Saturday, August 7, 2010

i'm going off the rails on a crazy train

ozzy osborne had it right in his song, crazy train. i've been on a full speed runaway train for over a week now and it won't slow down until tuesday so i'm just hanging on by my fingernails until then. i'm a deadbeat blogger this week and i don't like it. unfortunately, my blog will always be the first thing to take a back seat to everything else...it's my red headed step child so to speak. between work, which has been busier than normal, working on a powerpoint presentation for work, training for a 140.6 mile race around the corner, and just life in general, i'm feeling slightly overwhelmed at the moment.
OUCH! had a weird little incident yesterday morning when i went out to run. i was about a minute into my run when i pulled up with some out of nowhere, totally without warning, sharp pain in my right knee cap. i tried to run thru it but it was a no go, so i limped home almost in tears. tears not from pain but just the thought of 8 months of hard work going down the drain, flashed before my very eyes and made me want to throw up. knee pain is the one thing that terrifies me. knock on wood, up until yesterday, i never have had many major injuries or issues and definitely none with my knee. not sure what that was all about. so i got home, iced it,  hopped on the bike to see how it felt and i didn't like it. it wasn't as painful as when i was walking back home but it was still there. i went to the pool as planned and swam with no pain then decided to hop on the elliptical to see how that felt and absolutely no pain there either so i did my running miles on the elliptical instead. i didn't feel it too much at work as i walked around and used the stairs so that made me feel a little better. i had planned on doing a 100 mile ride in the hills today but last night i decided that i would make a last minute decision on that in the morning. i got up this morning, hopped on the bike to "test" the knee out. i stood up, pedaled in a hard gear, sat back down, spinned at a high rpm and no pain but still decided that maybe it would be best to not overdo it and stick around home for the ride. i didn't like the thought of getting out to the hills and then having to turn around and come back home because of my knee so we ended up getting a strong 64 mile ride in around the hood. i pulled a lot, felt strong, and never felt a twinge of pain. that pain scared me a bit so i'm still a little gun shy to run. my plan for next week is to do all of my running miles on the elliptical, and swim and bike as planned. i've actually done a fair amount of training on an elliptical before, back in the day when i was training for a marathon and was having some issue with my piriformis, so i know that the ellip machine has an excellent cross-over training effect, so i'm not too worried about losing anything on the running. i think my playing it safe approach is the smart thing to do at this stage in the game.

so that is my mini update for now. i feel better now that i'm an up to date blogger and not a deadbeat. much love and peace out!

25 comments:

  1. Whoa!!! First, close call and good job on being sensible and taking it easy on the knee.

    Second, I am sitting on the recliner with my leg elevated and ice on my right knee. I had a sharp pain in the right knee cap after my bike this morning. I spent the afternoon icing it and then went and ran 4 miles on the treadmill. It felt good but then after making the drive home the tightness came back??? How weird is it that the same thing just happened to both of us?? I was reading your post and thinking, "no sh*t?" Let's send each other some positive healing vibes!! I have a 12 mile run tomorrow morning and am not sure what to do?

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  2. Jeff, that is twilight zone! I'm sending good healing vibes your way buddy. We can't afford to hang out on the sideline. I hope you can get your 12 miler in tomorrow. You are doing the right thing by icing it and elevating. I just ran (better said, trotted) back and forth in the house, despite the strange looks from Joel and no pain so I still think I'll stick to the ellip for the most part next week and maybe test the knee out a few times during the week. I think it will be ok, just a little scare only and that it will disappear as quickly as it struck.

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  3. Jeff and KC I hope you both heal quickly! I will send the healing vibes your way!

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  4. KC - hope your feeling better soon.

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  5. KC I hope your knee is all better and doesn't hinder your training! Now I'm officially a follower/blogger fan of yours. GO GIRL!

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  6. Slow down.. you have the miles in and could probably take the next 12 weeks off and still finish with a pretty good time.

    If you push it.... maybe not so much

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  7. Good job following thru on the prudent smart thinking. Hoping it gets better fast!
    -D

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  8. Way to be smart about the knee - hope that goes away for both you and Jeff. Sucky. Sending positive vibes out to you.

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  9. Im glad you listened to your body. Its telling you something when it hurts. Nice 64 Miler!! :)

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  10. I have missed you girl! Was figuring you are probably in peak training hours for your race and god forbid your life have anything going on haha. Hopefully this is some funny random pain and you are up and at em again.

    Emotional about the injury. Yes, training that long for ONE race and something like that happen this far into it, I think I would have been a train wreck. Heather would definitely not want to deal with me on that day :(

    Hang in there, ice and keep calm. I am hoping for the best!!! Be smart too, you will sustain your training for a couple weeks!

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  11. It is SUCH a confidence wrecker when you get a pain like that. Hope it heals soon! You are in tremendous shape!

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  12. Sorry to hear that about the knee! You are being smart to baby it right now--hopefully that's all it will take. And, you have an AMAZING base to work off of--a little time off will NOT affect your big day.

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  13. Hope everything is okay! Such a terrible feeling that sudden pain th tends a workout.

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  14. That sucks, it seems to be the week of the knee, Jeff hurt his knee, I hurt mine at mile 52 of a century, made it back fine thanks to awesome team mates pulling my hobbling rear. I hope it gets better soon

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  15. Yes, you need to look after your leg. A few days off won't hurt; pushing yourself when it is tender might. You've come too far so you must be cautious.
    It drives me crazy that, once we get to a certain point in our training, we are sensitive to everything that is slightly out of place. I noticed my knee too the other day (which I think is from sitting cross-legged on the floor this summer) so I'm be careful to not cross them. Cold water in the pool helped a lot.
    Take it easy; you're almost there.

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  16. KC--I've not been on the computer very much so I feel like I'm out of the loop!!

    I hope the knee is ok. I notice you did a very careful 5 this morning.

    No hint of pain sounds good after Saturday. Will be checking back.

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  17. Hi Kristine,
    Oh no, I am so sorry to hear about your knee! Last year I was running and the same thing happened...it just came out of no where! I took a few days off from running, big time icing and some stretching. It took four days but my knee seemed okay. I hope that you recover soon! Take care of yourself:)

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  18. Thanks for all of the good healing vibes!! They worked! I was extremely tentative this morning as i headed out to "test" the knee out. I took it REALLY slow and never felt any pain. I breathed a sigh of relief after those 5 miles but won't let my guard down just yet. Can't wait for tomorrow to be done so i can get back on track with my regularly scheduled posts. I'll also be able to get back on my regular diet of reading everyones blogs in a timely manner not a week later.

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  19. I was going to write that I hoped your knee feels better soon, then I read your last comment! Yay for a pain free run! Maybe it was just a fluke? Or, sometimes when I run outside I notice that if I run on uneven pavement, my knee will hurt. Maybe that had something to do with it? But, like you, knee pain freaks me out! I'm glad it's good again though!

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  20. WOW! Great call on holding back on your knee! Maybe you slept on it wrong? No clue - but I just hope you don't have to deal with it again. That is my biggest fear - to train my ass off and then get held back by a freaking injury!

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  21. I recently had a knee that was barking, first time in over 2 years. I took it easy, hit a few spin classes, bored myself on the elliptical and cried through many foam roller days. But now it feels good. Hardest thing about running: backing off! Glad to hear you are holding back. Less is more.

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  22. I'm glad to hear the knee pain seems to have been a fluke. Over the last 5 years or so, every time I hear my knee crunch or have any unexplained pain in my back, the first thing I think is: "Is this the beginning of something that will prevent me from going backpacking again?!" Fortunately it has always turned out to be nothing, and backpacking has not stopped. Good luck when you reach the 140.6.

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  23. smart girl! glad you listened to your body. i've had a similar experience but mine was my IT band referring to my knee cap. i duno if your experience was similar to this but i can feel it a lot more after hard runs on the track. anyway hope you heal fast. let me know if you have any questions!

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  24. Ok, I'm behind on blogs, so I hope your knee is feeling better. I can understand the blog taking a backseat, mine was back there all week. Looking forward to your return!

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  25. Sorry to hear about your knee pain! I think you did the right thing and I totally understand how awful that thought is when it goes through your mind -- the 'what if this means I'm out for a few months and ALL that training down the drain?' Hope you're feeling better!!

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