It started yesterday afternoon, once I had completely cooled down after my aborted run. A pain I could pinpoint: right above the patella, centered but slightly to the left (outside), any time I contract my quadriceps with my knee bent at about 90-100 degrees (that is going up or down the stairs, squatting and so on).
As I write this, it is only painful if I press hard on that point but I have decided anyway to follow the doctor's first advice, that was not to run until I have the shoe inserts. The appointment with the podiatrist is in week -19 before the marathon, which leaves me with very little time to train properly.
We'll see.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Promise kept
"If your knee hurts at 3,1km, you have to stop at 3,0km". This is what the doc said yesterday, and I guess that's what I did today.
I was not sure about going out today because the examination yesterday had stressed my knee a bit, so I went in the afternoon instead of in the morning as I usually do. After 1,6km I turned around and went back home, a bit walking, a bit running slowly. Was it hurting? Not really, but it was feeling a bit weird so I played it safe. I think next time I will try to run without the brace, because it prevents me from being 100% connected with my knee: I didn't know if it was the knee or the brace annoying me.
I was not sure about going out today because the examination yesterday had stressed my knee a bit, so I went in the afternoon instead of in the morning as I usually do. After 1,6km I turned around and went back home, a bit walking, a bit running slowly. Was it hurting? Not really, but it was feeling a bit weird so I played it safe. I think next time I will try to run without the brace, because it prevents me from being 100% connected with my knee: I didn't know if it was the knee or the brace annoying me.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Jumper, not runner
I finally have a real diagnosis, I know what the problem is and not just what its consequences are (the Baker's cyst I had before the holidays, which btw may have been caused by problems with the menisci). I have a patellar tendinopathy, a.k.a. "jumper's knee".
I went to the sports doctor today, and it was good to finally be seen (and not just talk via facebook messages) by someone who knows what he's doing and as an added plus also has a lot of running experience himself. He did a thorough examination and determined that the problem is caused by instability in the push off phase originating in my foot and causing an inward torsion of the knee, therefore stressing the patellar tendon.
The solution? Special shoe inserts only for running with extra support under the ball of my foot, physiotherapy and strengthening exercises (although he was quite impressed with the strength of my quads).
He said that maybe I should consider running the marathon next year, but he didn't exclude the possibility of me running it this year. I guess he also realized how stubbornly determined I am, as at first he had advised not to run until I have the inserts but then he gave me "permission" to run as long as I am 100% pain-free and I stop immediately at the minimum warning sign from my knee.
It is a tricky injury I have, which if neglected could result in more serious damage and need of surgery, and sure as heck I am NOT eager to have surgery again to any of my major joints (and not even the minor ones, for that matter).
About the brace he said that it may help a little bit so it's good to use it when I run, but it's not the solution.
I have an appointment this Thursday with the PT, who will meet me on a running track and observe how I run, and next week with a sports podiatrist.
So... slow and easy forward I go.
I went to the sports doctor today, and it was good to finally be seen (and not just talk via facebook messages) by someone who knows what he's doing and as an added plus also has a lot of running experience himself. He did a thorough examination and determined that the problem is caused by instability in the push off phase originating in my foot and causing an inward torsion of the knee, therefore stressing the patellar tendon.
The solution? Special shoe inserts only for running with extra support under the ball of my foot, physiotherapy and strengthening exercises (although he was quite impressed with the strength of my quads).
He said that maybe I should consider running the marathon next year, but he didn't exclude the possibility of me running it this year. I guess he also realized how stubbornly determined I am, as at first he had advised not to run until I have the inserts but then he gave me "permission" to run as long as I am 100% pain-free and I stop immediately at the minimum warning sign from my knee.
It is a tricky injury I have, which if neglected could result in more serious damage and need of surgery, and sure as heck I am NOT eager to have surgery again to any of my major joints (and not even the minor ones, for that matter).
About the brace he said that it may help a little bit so it's good to use it when I run, but it's not the solution.
I have an appointment this Thursday with the PT, who will meet me on a running track and observe how I run, and next week with a sports podiatrist.
So... slow and easy forward I go.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Picking up again
It was a rather uneventful week running-wise, which given the situation is a good thing. I ran 4,2km on Tuesday, 5,5km on Thursday and 6,5km today, all very easy. I am slowly getting used to the knee brace, but I hope I can get rid of it at some point. Tomorrow I will go see a sports doctor to get that second opinion about my knee and the MRI scan, I just don't believe that there is nothing wrong with it and I want to take all the necessary precautions to prevent it from blowing up again - except stop running, of course.
Every route I run goes by these horses, and I always thought I should take a picture of them. Today one of them (the one on the right) was very close to the fence when I went by and again I thought "I should take a picture" and I continued running... 10 steps further I turned around and went back to finally do it. By the time I took out my phone, the other horse and the two ponies also had come to check what was going on so I could take this group picture. Yes, the second pony is also in it... look carefully between the legs of the horse on the left :-p
Every route I run goes by these horses, and I always thought I should take a picture of them. Today one of them (the one on the right) was very close to the fence when I went by and again I thought "I should take a picture" and I continued running... 10 steps further I turned around and went back to finally do it. By the time I took out my phone, the other horse and the two ponies also had come to check what was going on so I could take this group picture. Yes, the second pony is also in it... look carefully between the legs of the horse on the left :-p
Sunday, January 8, 2012
A new beginning
No complaints from my joints after Thursday's run, so I went out for my "long" run today... 5,5km.
It really doesn't feel good to call this a "long" run, but I have to accept the fact that I need to start from zero again, and be very very careful too.
With 21 weeks to go before my marathon, my training plan has to be completely revised, and I decided to try a different approach. Since the Galloway method failed in one of its primary goals (that is to keep me injury-free), I will try a different program: Hal Higdon's 18 weeks Novice 1 program. I will use the 3 extra weeks to build up to the 6 miles planned for the first week of this program, so I will really take it easy in this new beginning.
As for today... the knee brace takes some time to get used to, for the first kilometer I had to adjust it a coulpe of times and it still bothered me especially in the back of the knee, but after that it was ok. Not sure I'd be able to run real long distances with it though, we'll see.
Winter doesn't want to kick in, and towards the end of the run I was wishing I had not put on my thermal shirt under my long sleeve shirt, even though the thermometer read just 6℃ and it was cloudy. I couldn't help but think of a woman I saw running in my hometown in the South of Italy at noon on a cloudless sunny day with a balmy 14℃: she was wearing long thick trainer pants, a very thick wind jacket all zipped up and woolen hat, gloves and scarf (!!!). I don't want to know what she had under that wind jacket, but I'm pretty sure she had another few layers of clothing. After all, it was the first of January!
It really doesn't feel good to call this a "long" run, but I have to accept the fact that I need to start from zero again, and be very very careful too.
With 21 weeks to go before my marathon, my training plan has to be completely revised, and I decided to try a different approach. Since the Galloway method failed in one of its primary goals (that is to keep me injury-free), I will try a different program: Hal Higdon's 18 weeks Novice 1 program. I will use the 3 extra weeks to build up to the 6 miles planned for the first week of this program, so I will really take it easy in this new beginning.
As for today... the knee brace takes some time to get used to, for the first kilometer I had to adjust it a coulpe of times and it still bothered me especially in the back of the knee, but after that it was ok. Not sure I'd be able to run real long distances with it though, we'll see.
Winter doesn't want to kick in, and towards the end of the run I was wishing I had not put on my thermal shirt under my long sleeve shirt, even though the thermometer read just 6℃ and it was cloudy. I couldn't help but think of a woman I saw running in my hometown in the South of Italy at noon on a cloudless sunny day with a balmy 14℃: she was wearing long thick trainer pants, a very thick wind jacket all zipped up and woolen hat, gloves and scarf (!!!). I don't want to know what she had under that wind jacket, but I'm pretty sure she had another few layers of clothing. After all, it was the first of January!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Back on track?
25 days without running. One MRI scan according to which there is nothing wrong with my knee. A very long quest for the perfect knee support, which included many visits to many shops and many phone calls, and ended with me driving 40km to go buy the same kind of support I had seen in the very first shop and paying it about 40% more.
After all this, I finally put on my running gear, together with this:
and went out for a test run against the elements. We had a very heavy storm this morning, and it left behind a very strong wind and some more scattered showers, which means I went out with the sun, had to walk head down against the wind at some point and came home completely soaked.
3,5km, and how did it go? I could feel the knee at every single step for the first kilometer, but then it was mostly fine, we'll see tomorrow.
At the local discount supermarket (LIDL, for those of you who may know about it) this week they sell a knee brace for 5 Euro... is this a sign? I think I'll go get it and use it at home, it's much smaller than this one and may still do some good.
After all this, I finally put on my running gear, together with this:
and went out for a test run against the elements. We had a very heavy storm this morning, and it left behind a very strong wind and some more scattered showers, which means I went out with the sun, had to walk head down against the wind at some point and came home completely soaked.
3,5km, and how did it go? I could feel the knee at every single step for the first kilometer, but then it was mostly fine, we'll see tomorrow.
At the local discount supermarket (LIDL, for those of you who may know about it) this week they sell a knee brace for 5 Euro... is this a sign? I think I'll go get it and use it at home, it's much smaller than this one and may still do some good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)