Gratuity - Memories of Cory and Topanga
Goals - Know your limits, but never stop trying to exceed them. ~Author UnknownI've had a tough month with my knee giving me difficulties. Immediately prior to my 10K race and up until a week ago my knee had swollen up and swallowed me with pain. Pain that had me limping ,waking up in the night, and popping ibuprofen.
The doctor said it was probably a torn meniscus but an expensive MRI and surgery would be the solution for that. Although some folks I know had very positive things to say about this surgery I also had read contradictory reports.
After reading the following from this report
Surgery has the best results when the primary symptoms of the meniscus tear are mechanical. This means that the meniscus tear is causing a catching or locking sensation of the knee. When the meniscus tear is causing pain only, the results of surgery may not be as reliable.
and with the knowledge that my issue was only pain, and additional discussions with my doctor who told me that declining surgery would cause no harm, I decided to try to "manage" the knee instead.
I've given it a month of rest and it is feeling much better. I tentatively tried out TaeKwonDo and Yoga and a very very slow jog. My knee brace has become my best friend.
Finally I am rethinking my training schedule and what I need to achieve my goals. I obviously trained too hard or too stupidly. I need to train smarter. Instead of a quest for speed , I am going to start a quest for smarter training. Maybe I will get faster anyway but the main goal is to stay healthy.
Suggestions please!
I have no idea but I would suggest building your gluts and your core as much as possible. (Neither of which are strong on me).
ReplyDeleteAlso, be sure you have some cross-training that is not like running, I think biking counts, definitely yoga, strength training and swimming do.
These were the two pieces of advice I remember from RunBuds.