What I Hope Is Not An Injury Report
by Robert James Reese » June 14th, 2009 » 10 Comments
My knee has me really worried. More than worried, actually... Scared. I couldn't even finish a 5 mile run today...
The pain that started during Wednesday's track workout never really went away. I did hills on Thursday, but they were less than stellar. Then I did an easy 5 miles on Friday, but it was incredibly slow and painful. I started limping afterwards. I stayed in Friday night, slept a bunch, and was feeling a little better yesterday morning. I procrastinated quite a bit, but finally got out the door and headed down to Central Park for my 15 miler.
It was the most painful run I've ever endured. From the first step on, I was in agony. My plan had been to pick up the pace the last 3 miles, but by mile 12 it was all I could do to keep putting one step in front of the other. After an almost super-human effort, I somehow made it back to to the bottom of the park after that second lap, but had to quit at 14.96 miles. Seriously. I knew I was that close and I still couldn't keep running. I sat on a bench for a long time before limping over to Jamba Juice and then onto the subway and back home. When I got back, I tried to stretch it out and soaked it, rested for a couple hours before heading to my buddy's house.
It felt okay when I left here, but by the time I hit the Upper East Side, I was limping again. After a couple quick beers on his terrace, I headed back home (instead of going out to a party in Brooklyn as I was planning on) because I could barely walk. I took another hot bath, stretched it out some more, and then slept for over 12 hours.
I woke up this morning and it still hurt like hell. But, I thought that if I could push through the pain, it would be okay. I was poking and prodding my knee with my fingers without encountering any super-sore spots, so I figured it couldn't be anything major and headed out the door for an easy run.
Right from the get-go, it was painful. It continued getting worse and by the time I hit the turnaround at 81st Street, it was starting to get unmanageable. And then my knee completely gave out and I almost hit the ground after the misstep. I realized then that I was doing more harm than good, and stopped running. I had to limp the entire two miles home because I didn't have cash or my MetroCard on me.
And, that's where I'm left now. I don't know what to do... I can't pinpoint the cause of the problem – It could be the change in the shoes, or the fact that I ran 6 days last week, or maybe something that was lingering from before and just now flared up, or maybe it was something that happened out on the track. Without knowing why the pain is there, I don't really know what to address.
Tomorrow is a scheduled off day, so I'll start there. And then, I'll take this week very light. I have a big relay race up in Vermont this next weekend and definitely want to be able to run that as pain-free as possible. I'll probably switch back to the Vomeros this week too. My hunch is that the shoes aren't the issue, but I don't know for sure and don't want to take any chances before the relay. I might have to throw an extra rest day or two in there too.
Crap. This is really not where I wanted to be right now...
The pain that started during Wednesday's track workout never really went away. I did hills on Thursday, but they were less than stellar. Then I did an easy 5 miles on Friday, but it was incredibly slow and painful. I started limping afterwards. I stayed in Friday night, slept a bunch, and was feeling a little better yesterday morning. I procrastinated quite a bit, but finally got out the door and headed down to Central Park for my 15 miler.
It was the most painful run I've ever endured. From the first step on, I was in agony. My plan had been to pick up the pace the last 3 miles, but by mile 12 it was all I could do to keep putting one step in front of the other. After an almost super-human effort, I somehow made it back to to the bottom of the park after that second lap, but had to quit at 14.96 miles. Seriously. I knew I was that close and I still couldn't keep running. I sat on a bench for a long time before limping over to Jamba Juice and then onto the subway and back home. When I got back, I tried to stretch it out and soaked it, rested for a couple hours before heading to my buddy's house.
It felt okay when I left here, but by the time I hit the Upper East Side, I was limping again. After a couple quick beers on his terrace, I headed back home (instead of going out to a party in Brooklyn as I was planning on) because I could barely walk. I took another hot bath, stretched it out some more, and then slept for over 12 hours.
I woke up this morning and it still hurt like hell. But, I thought that if I could push through the pain, it would be okay. I was poking and prodding my knee with my fingers without encountering any super-sore spots, so I figured it couldn't be anything major and headed out the door for an easy run.
Right from the get-go, it was painful. It continued getting worse and by the time I hit the turnaround at 81st Street, it was starting to get unmanageable. And then my knee completely gave out and I almost hit the ground after the misstep. I realized then that I was doing more harm than good, and stopped running. I had to limp the entire two miles home because I didn't have cash or my MetroCard on me.
And, that's where I'm left now. I don't know what to do... I can't pinpoint the cause of the problem – It could be the change in the shoes, or the fact that I ran 6 days last week, or maybe something that was lingering from before and just now flared up, or maybe it was something that happened out on the track. Without knowing why the pain is there, I don't really know what to address.
Tomorrow is a scheduled off day, so I'll start there. And then, I'll take this week very light. I have a big relay race up in Vermont this next weekend and definitely want to be able to run that as pain-free as possible. I'll probably switch back to the Vomeros this week too. My hunch is that the shoes aren't the issue, but I don't know for sure and don't want to take any chances before the relay. I might have to throw an extra rest day or two in there too.
Crap. This is really not where I wanted to be right now...
10 Comments
Also, if it's this, don't poke or prod the area (I did that, too).
You're going have to do some investigative work to find out what's wrong. But starting with complete rest for a couple of days might help. I wouldn't push it if it hurts, especially if it gets to the point that you're limping. That obviously means something is up.
Hope it's nothing major. RICE for a couple of days and see what happens.
I ended up taking 3 days off total, but I'm back to running every day already (though unlike in your case, mine only hurt when running). By figuring out what to do and being super vigilant (start stretching at the first shadow of pain, not when it's full blown hurting) I really lost no time, but it scared the hell out of me, too. This can become chronic, so very important to treat from the get-go. Here are two sites with good info:
http://www.anaerobic.net/runnersguide.aspx
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20050415/1545.html
I've had it. It comes out of the blue and feels like nothing at first. And then wham, cant run or walk or anything without pain.
It too is curable with RICE, advil and basic physical therapy, but will cost you some training weeks.
Good luck! And I hope it is something easy.
Recently I've been doing a lot leg strengthening exercises (gym machines would do), ice, advil and definitely the foam roller. Moreover, it could be time to get new sneakers?
I did a few months of PT, and the things that helped me the most were:
- ice
- foam rolling (get the good kind - http://www.optp.com/OPTP-AXIS-Roller/Foam-Roller-Therapy.aspx)
- stretching (note that you'll feel the stretches in your hip, not on your knee)
- core and hip strengthening. pilates-esque workouts tended to help me the most.
Be careful, and good luck!
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