Unfortunately, I find myself facing
another injury this year and the biggest challenge since I
starting running just over 2 years ago. If my self diagnosis is correct, which
from looking at the symptoms I can’t think it could be anything else then it
seems that I am suffering from runner’s knee. It started to play up 2 weekends
prior and progressively got worse last week. I haven’t run again and I wasn't exactly running a lot before, averaging around 10 miles a week so I’m not quite
sure what caused it. However, from examining the causes that can lead to the
issue, I need to consider whether my running shoes were a factor in that they
may have gone beyond their mileage resulting in a reduced cushioning performance
which may have translated into higher impact on my knees. In fact they can't be as I've only done about 330 miles in them since Mar 13. The following sites
provide some further information on the problem if interested.
It’s extremely frustrating and depressing,
as the weather has improved and it hasn’t been raining but, now it looks like
I’m going to have to avoid running on it for a while to give it
the best chance of recovery. That
means all my fitness is going to disappear and when I do start running again, my
asthma is going to make it unpleasant for a while until my body gets back in the
swing of things. Until then I need to do something that at least gives me a
fighting chance of maintaining some of my fitness and to ensure that I don’t
start piling on the pounds, especially with Christmas just around the corner and
another week away at Lancaster University early in December scoffing hotel food
and drink.
So I
need to get a new routine up and running (no pun intended) if I am to stick at
it. Thankfully, I have access to a cheap gym therefore I think swimming is my
only option and leg/core strengthening exercises at the moment. So, I’m going
to leave it a whole week of rest, then aim to start on
Monday.
Monday Update:
Started today on my new regime; jogged slowly to the pool (about 1 mile), swam
for about 20 minutes continuously, got bored, ran back to work, some chest
tightness as expected but, no adverse knee pain to speak of yet but only time
will tell. If all goes swimmingly (no pun intended), will continue with this
routine tomorrow and then Thursday. If all goes ok, I might alternate with
cycling and other low impact activities before I gradually start to build up my
running fitness again. The short runs to and from the gym will also help with
this.
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