Well, not a confession, per se. It's not like there's anything really wrong with it. In fact, it's probably a good thing in the long run. Of course it is a good thing...
I'm seeing someone.
Yep, I decided it was time to get off my painful butt and see a specialist. So I'm going to a chiropractor to help with my messed up legs.
Knees have been bugging me for a few weeks now ever since I did those 16k runs and tweaked things. There have been other pains, too, and since I still have five weeks of training left and the kms are just going to keep going up I decided to take the bull by the horns and shuffle myself off to a professional.
In the end it was long overdue and I wish I would have done it sooner. Well, maybe my wallet doesn't, but my legs do. Once they stop screaming. Went to my first appointment on Monday and he did an initial assessment where his conclusion was that pretty much everything in my legs is messed up. Go big or go home, I say! He thinks it's primarily that my glutes aren't strong enough to sustain what I'm doing so I have some exercises to firm up my ass.
Good times.
I've seen him twice this past week and I do believe it's helping. Painful as hell during the session, but helping. I go back again on Monday and while he'll probably want to see me again in that week I'm going to have to drop down to once weekly sessions - at $48 per half hour, can't really afford two trips a week for the next five weeks, you know? As much as I'd love to, just ain't happening.
So in the mean time I'm going to do what he tells me to do - ice, roll, exercises, all that stuff - and hope for the best.
I was pretty nervous to get out and do this run, mostly because I'd wrenched my knee when I was picking up speed to catch a subway train that was pulling into the station as I was leaving work. I had no clue what the run was going to feel like but I needed to try so I did. Despite my fatigue - it had been a helluva day at work - I had to see how it would feel.
I told myself I'd give it a whirl and see what happens. I'd do a quick loop every close to home so if something bad happened I'd be close. If things felt good I also knew that I wasn't going to do the full 7k - I just didn't want to push my luck at that point. So I laced up my new shoes thinking that part of my issues might be because my shoes are too worn out (at just over 300k) and stepped outside. Gingerly, because my knee hurt a bit, but out I went anyway.
Much to my very pleasant surprise there was no knee pain. None. I was flabbergasted. And the shoes? They felt amazing! It was like a whole new lease on life! I felt lighter and better supported. I was able to concentrate more on my gait and focus on trying not to trudge run (I'm bad for that) and found that I could get an extra bit of speed without too much extra effort. It was all good.
Kept going for 6k then decided that was enough - no need to push my luck. But was delighted to see that I was 10-30 seconds faster per km than I'd been over the past few runs. And that, despite how tired and heartburn-y I was on this run. Yay!
Wore my running shoes to work today as part of casual Friday to give my knees even more support. I've got 12k on the schedule for tomorrow - likely in the rain, so it would appear - then I'm going to take Sunday off and get more rest. Rest for my legs and rest for my weary body that hasn't had the opportunity to sleep in in forever. Can't flipping wait.
Fingers crossed the rain holds off!!!
