There’s been slow progress in the injury front. The exercises are continuing. Pilates is continuing. Zumba is continuing at a much reduced intensity. The runs are building slowly. There are lambs in the fields which always cheers me up!
After a couple of glorious pain free runs, I had a shocker on Monday where my knee started grumbling 1km in and was yelling by 3km so that had to stop. It’s been a week of no runs to let it settle and calm my nerves about having another go. Today seemed like a good time to try. MrU needs to do 6km to be ready for a 10km we’re both entered for in June but I am still only a maybe. The plan was to set out together and I’d stop if needed.
The weather was rotten first thing so we got caught by sofa magnets and watched most of the coronation. It made for a good conversation topic around the lanes! Five minutes of walk and warm up exercises (I’m paying extra attention to these nowadays!) and it was time to start. As we head along the lane, I notice how many of the houses have bunting up. The weather is overcast but not raining and there are lots of snails on the path. I take care not to step on any, thinking specifically of Oldfloss ! Everything feels comfortable and when I check my watch, we’re accidentally set off far too fast. I slow us down, which seems to be a recurring theme during the run!
Usually, we’d run all the way to a postbox but today, I’m being ultra cautious about my knees and we turn at a park to keep the terrain flatter. As we turn around, I feel a small twinge in the outside of my knee but it quickly passes. All good so far-1km done. The next km back to the start passes easily, and I notice there seem to be lots of little birds out today. Looking am around the houses, we spot more bunting and a few large flags, but thankfully no life size King Charles picture today!
Back to where the run started again and I’m glad that I’ve got MrU for chat or it would be dull running the same stretch again. Today I’m also thankful that 3km passes (where my knee was awful last time) uneventfully. Up ahead, we notice a horse and rider and we have a little debate about whether to adjust the route so we’re not passing it three more times. We choose a diversion that adds an uphill section which should be fine for the knee. After a little chat with the rider about her lovely ex racing pony who is now retired at 24, we pass through another group of houses and along a fast, flat road. The pace began to gently rise again… This was great fun, but once again I was having to yell at MrU who was leading at this point to slow us down!
At 4.2km I just began to notice my knee. Not painful, just a feeling that it was there. As we ran up the hill, I felt great. Going slower than normal felt really comfortable with breathing which is lovely. Hitting the top, we passed 5km at a new record for MrU. He was super pleased. The last km was along the flat and all warmed up and feeling good, we sped up again and finished at 6km. The knee was a little unhappy with me. The physio had given clear guidance about when to stop, which I followed but the walk home involved a steep and uneven path. That was uncomfortable. Next time I need to think a bit more carefully about the cool down walk. The run was fine but just afterwards tipped it into unhappiness. After sending MrU ahead to make coffee, I picked my way carefully back and had a good long stretch and foam roller session. Everything feels good again now.
So overall, positive. It’s nice to get a good distance in after a little while. We’ll see how things go as to whether it’s the same again, or less, or maybe more next week. At the moment, the general trajectory is upward and I’m holding on tightly to that!
Planned a 13km run... did a 10k PB instead.
Not feeling it today! 