First Workout After Rest Days

A week ago, I did a 5 mile run and told you about this injury. I did Hip Hop the next day but took the rest of the week off because of yet another injury (if you missed it, read about it here.) Yesterday, I decided that I HAD to do something...I felt SO LAZY! Mr. Boo motivated me to go to the gym with him :) Thanks boo.

On the way, I was trying to decide what I wanted to do. Honestly, I was afraid to run. I was so scared that I'd hurt myself (REMEMBER: I HAVE A 10K IN ONLY 2 WEEKS!!!). I finally determined that I would get on the elliptical for at least 30 min then do some leg strengthening exercises (for my PT friends out there, I almost said LE ther ex because that's what I'm used to documenting daily!).

 

So, I hop on the elliptical, turn up the resistance, and go for it. As I approached 10 minutes, it occurred to me that I haven't felt any pain so far. I could tell my piriformis was tight but not painful...my knee wasn't giving me any indication that it was hurting. This is GREAT! After 10 minutes passed, I decided to be brave and try the treadmill a.k.a dreadmill:

 

 

I put it on 6.0 (10 min/mile) which is a steady, easy pace for me at this point in my training. I decided that I would turn it up to 6.1(approx. 9:50 pace) if I still felt good around 5 minutes..and I did! I was so excited about how I was feeling...NO PAIN! To be safe, I stayed at 6.1 the entire run. In my mind, my goal was going to be 3 miles...that's about the distance that my knee began to hurt a week ago. All I could think was "I don't want to hurt myself!" It's so hard to rest when all you want to do is run and improve your time.

 

One mile came and went...still feel good. One and a half miles...good. THEN IT HAPPENS...1.75 miles. my knee starts feeling that pressure that is so familiar to me now. Very shortly after the pressure starts, I get a shooting pain and slightly lose my balance. Yikes. At that point, I knew I needed to stop when I reached 2 miles. After finishing, I stretched, focusing on my tight piriformis, and did some hip exercises.

 

I was bummed that I felt the knee pain but thankful for two things:

1- My piriformis didn't bother me while running and it felt much better after stretching...I have no piriformis symptoms today!

2- I was able to run! Even if it was only 2 miles, I was able to do it. I think it helped to warm up on the elliptical.

 

I have only TWO WEEKS until my 10K so I'm not expecting to do really well but I am confident that I will finish with a decent time.