Running Log
Three miles in 25 minutes on the treadmill, I started off slow instead of stretching. Various body parts felt good. Followed up with lots of stretching and iced knees.
My left knee was pretty messed up after the five mile run back on August 12th. I saw the sports medicine doctor again a few days after that and she advised taking a few weeks off to let my knees recover. Tonight was the 12th day, things have been feeling pretty good for several days now.
The other thing she pointed out was that my experimenting with off the shelf arch-support insoles (my feet have hurt for a long time) was probably a big part of my knee pain. Legs seem to be very precisely balanced, the hips, knees, ankles and feet all affect one another more than it seems they would. I now have a prescription for orthotics and some medieval looking thing called a night splint. That’s only supposed to be worn for 4-6 weeks, but it would be nice to wake up in the morning and not have the first 15 minutes on my feet be excruciating.
Ouch, Joe. You do have a rather big frame. Those joints of yours are always going to take a pounding.
Have you ever considered cycling or swimming? I’ve gone 26 years (of serious cycling) without any kind of sports med injury. Every serious runner I know has had knee or tendonitis problems at some point. Downside to cycling is that it is damn dangerous to do in NYC:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=au0Zjn3eB9k&mode=related&search=
Heck, I even broke my hip 2 weeks after 9/11. Crappy injury!
Make sure you ease into things. Going from light joint activity to heavy pounding like this can quickly lead to injury. With cycling, if you need to go easy, all you have to do is “spin” in a low gear and take it easy for a couple of days (but you can still ride). With running, even a “light” day still pounds the shit out of your knees. There really is no “light day” with running.