32, but if it means my knee is on it’s way to recovery, I’ll take the fewer miles.

On the plan this week:

• Monday: Row 4 miles.
• Tuesday: This week we’re changing from intervals on the track to hills in Shady Canyon. About 5 miles with the club.
• Wednesday: 3 miles. I’m swapping Wednesdays and Thursdays so I follow Tuesday’s hard workouts with an easy one. I’ll follow this with a resistance workout: One set each: Single leg squat, oblique bridge, lying draw-in w/ hip flexion, quadruped. Two sets each: Lying Hip Abduction, Cook Hip Lift, Kneeling Overhead Draw In, Knee Fall Out, Single Leg Squat Jump
• Thursday: 6 mile easy run.
• Friday: Rest day.
• Saturday: 13 mile long run.
• Sunday: 6 mile pace run, followed by a resistance workout: One set each: Single leg squat, oblique bridge, lying draw-in w/ hip flexion, quadruped. Two sets each: Lying Hip Abduction, Cook Hip Lift, Kneeling Overhead Draw In, Knee Fall Out, Wall Jump
• Total mileage: 37

This week’s proprioceptive cue: Pulling the road. I will imagine the road is a giant treadmill with the road moving away from me. This should force me to plant my foot and then pull the road backwards. This forces a couple of things: (1) stiffen in anticipation of impact, and (2) pull. The result is minimizing ground impact time and pulling into the next stride, which is supposed to make me more efficient. Of course, I’m supposed to do this in concert with the previous three cues as well – falling forward, navel to spine, running on water. This for a guy who has trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time….