Knee pain is gone

 

 

The outer knee pain I have been battling since the Via half marathon in September seems to have left me.  I think this is due to the strength training I have been doing the last month or so.  I started out doing the Iron Strength program but that was too much for me at this point so I modified it with some exercises using resistance bands I bought at Dick’s. 

 

On Monday I had an easy 3 mile run scheduled and the weather was so nice I added a few miles.  Around mile 4 I noticed a little pain in my outer right calf muscle; it didn’t feel like a pull so I cautiously kept running doing around 4 miles.  I stretched and it felt fine but when I got home I could feel a little niggle so I did not run the next day as planned but I did walk with no pain.  Yesterday I skipped my regular Thursday night group run and since I was off from work I decided to run in the afternoon when it was warmer.  I started out with a progressively faster walk and then ran one minute/walked one minute for 2.65 miles with no problems so I am going to run tomorrow with the group from the runner’s club and hope for the best.

Saturday group run.

Today I ran around 7 miles with my Saturday morning group.  Although my leg muscles are a little sore, overall I felt fine.  My left knee has been bothering me and I have been doing some strength training to help that and it looks like it is working since I ran 7+ miles a few days ago and close to 7 today with no knee pain.  I have also been using the foam roller every day along with the Stick.

First run since returning from Copenhagen

Yesterday I tried running for the first time since my return from Copenhagen on the 10th of November. I have been fighting a bad cold that started on the flight back. I finished my last antibiotic on Saturday so I wanted to get going with my training for the Gardenspot Marathon in April. I decided to run my favorite course…I call it "private lane" because I run on a little road marked private. The route starts at my house, runs through an area of nice homes before entering the Lehigh Parkway where I run along a crushed stone path before leaving by way of the private lane and returning home. It is a little over 5 miles, has hills, crushed stone, beautiful scenery and little traffic; a little bit of everything. I also decided to use the run/walk method by Galloway by first walking for five minutes to warm-up and then start running 1/4 (run one minute then walk four minutes). After a mile I go to 2/4 then mile three 3/4 and so on until I am running four minutes/walking one minute. This is a proven method that lowers your chance of injury and lets you run longer distances. The run went well, no pains which is good because I have been experiencing some left knee pain since my last two half marathons. I am signed up for my first full marathon next April and I may use the Galloway method for this attempt because I am running a half marathon a few weeks after that and I want to try a PR of under two hours for the half. So as I start to recoup from this cold I am formulating a training plan which includes strength training; I am doing the Iron Strength program from the book The Athlete's Book of Home Remedies by Dr. Jorden D. Metzl. In addition to being a physician, Dr. Metzl is a marathoner and an Iron Man. He developed theses workouts to exercise every muscle in your body and lesson injury from your primary sport.