Some time off running, and lots of sleeping.

It's been pretty uneventful in the running world of Heather. I am still nursing the ole knee from a bad case of Patellofemoral Syndrome. It's going to be a long road, and my future races and my sanity are in serious question. 

The alternative cardio exercises I can do are swimming, or biking. Even elliptical is kind of off limits to me, although I didn't know this until after I did a 10k on one. Since I don't really know how to swim very well, and there is no pool that I know of that's free, I have been taking up cycling again. I say this in the least serious manner, because I possess the cycling skills of a drunken toddler.

 

I tried a couple of nights just riding the bike inside on the trainer, getting my heart rate up and catching up on some tv. Turns out it's exceedingly more difficult to do MAF on a bike! The Walking Dead really helped on keeping my heart pumping hard, but couldn't provide much relief from the monotony of peddling my brains out to nowhere. And my butt! Oh man. I even splurged on some padded shorts, and a somewhat cushioned seat, but still felt like my butt bones were bruised.

Since the first night of riding on the trainer, I've attempted a few more indoor rides. The second one was laughable, because my butt bones hurt so bad. I don't think I even managed fifteen minutes. The third time was a bit better, but I had to stuff a down pillow between me and the seat for the first ten minutes. I even went to the wide world of the web to see if people ride through the pain or give it some rest. Seems to be 50/50 in the bike forums.

I've been regularly going to Dr. Dade Donovan, my sports chiropractor. This injury surprised him, considering that I have never really had knee issues before. He has been doing some ART on my knee, and in the last visit really managed to find some crunchy stuff in there. He has lots of weird tables and chairs for chiropractic adjustments, so I took a photo of the scariest looking one. It's not that scary, but I think I've only ever been in it once.

That same night, I had an appointment for some acupuncture here in San Mateo. My equally crazy running friend goes there often, and swears by it. Given my desperation, I decided I'd give it a go too.

I had needles sprinkled from my head and ears, to my feet. There were a handful of them around my knee, and she hooked up some electronic device to them which sent them into a fury of vibrations. I laid there for about thirty minutes (eventually your body adjusts to the sensation and it doesn't feel as weird), and then Angela, the awesome practitioner, took them all out.

Once the session was over, I tested out my knee a bit. The pain was lessened a bit, but is still persistent. I will be back though, as some results aren't seen until a couple of visits in. It makes it easier that my insurance covers it, with only a $10 copay!

On a side note, I'm pretty sure that Jon would agree when I say that all this time off running is making me lazier. I've given up on trying to wake up early in the mornings. Jon was out of the house by 7am today to run 16 miles up some mountains and I didn't bother to roll out until past 9:00. Once I got moving, I decided to at least TRY to not give up completely, and got on the stationary bike. Ten minutes later, I gave in and took the bike outside for 25 miles. I just can't stand stationary anything! I don't know how people handle it in the gyms.

Since twenty five miles is probably the equivalent of running maybe ten miles at the most, I decided that I needed to do a bit more. I went out and did my monster walks, and crab walks that have been prescribed to me from the doctor in order to strengthen my legs a bit. I also did a core routine from FitStar. Anything, at this point, to keep my heart rate up a bit, that isn't on a bike.

The chickens were very confused as to what I was doing, but kept me company the entire time.

Other than that, I've just been icing, resting, and resting some more. All this time off is definitely helping the knee, and I was even given permission to do a couple of flat five milers for the week. I'm trying pretty hard to remain positive and hopeful for my future races, but I know the number one priority are healthy legs. So if North Face 50 isn't in the cards for me, then so be it! I'll just become a professional sleeperiner.

Mmmm...sleep...