Attitude is Everything!

It's been over a week since I have run.  The knee still isn't feeling any better but I wanted to try and run anyway.  Took my little girl down to the JRP to ride her bike, there was no way I could keep up.  I probably ran 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile and walked the rest.  Several times my knee gave out on me.  I can't seem to get the swelling to go away and I can't straighten or bend it all the way either.  This really stinks.  I'm soooo discouraged.

Attempted to run again today.  The knee doesn't seem to be getting any better.  I've scheduled an appointment with the Doc.  I hope I can get this thing figured out, I'd still like to run Hobblecreek and St. George.  I'm not sure though that its going to happen :(  No more running until I see the Doc on Wed.

Cortisone is amazing.  I went to the Dr. today and he made my day/week/year.  My right knee has been progressively worse since the 4th of July- to the point where I couldn't straighten it or bend it all the way and was only able to run 5 painful miles last week and only 2 miles the week before that.  I have had several surgeries and thought maybe my running days were over.  The doc said my knee joint still looks good, but there are some abnormalities from the surgeries that will cause me trouble if I am not smart about what I am doing but I have many miles left.  He recommends my weekly mileage never exceeds 30ish and that I never go over 5 miles on tempo days- since it is the tempo miles that are most likely to cause a flare up.  I got the go ahead to start running again when the swelling is gone- which he thought would be by the weekend and that I could cross train today, which I did.  3.5 miles on the elliptical in 32 minutes.  He also felt I should be able to run SGM but wasn't to sure about hobblecreek.  I think I might try it as a slow training run- we'll see.

 Since I'm going to have to do more cross training I'm going to log my cross training miles as slow miles and my running miles as fast miles. :)

5 miles on the elliptical trainer (48 min) on interval training.  It was a pretty tough workout.  The knee is feeling about 90% better.  It still has some swelling- hopefully it will be gone tomorrow so I can run.

Frustration.  The doc said when there wasn't any more swelling in my knee I could try running again.  He figured it would be Friday or Saturday.  Friday morning most of the swelling was gone but not all, so I decided to be good and just cross train.   After I worked out the knee started bothering me again and the swelling started to creep back in.  I took some ibuprofen hoping it would be better and I could run Saturday.  No such luck.  So I took Saturday off hoping I could run today.  Nope- I woke up with a sore, swollen knee.  Not a good sign.  I thought a cortisone shot lasted longer than 2 days.  Decided to go to the gym and work out anyway.  I did 20 minutes on the bike (5.75 miles).  I was feeling pretty good so I got on the treadmill and tried to run- not good- made it about .25 miles and gave up.  Moved to the elliptical and worked hard for 1 mile (8min).  

After I finished my workout I had an hour to waste with the baby while my husband worked out (the day care was closed) so I decided to walk outside.  I walked/shuffled along JRP for about 4 miles.  I tried to jog 5 or 6 times but it just doesn't feel right.  My hamstring tightens/spasms right by my knee and causes my knee to buckle and the medial joint line feels odd.  Its really rather weird.  My knee is not particularly painful it just doesn't feel all that stable and it isn't working the way it should.  I wish I knew what was going on.  I was so optimistic after Wed. Doctors appointment but I think we are missing something.  I don't think this is just a flare up, as the Doc thought.  I guess I'll call again tomorrow and see if maybe I can get an MRI done.  I am soooo FRUSTRATED :(

3 miles on the elliptical in 24 minutes.  5 mile run in 44 minutes and 8 miles on the bike in 18 minutes.  The knee still doesn't feel normal but I can't stand sitting around waiting for it to get better.  After going to hobblecreek and cheering on my husband and others I decided I'd better get moving if I have a chance of running SG.  I had only planned on crosstraining but felt pretty good so moved to the treadmill.  I'll probably regret it but at this point I don't care.  I'll either end up able to run SG or in surgery, either way- at least something will happen.  Hopefully ice and ibuprofen does the trick.

Ran to the gym this afternoon.  4.5 miles at about a 9 min/mile pace.  Then cooled off for .5 miles.  The heat and the wind made it a little tough but I'm pleased that I was able to run the entire run- hills and all. 

The knee felt pretty good.  It's still pretty swollen but I don't feel I can wait around for the swelling to go away.  Lots of ice and ibuprofen and I'm careful to make sure I'm not limping.  Hopefully, I can run through it, since I don't have time to wait around anymore.

Fast miles=running miles

Slow miles=crosstraining

Tried to run but could not get into a comfortable gait without limping.  The knee is still swollen, the calf is tight and the hamstring tendons are still aggravated.  Made my way to the gym (about 1 mile) and tried to crosstrain (1 mile on the elliptical) but even that was uncomfortable.

Lots of ibuprofen and the swelling was down enough to crosstrain.  I put 30 minutes in on the elliptical and 15 minutes in on the bike.  Felt ok.  I'm counting 1 mile /10 minutes although on the elliptical I was doing 8 min miles.