OMG, am I sore! I ran on Monday and again yesterday. Yay for me. It's SO hard to get started. Only when I've been running for about 10 minutes do I truly know that I'll be exercising that day. I hem and haw the whole way up to it. I have to MAKE myself DO IT. Good thing I have this race to motivate me--or I'd surely find no time to get my gear on and go. I plan to run 3-4 times a week, starting with 23 minutes and then increase by 10% each week. That's what has been written in all those running advice columns I found yesterday. I surfed the Internet yesterday to self diagnose this sharp pain in my right knee cap. I've had it with any running I tried to do for the last couple of years (hence, very little running was done!) . From my understanding, it's patellar-femoral syndrome. Either I need orthotics to prevent over pronation and/or it could be due to weak quadracepts (TOTALLY possible...no, very likely) or could be aggravated by the fact that I generally run on the road on the right side. There's always a bit of a canter or slope on the side of the black top and that might make the patella slide slightly off-center, creating pain.
So yesterday, I concentrated on running on only flat surfaces and making an conscious effort to hit the pavement with my feet as straight as I could. And guess what?? No pain. Yay. I was so afraid this pain would stop me from training and then I wouldn't be able to race. I still have to work on quad strength, so I plan to do squats and isometrics to strengthen my legs. Hopefully it will all come together and I'll be doing really well by the time the race starts on May 2.
Today I'll try a little ibuprofen and some stretching. My poor muscles are accustomed to hybernation rather than the wake up call I've thrown at them. Poor babies. But....a little pain, a little gain.
1 comment:
Yay for you!
Post a Comment