A Sore Knee

I pounded outside for a longer, faster run than normal recently and I knew I was hitting the ground hard. My right knee too most of the pounding for some reason.

The next morning I hit the treadmill and it was sore, but not too bad. However a day later, and an activity filled day of running, and other exercise, and it was swollen slightly, sore to the touch, and I used ice. I ran slower for a few days, and it felt better.

I've been able to run through a lot of injuries across the last 3 plus years, injuries that would have sidelined me for weeks in the past. In that time I've learned a few things, at least I think I have. I'll never know if I'd done damage here or not, but here's what I think.

The body can recover quicker than you think, at least from minor soreness-type injuries. They're injuries, but not debilitating.

Rest doesn't necessarily speed up the process much, and I think it makes it harder for you to get back into the routine of exercise, especially for us non-pro-atheletes.

Active rehabilitation is better, doing some motion and work with the body. Slowing down, and reducing the duration has worked well for me.

Aching Feet

I have been wearing my Vibram Five Fingers on and off for a month. I haven't been consistent, and haven't really worn them exclusively most days. I've had regular shoes on quite a few times, especially when at my standing desk.

Not a great plan for getting the feet stronger, and I could feel it. Thursday last week I was in the airport and on planes for a good part of the day wearing them. My feet were slightly tired, and on Friday I was tempted to wear my running shoes, but didn't. Instead I was out all day in them, walking through the National Air Museum, on hard floors designed to support the weight of large airplanes.

By Saturday, when I again didn't wear them because of the rain, I spent all day in college classrooms, on my feet, on hard floors. The run Saturday night was hard, and when I lay in bed, my heels were aching a bit.

I tried to step lightly, but caught myself pounding the floor a few times and realized that I should have worked up to this, with some longer days wearing the shoes. I need to back off a bit, and start wearing them around the house when I get home.

Exercise in the Margins

This article about exercising when you can is really interesting. It contains a number of hints about exercising and fitting it in, but fitting it into your life, as you live it.

I love the ideas about the fact that you will lose time, you will have setbacks. That’s one of the reasons I started the mile a day streak. A mile, even jogging slowly, takes no more than about 15 minutes. Maybe 20 if you’re older. I can always find 15 minutes in my day. I’ve done as low as 12.

I know that’s not easy for everyone, but I’d think most people could find 15 minutes to walk every day, whether it’s 5am or 11pm. Time is not a great excuse for a low bar.

However I do know not everyone likes traditional exercise. Walking stairs, walking out of your way on a flat surface, parking further from the door at the grocers, there are any number of small habits you can build.

Picking a sport is a great idea. It’s a commitment, but get a few friends, and try something. Even if you don’t play much, as I didn’t this year with adult volleyball, it’s a habit of movement that you are building.

And have a short memory for sure. If you miss a few days for some reason, forget about it. Pick up some small exercise tomorrow and don’t try to “make up” for what you missed.

Walking or Running

I've been on this running streak for over three years, and I've run every day. As part of my routine, I usually walk a bit before I run and walk a bit after. However lately I've been walking more as my wife trains for the Avon 40 mi walk in June.

It's interesting to look at walking and running. There isn't a lot of calorie difference between a purposeful walk and a slow jog. There isn't a lot of difference in the motion of the legs and I certainly get chafed when walking if I don't have good clothing. There is a lot of impact difference, and it makes me think I ought to walk some days instead of running.

My wife has been training for months, and she's gotten much stronger. She's only jogged a couple of times, but she's felt strong and it's been easy when she ran.

I keep thinking of this streak ending, and I know it will sometime. Stopping karate, and picking up some weights will give me a chance over the next few months to see how the body does and then make some decisions on how to move forward.

Healthy

My annual physical, 2 years late, was today. It's been a touch over 3 years since my last one, so I finally scheduled it.

Talked to the doctor about my knee, he checked it and thought I shouldn't do anything if it wasn't really limiting me. That's the same advice I got over the weekend from my brother, an acupuncture/homeopathic doctor. They did suggest I give glucosomine/chondriton a month or so and I got some over the weekend and started taking that. We'll see how I do.

Otherwise, healthy. Doctor was impressed by the running, said it was doing me good. We'll see what the blood analysis shows in a couple days.

Running and Diets

I mentioned recently that I don’t really track a diet per se, and instead try to better make choices every day, finding slightly healthier things to eat on a regular basis.
I also don’t really track the volume of food, and don’t mind being a bit hungry most days, but I do try to keep a rough eye on whether I eat more or less. It’s not so much for my weight or size/shape, but more that it helps me understand how much energy I’m expending. There are days that I’m working too hard in a short period, and I worry about wearing myself out, so if I find myself getting really hungry, I pay attention.
It’s one way that helps me to better understand the effort I’m making and not push myself too hard. Which can lead to injury.

Diets

I’m not on a diet, at least not a formal one. My eating habits are OK, probably better than the average US citizen, but far from what many would consider a healthy diet. I eat too much meat, drink too much diet soda, and not enough fruits and vegetables.
I am trying to be better, but I don’t want eating to be a source of focus in my life, or more importantly, a source of stress. I used to do the Body for Life diet, which I enjoyed, but the cooking and food preparation created stress, which I didn’t like.
Right now I am trying to make better choices. Having the chicken instead of a burger when I’m out (easy), eating more salads at lunch (just need to build a habit), adding in fruit here and there (easy), and skipping diet soda some days (very hard). I do want to make better choices, but make them in a slow and sustainable way.

What's Next

Lately I've been feeling beat up, and with a black belt test coming in July, I'm a little worried about my body. It feels fine when I run, but other times it's beat up, especially my knee. It makes me think that I might need to change my routine a bit.

I still enjoy running, and I hate to give up the streak, but I am thinking that if I get to three years, I might stop and look to move to "exercise every day" instead of run every day. Or maybe "sweat every day". That way I can get some rest for some parts of my body and give it a chance to heal.

It also might give me a way to keep working if I decide to get some work done. I'm not sure I need work on my knee, but it is sore, hurts to kneel on, and doesn't support me if it gets bent. Likely I'll get it checked sometime this summer and see what the doctor says.

But first, 1000 days.

Listen To Your Body

The best thing about this running streak was that I've learned to listen to my body. I've learned to really pay attention to how I feel, and then adjust my activity as a result. I don't stop running, but I do alter things based on the way that I feel.

Throbbing

I spent a whole week recently at a business conference in Seattle. It was colder than I expected a few days and I was busier than expected other days. As a result I ended up running early in the morning every day and on the treadmill on the top floor of the Sheraton downtown. Not a bad view, but at 6:00am, not much to see.

I thought the treadmills up there were nice, but they must be harder than mine at home, which has impact adjustment. By the time Thur hit, day 4 running, my right knee was throbbing a bit as I walked around. I felt it walking up stairs, and actually started to take elevators where I could for that reason.

When I got home, I decided to take it easy, and spent 3-4 days running less, and slower, on the treadmill here. I also added the cho-pat strap. That has seemed to help, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Much Better

I put ice on my calf a few times last night and then went to sleep. This morning I felt better and after working for awhile, I decided to try a run. I stretched out for about 10 minutes, for what little good that did. No pain in the left calf, though it was tight.

When I got downstairs, I started slow, walking and then a slow 5.5mph jog. It felt OK, though on the verge of something pulling. I kept the steps slow, running carefully, and things went well. I set a time of 14:00minutes, and kept to that, but I'd started the Nike+ late by a minute, so it shows 15:00 total. I did my standard 2:00 cool down walk.

I think I'll be OK, though my guess that a slow day in right field would be my best move tomorrow for the last baseball game.

A Little Roll

I was 13:00 min into what I planned for a 30 minute run, still heading out when I stepped funny with my left foot. It was a slight roll, and I collapsed downwards on the leg to lessen the impact. However I only stumbled and didn't stop running.

It felt a little funny, but it was warm, and I kept going, although a little slower. I was worried it was going to be hurting, but it felt OK on the way back, and after a 15 minute cool down, it still feels fine. I think I'll still add some ice.

Sucking Wind

I wouldn't have thought it would matter, but after 8 days of running at sea level, I struggled my first day back outside in Parker. I'm at about 6400 ft, so a significant difference, but still, only 8 days?

I felt strong in Maryland, running up short hills (30ft of gain) easily, and taking in lots of oxygen. My normal 1.5 mi run felt like nothing. Even the long run felt pretty good, with my legs getting tired before my lungs.

However back in Denver, I did two days on the treadmill, felt OK, and then went outside for a 3 miler. Before I was at the turnaround, I could feel myself struggling to get oxygen on the slight uphills. These are probably the same 20-30 ft altitude changes along the road, but I could feel it.

Makes me really appreciate how strong altitude can make your body, and how quickly you can lose it.

Seventeen Weeks

It doesn't sound like a long time when you write it in weeks, but today was day 119 of my running streak.

I feel OK, a sore knee, slightly tweaked ankle, and struggling after going back to karate last night. This is definitely a bit of a lull for the running streak as I struggle to get down here the last few days and run.

It might be a let down after last week when I had two runs outside, and the week before when I stretched to some 2 milers, but in any case, I don't hate it and I'll keep pushing.

I haven't tracked my totals in a few weeks and don't really want to dig in and do them now, but it seems that I've been averaging about 10.5 miles a week, so I'd be about 170+ miles since September, which is pretty good. Not sure if that's a record in my life since I ran a pretty good amount in college when training for a marathon and I've had lots of weeks where I ran 15-20 miles a week, but I don't know if I've kept it up for this long.

In any case, I feel good overall, and feel stronger in my lungs. The weight hasn't gone way down, but I think that's a function of not great eating, especially with travel and the holidays. I do feel proud I've managed to get this far and to get runs in around snowboarding. Those days are a challenge, but for now I think I could maintain this for another 17 weeks.

Am I Swollen?

The left knee has been a bit sore for a couple weeks. I thought I stained it snowboarding and then with karate as when I bend it, it feels a little sore. And when I wake up in the morning, it's definitely stiff and doesn't want to move.

So am I swollen? Can you tell which one it is?



It's the left one, which is on the right in this picture. It hasn't bothered me when running, as long as I stick to a straight line, so it hasn't slowed me there. We'll see if I make karate next week and snowboarding after that.

The good news is karate closes for two weeks after Monday, so I'll get a break to rest.