Careful

As I mentioned a little bit in my last post, my half marathon two weeks ago took a lot out of me.  After the race, my knee was giving me issues.  It hurt for a few days after.  Ice, rest, stretching, I worked really hard to make the feeling go away.  It did.

Then, this past Tuesday, we did some mile repeats for speedwork.  For those of you who don't know, mile repeats are intense!  After a quick warmup, run a mile as fast ast you can.   Slow to a jog to recover for a couple minutes.  Then do it again.  And again.  I actually really enjoyed doing it, even though after it I was spent.  But in the days that followed, the knee pain came back.

Today was a long run.  Most people running the marathon in June were on track to run about 10 miles. Because of my knee issues and the fact I'm doing another half marathon next weekend, they suggested I do about 6-8 easy miles.  I made it 7 1/3 without any pain.  It felt tight, but no real pain.

I'm mixed about my knee moving forward.  On the one hand, it hasn't hurt too badly... I can easily tolerate the amounts of pain that has been there.  And it hasn't been affecting my runs - it doesn't hurt while I run, usually just after.  On the other hand, we're hitting a crucial stretch of my training from here on out.  Every weekend I will be running at least 10 miles, including an 18 and 20 miler back to back weeks in May.  That makes me nervous about what will happen - yes, the pain isn't too bad now, but what's going to happen when I start putting that type of strain on my body.

I just have to take it slowly, take it easy, and listen to my body.  I can't stop and lose any of my training, but I can adjust a little bit and not let it get worse.  I am also seeing a physical therapist this week who specializes in running and is conducting a 15 minute free run screening, so she can take a look at how I run and hopefully provide some good tips for what I should be doing differently.

I just need to be careful and smart, and I'll be ok!