I'm finally back to running. Since my injury last May, I've had a few attempts at comebacks but all ended the same -- my knee was killing me. I started seeing the running doctor at the end of last summer. First he had me walk uphill, which was fine but even that made my knee hurt. I ended up with an MRI that didn't show anything serious but did show a lot of inflammation between my popliteus tendon and my IT band. After the MRI, I took a fair amount of time off then restarted with some elliptical and biking until I felt like I was in decent shape. Finally, he gave me the okay to start running on a treadmill at an incline in November. I was very cautious and nervous about this and only ran 6-8 miles/week. Finally, on January 5 I ran outside. And... no pain. I went again on January 7 and felt great (though not in terrific shape). I ran twice a week for a couple of weeks, then ran three times a week for the past two weeks (building my milage approximately 10%/week) and am planning on running 4 times this week (for 14 miles).

I'm a little bit crazy and actually enjoy winter running so I'm glad to be back. Today I went for an easy three-miler. It was really windy so it wasn't terribly enjoyable but I'm glad to have done it. I'm just glad to be back.

I've cross-training with weights and leg strengthening 2-3x/week so hopefully that and a conservative training plan will keep me healthy this spring. I'm planning on joining a running group for a half-marathon training program that starts February 28. I'm debating between the 9:00/mile group and the 9:30/mile group but won't decide until that date is actually here.

I'm going to blog about running and whatever else comes to mind, though I'm sure that I don't have any readers left.

Today: 3.11 miles (9:06/mile)

This week: 3.11 miles

2010 to date: 34.27 miles

I haven't disappeared. I took a few days off after my run on July 2 and tried to go 9 miles with a group on Sunday morning. Well, it didn't go as planned. I ran about 4.3 miles and my damn right knee was killing me again. It actually hurt so badly that I had to stop and walk for a bit. What really stunk is that I was 4.3 miles away from my car and had to get back to it! So I walked for a bit and jogged for a bit all the way back. So, I covered the distance, but my knee felt terrible.

So, I went to the running doc on Tuesday. Previously, I went to my friend's living room (he's an ortho resident) and he diagnosed me. This time, I went to a running specialist. He seems to think that my IT band is better and I'm being bothered by my popliteus tendon. He thinks that I need to alter my stride mechanics a bit and wants me to walk uphill for a week without running. That may sound easy, but it's really hard. For one, he wants me to adjust the incline enough so that my heart rate is about where it would be if I were jogging (in the 150s). Being a good patient, I start on Wednesday and went for 30 minutes at 9% incline. On Thursday, I went for 45 minutes at inclines between 8 and 9%. Today, I decided to do my "long run" so I went for 90 minutes between 7.5 and 9%. It was hard work. Actually, today was so hard that I had to put the Chariots of Fire theme on repeat on my iPhone for the last 20 minutes just to finish. You can't quit with Chariots of Fire playing.

This week: 2 hours, 45 minutes of uphill walking

I'm planning a 2 hour bike ride on Sunday, then I'm having my gate analyzed on a treadmill running on Monday and I see the running doc again on Tuesday. I'm working hard, but the miles aren't adding up yet.

I was able to get up early again today to meet my new running partner at 5:30. The weather, while sort of crappy for early July, was nice for running (around 60 degrees). We went 5 miles at a bit faster pace than Tuesday (8:48/miles), but were still comfortable. I didn't feel great today, which was probably a combination of not sleeping all that well, drinking some red wine last night, and not having coffee before I left this morning.

I'm pleased with how my knee felt -- much better than on Tuesday, which is a tribute to my physical therapy yesterday. I'm due to go again today, and I'm hoping that it's not too brutal because I'm still sore from yesterday's session.

Today: 5 miles at 8:48/mile pace

This week: 10 miles

2009: 546.67 miles

I probably won't run again until Saturday when I'm due for 9 miles with my group. I'm going to slowly push up my weekly milage and see how the knee does.

As many of you know, I attempted to run the Magellan Chicago Spring Half Marathon last month, only to drop out due to by IT band issues. Well, for these events, they hire professional photographers who take pictures of runners and try to sell them to us afterwards. This is the one that they got of me:



Sad, right? I'm defeated and walking in with a hurt knee. Well, I've gotten probably 5 emails trying to get me to buy this damn picture. Sorry, it was fun and all, but I don't really need a daily reminder of the half marathon that I didn't finish.

At my group run on Saturday, I made friends with Chris, a 67-year-old investment banker that lives in our neighborhood. He's training for his fourth marathon and is also running with the 9:00/mile group. We made arrangements to run together this week, so we met up at 5:30 this morning for a 5-mile run.

The weather is fantastic for running (mid-60's and sunny) so the morning was rather enjoyable. My knee is still bothering me, and today was worse than Saturday, but I was able to get through the run. Hopefully it'll feel better after therapy tomorrow.

Today: 5 miles
This week: 5 miles
2009: 536.69 miles

I went for a hard bike ride yesterday morning on the lakefront then had physical therapy in the afternoon. Physical therapy is no joke. My therapist kicked my ass yesterday. First, he does this myofascial release on my IT band, which is a massage so hard that it should be used as an "enhanced interrogation" strategy. After that, he make me do all kinds of crazy exercises to strengthen my leg stabilization muscles and my core. It's a tough hour, but always makes my knee feel better the next day.

Today, I went out for my first group run. After I trained all winter with the 8:30/mile group, I've decided to drop back to the 9:00/mile group, both because I haven't been running all that much and I keep reading that you're supposed to train slower than you plan to run. I had a great run! We ended up going 8 miles as just better than 9:00/mile pace and we had fantastic weather. It was probably just around 70 degrees and not nearly as humid as it has been. Splits below:

Mile 1: 8:44
Mile 2: 9:07
Mile 3: 9:07
Mile 4: 9:03
Mile 5: 9:01
Mile 6: 8:51
Mile 7: 8:47
Mile 8: 8:42
Average: 8:55/mile

Fantastic! My knee is a little bit sore, but not more that it has on my shorter runs, so I'm encouraged. The physical therapy is really helping. '

Thanks everyone for your donations to the ABTA. I really appreciate them all.

Today: 8 miles at 8:55/mile pace
This week: 15.4 miles
2009: 536.67 miles

I'm afraid the heat has come to stay (at least for the few months that it's hot here), so my running is either going to have to be at the crack of dawn or on the treadmill. Today, it was at the crack of dawn. My knee always feels best right after my physical therapy, which was yesterday, so I felt good going out. I got out around 6:30 this morning and went 4 miles at 8:29/mile. My conditioning is coming back, but my knee is bothering me just a bit more than it was last week. I've got more therapy tomorrow, then 5 miles on Saturday, so we'll see how it feels after that.

Today: 4 miles
This week: 7.5 miles