And we're back to running again...Galloway style?

So I've been having a two steps forward, one step back kinda deal going on with my physical recovery since January. It's been frustrating, but even with the setbacks, I'm still constantly making forward progress, and I can't ask for more than that at this point. Anyhow, after being cleared to run again, I dove in full speed (figuratively; I wasn't going fast at all) and after two runs, I was ready for my first five miler. Well, my lungs, heart, and brain were. My knees were not. After two more runs, both of my knees were howling and all a sudden, I found myself unable to walk downstairs or even sit on the floor to play with Mary without excruciating pain.




A simple Google search revealed that this was likely "runner's knee" in both knees, naturally. Having torn my meniscus before, I'm familiar with the pain of cartilage damage, and my greatest fear was that this is what that was. Fortunately, I visited my doctor this past week just to get checked out - along with getting a referral to an ortho doc to keep in my hip pocket - and she said it was just inflammation from overuse, but there was no evidence of anything worse than that. So, I've been keeping up a steady diet of NSAIDs, ice, and heat, along with some Epsom salt baths and physical therapy, and now I'm back to running again. I've also started taking Move Free glucosamine and chondroitin with MSM as well, as I hear that can really help with joint issues. So far, so good.

I did a slow mile earlier in the week before I was really ready to jump in again, and I regretted it the next day. I also feel that wearing patellar bands - touted as being fantastic for runner's knee - was a large mistake. So yesterday, I decided to do an hour and fifteen on the elliptical at a fast pace and a low incline (trying to mimic running, which is kind of impossible if you're not, you know, running), and felt fine.

Today I got in a nice and easy 2.5 on the treadmill at ND. Nothing fancy, nothing fast, just using a touch of the Galloway method with ten minutes on of running, one minute off, all while blasting my new running playlist.

Since it's been awhile since I've tossed a track of the day in here, I'll go ahead and put one of the cleaner ones on that I was listening to (Bloodhound Gang was in heavy rotation, not sure why) and say that I'm pretty happy to be running pain-free again. We'll see what I'm saying once my mileage gets in the double digits again, though...

(also, I'm writing this on my iPad, so I apologize for any shoddy formatting...)

I've got a bit of a crush on Adam Levine, so I've been putting a bit more Maroon 5 on my playlist. I need to get Moves Like Jagger on there...anything that keeps me motivated while running makes me happy.