Thursday, November 25, 2010

The Rules of My Body

Typically when I am presented with a conflict I spend hours at once trying to fix it. I work hard, get it fixed, and go on with my life.

Running injuries are not like this at all. This year I have had a few injuries, specifically right toward the end of the year. I enjoy running a lot, and I overdo it sometimes. When I had a hurt heal I took a month off. I felt much better when I came back. I hit the ground running and started doing 7 mile runs daily. I thought because I could do it before that I could do it now. I forgot to listen to my body.

For the past week or so my knee has been bugging me. It doesn't hurt unless I'm running. I make it about 1/8 of a mile and it starts to hurt. I know, I must be doing it wrong. I must be running wrong.

I have tried a ton of different form suggestions that all lead to the same thing: knee pain. It sucks to say this again, but I am going to have to take another break. I guess it will be another month. I need to ice it more(I don't have an ice pack). After this I need to come back slow. I am strongly considering starting out doing 2 mile runs every other day and increasing by 10% per week. I have never followed the 10% rule. I need to though. I want to come back stronger than ever. I want to cross train on my off days.

So the thing that has been on my mind: Is this a set back? At first it sounds like it. Looking at it with a more open mind, I feel that it is an opportunity to start fresh and follow the rules of my body. I know things will get better. I just need to be more patient. I really want to be good at running, but I am slowly learning that over-training and hurting myself is not a good way to be a better runner.

1 comment:

  1. I've been struggling with a couple of running injuries as well, both from overtraining, not listening to my body. The first was top-of-the foot pain from transitioning to minimalist footwear running far too rapidly. I finally took 6 weeks off of running and did some biking and swimming to let it heal. Thank goodness for triathlons. I am currently fighting achilles tendonitis due to pushing myself way too hard after being away from running for 8 weeks due to a rib injury (log story). I thought it would be fun to compete in a turkey trot in bare feet. Because I was trying to make an unshod statement, I pushed myself almost an entire minute/mile faster than typical race pace. Oops. Anyway, I wanted to share a link that Alan Thwait, an inspiring barefoot reflexologist, shared on a recent post about a free ebook... http://thwaits.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/the-zen-of-running/ This may be the direction I need to start taking.

    Cheers.

    Nathan
    inbetweenmytoes.com

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