Move At Your Own Pace
The good news (and it’s very good news!) is that my IT band is starting to feel better. Last Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I could run a bit and mostly walk a 10k without stabbing pain in my knee; this wouldn’t have been possible a month ago. Not only that, but I flew across the country without significant stiffness or soreness, and managed to plug my way through physical therapy on Monday, and run/walk the cardio sessions between the strength training drills at Tuesday night’s track workout. And when you consider the mountain climbers, planks and lunges that we were doing, that’s no small feat.
Compared to where I was a month ago, this is huge news.
I’m still trying to take it easy. Even though my knee only felt “twingey” on Tuesday night, I still opted to walk more than run. Yesterday, at our weekly distance run, I walked the 45 minute workout rather than running it. It’s taken me a long time to get back to this place, and I’m not interested in rushing it and causing more problems.
Which, of course, brings me to non-running alternatives. This week — my first week back from my conference in Boston — I felt like my entire life was taking place on a treadmill. I was constantly busy, but it felt like the horizon remained the same. Nevertheless, I still managed to work out daily, with the exception of the mandated Friday rest day: PT on Monday; strength circuits on Tuesday; Pilates on Wednesday; tons of walking on Thursday; and then the 45 minute walking workout on Saturday.
The one thing I didn’t make time for — until this morning — was riding my bike. Even though I’ve always seen the bike as a distant second to running, there’s something about being able to ride that’s been particularly liberating during this period, so much so that I’m actually considering sticking with it even when my leg has healed. (Hey, I’ll be 2/3 of the way to a triathlon, minus the drowning-at-the-start part.)
This week, I’ll be running my first-ever 3k fun run on the 4th of July. Why a 3k? Because the Tiny Kitchen Assistant desperately wanted to run it, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Are you running any holiday races, with or without 5-year-old running partners?
Tags: baa 10k, boston, boston athletic association, cycling, fun run, injury, it band, race, rehab, rehabilitation, running, team in training, tnt, walking