Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Taking some unscheduled rest time

Over the past few days I've noticed some pain near my left knee, on the inner side of my leg. It's fairly mild, and there's no swelling. I suspect it's either an MCL sprain or PAT (Pes Anserinus Tendinitis). At this point I don't think it really matters which it is, because the treatment for both is to get some rest (and ice, compress, etc.).

With my first HM only a couple of weeks away, I feel like the best thing for me to do is to get to the starting line without injury. Missing a few runs this week might affect my performance a little bit, but I don't feel like it will make a huge difference at this point. I feel confident that I can at least cover the distance, and my primary goal for this first HM is just to finish. I can't do that if I try to push through and turn this minor condition into a more serious injury by continuing to run on it...

...at least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself, because it's hard to take a break from running, especially with a race coming up.


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3 comments:

  1. Brian -
    Not saying that it is related or not, but don't forget that you just changed shoes. I don't know what you were wearing before, but if the new shoes are not the 'right' shoes that could cause pain. I know I had a problem with knee pain in my early days of running and then found that I had made a bad shoe choice. I changed the shoe and IMMEDIATELY saw the pain go away.

    Something to keep in mind.

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  2. The thought has crossed my mind, especially since PAT can be brought on by overpronation (which I'm notorious for). On the other hand, I was wearing my older pair on Sunday, and it was after that run that I first noticed the pain. But then I wore the newer shoes Monday. I think to be safe I might stick with the older shoes until I get past the HM, then experiment with going back the the newer ones. I hope it's not the shoes, because I really like the feel of my new NB shoes.

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  3. Rest is key with these annoying pains. Crossing fingers it's just being grumpy and you'll be running well soon. Very exciting for your first half :).

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