Season's First Injury

*WARNING: this post may be slightly dramatized *

This past week was the first week that a track workout was added to my training schedule. I have not been on a track since middle school and the last time I had done any form of speed work/ sprinting was during club soccer. Needless to say I was a little rusty.

I was excited as I made my way to the track for the workout to workout with the RM TNT team. I was looking forward to adding a new activity to my routine that would not only help me become faster, but also help me focus on my cadence and breathing. After a quick warm up and stretch I was quickly reminded to why I stopped running track - a track looks deceptively short (it doesn’t look that far around but don’t be fooled it is really a quarter mile).

Here is the workout that we did:

400 (repetition pace)

200 (rest pace)

400 (repetition pace)

200 (rest pace)

400 (repetition pace)

400 (rest pace)

800 (repetition pace)

400 (rest pace)

800 (repetition pace)

400 (rest pace)

400 (repetition pace)

200 (rest pace)

400 (repetition pace)

200 (rest pace)

400 (repetition pace)

400 (rest pace)

Seems pretty straight forward, right? It was kind of a no brainer once I wraped my head around the pattern and how many laps in a 200 vs a 400 vs an 800. The work out was simple as fast and by the end of it (including the warm up and cool down) I had run approximately 4.2 miles. Not to shabby for a Tuesday afternoon! I went home, ate dinner, showered, caught up on some TV, and then crashed.

At about 2am the next morning I woke by a searing pain in my knee (I am assuming I attempted to roll over in my sleep and when my knee would not cooperate I woke up). I could not bend my left knee and once I had mustered up enough courage to I was consequently unable to then straighten it. My first thought was that it was that I had slept on it funny and my leg hasfallen asleep, or I bruised my knee on a table or something. Not in much of a mood to deal with it (it was 2am after all and if you know me well you know I love my sleep) I kind of half crawled, half hobbled down the hall in search of some advil (or perhaps something a bit stronger) to subdue the pain and the maneuvered back down the hall and proceeded to flop back into bed. I was hopeful that by the morning the pain would have subsided and I would be back to walking normally again. FALSE!

When my alarm went off around 6am I tried getting out of bed and was promptly reminded by the pain still in my knee that it was going to be a long day. I went through my normal routine in the morning and then went upstairs to make my lunch and leave for the day. Getting up the stairs took twice as long and I had no motivation to make my lunch. I really just wanted to sit and pout.

Once at work I decided to do some research, I should not be in this much pain after a track workout. There were no hills, no rocks/branches/roots to trip on, no uneven surfaces to roll and ankle. It should have been a safe environment to run it. I turned to runners world, active.com and other running websites to beging my research. The common result that came up on all of them:

Runner’s Knee (Chondromalacia of the patella): Pain around and sometimes behind the kneecap. One of the most common injuries among runners. Even after taking a few days off, the pain seems to come right back, sometimes even intensifying, after the first few miles of the next run. The pain often feels worse when running downhill or walking down stairs, and the knee is often stiff and sore after sitting down for long periods. You might hear a crunching or clicking sound when you bend or extend your knee.

Symptoms: tenderness behind or around the patella, usually toward its center. You may feel pain toward the back of the knee, a sense of cracking or that the knee's giving out. Steps, hills, and uneven terrain cause pain.

Cure: RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) and anti inflammatory drugs, reduce mileage, avoid knee bending activities (walking?!), stairs, hills... the list goes on.

I figured the pain would go away in a couple of days, but by Friday I could not find a comfortable position. I emailed my TNT coach and told him what was going on, his diagnosis? Runners knee His advice? REST! Not what I wanted to hear. I was hoping for a quick fix. It is still unknown what could have caused the onset of the pain, but my TNT coach said it could have been from a number of factors: my shoes, the new surface, weak quads (false/not possible), and amongst others the workout being too long and too slow. He informed me that track is something that needs to be eased into and my pace needs to be fast. I need to have a longer discussion with him about what would be appropriate for me.

I hobbled around all weekend and the pain still comes and goes occasionally. As much as I want to go out and run or hit the gym to get a good sweat I am not going to jeopardize my ability to go to Chicago. So if I am grouchy the next couple of days you will know why.

And I apologize for not having a cupcake recipe this week... as I stated above... grouchy. (I’ll get over it eventually... hopefully...)