Twelve miles

Wednesday, May 21:

Randy and I, both recovering from injuries, set out to run 14 miles on the Gateway Trail. We didn’t hurry and we stopped our watches at least twice to empty shoes of rocks and swap water bottles. After 9 miles I started to feel a little warning from the left knee, so I turned around early and ran only 12 miles. In the last mile I also had some hip-flexor pain on the left; that mile was very slow as I walked and ran. I’m probably just pushing the mileage too hard - perhaps I’d be better off starting at 8 miles and increasing mileage only 10% per week like everyone says. We’ll see. Nothing hurts now, though, after the run.

Was today’s knee problem really due to ITB? Pro: It did seem to hurt as much when lifting the knee as when coming down on it, the pain was on the very outside of the knee, and it started after quite a few miles as ITB problems often do. Con: I was unable to find any place where I could make it hurt by poking it with my finger. To be honest the hip-flexor hurt more than the knee in the last mile. I’m thinking the hip flexor is just a fitness issue - need more miles, building appropriately.

Total time 1:51:50, pace 9:19, but even that pace is better than it should be, because we stopped our watches a few times. I took water at every even mile and Clif Shots twice.



Salad: Organic romaine, cucumber, pumpkin seeds, homemade guacamole, blue cheese, organic red wine vinegar.


Dinner: Free-range no-antibiotic no-hormone bison, onion, organic carrots, pepper & salt.