First run in over a month!

[ofearthandstars]

I've been out of sorts for the past 5-6 weeks since developing runner's knee in early June (came down wrong on the knee - which has had prior injuries/issues - during an easy pace run). This was a bit of a blow to me as I've been trying to build distance all year in the hopes of running a 10K this fall. I'm not sure I'm on schedule to do it this fall after the injury, but time will tell. Prior to the injury, I was making 4.0 mi/6.4 km runs with about an average pace of 11'32".

During my month off, I've been cycling and doing some yoga, mainly to try to strengthen my quads/hamstrings to help support the knee. I also bought a new pair of running shoes since the old ones were very high-mileage. Today I took my first run post-injury, a meager 0.4 miles (I'm following the conventional wisdom that one should start at a tenth of their previous mileage and then slowly add on a tenth if things are pain-free). I'm also wearing a brace on the knee, which I wore prior to the injury. I found at the very start that I was incredibly unsure of my gait/stride, probably because I was afraid of experiencing pain in the knee and possibly because it's been a while. I had some mild twitchiness across the top of my knee during that, but it seemed to fade once I figured out my stride. It definitely felt too short - it was only two blocks. After the run I took to my bike and rode 4.0 miles at an 8-10 mph pace. Once back at home I pre-emptively iced - the knee is a tiny bit grindy, but otherwise pain-free, so I guess I'll call it a success for now.

Comments

[rmc28]

Hope you continue to recover well :-)

[ofearthandstars]

Thank you. :)

[liv]

Yay, welcome back. That's a shame about the injury but it sounds like you've been really sensible in keeping in shape while you recovered, and then easing yourself back in gently for your first run after an enforced break. I hope that your knee continues to let you build up your running.

[ofearthandstars]

Thank you! We shall see how it goes. On on off note, thank you for posting here often, because it reminds me to post here and to keep trying to run, even when I hit obstacles such as this one...

[liv]

Cool, I'm really glad it helps. I do it mainly to keep myself accountable; I've seen some evidence that keeping up good habits works best if you log things. But if it's helpful to other people rather than boring, so much the better.