Week 14 - Spectacularly unexciting and lame.

Last week was so uneventful I waited until the end of week 15 to even mention it. Bear with me, as I can barely remember yesterday...

8/22: 6 miles, outside?
8/23: Off
8/24: Off
8/25: 5 miles, treadmill
8/26: Off
8/27: 13 miles, outside with friends
8/28: Off

Totals:

Miles: 24
Strength: 0 (doh)
Rest: 4

Well, that kind of sucked didn't it?

If you look at this week, looks like I'm either not even training, or training for a half. But alas, last time I checked I"m still registered for a 26.2 mile race in October.

I've been fighting some mild knee pain for most of this training but the last couple weeks after my great 17 miler has been fraught with debilitating pain near my knee cap. The dull pain started behind my knee where it bends and has moved its way forward. A few mornings I've had to either cut my runs short or just call it quits because of the pain. I've been trying to stretch and identify what is causing it. The pain comes and goes, and I notice lots of turns and downhills seem to exacerbate the problem. So far I've made it through 18 and 13 miles, but not without pain during and after my runs. I've had to skip my Sunday recovery runs two or three weeks in a row, and I'm not happy about it but I've woken up both mornings and had to hobble to the bathroom.

I had a freak out moment this week where I literally could not keep running. After reluctantly waking up to run on the treadmill before work, I made it one lame, sad mile before I had to call it quits. My knee was just not having it. I know stopping was the smart thing to do, but I was still not happy about it. I half assed-ly did some glute work out in the garage for about 10 minutes, and then grumpily got ready for the day. Once I got at work, I lamented over texts and emails with my wise, and very patient friends, and after some good bossing around counseling, I finally contacted the doctor and was able to squeeze myself into see a physical therapist on the 9th. Here's to hoping and praying my knee can hold up until the race.

So, as you can see this particular week was pretty lame but I didn't want to get into the head game of trying to hit a certain amount of miles or runs just to say I did, and risk injuring myself even further. Sometimes having to swallow your pride and take the suck is the route you have to go.

As a runner, sometimes it's hard making smart decisions. You feel me, right?