I've been doing lunchtime runs, off and on, ever since Big Buy moved into our current, enormous facility four years ago. In all that time, I've never had an occasion where I came up lame mid-run and have had to limp home. That is, until this current week when it's happened twice.
I guess "limp" is a bit of a strong word. I'm pretty sure that versions of Past Dan (circa early to mid 90s) might have tried to gut it out through the injury or pain and finish the circuit. My perspective that has come about as a result of age and experience, however, tells me that a more thoughful consideration of how I treat my body in such instances can only benefit me down the road.
Well, Monday, about a mile into the run, I started feeling a pain behind my kneecap. ALSO coming as a result of age and experience is my knowledge of how minor aches in my body tend to work; and the lesson is "don't freak out." I will often have a little "ting" or "ding" or "ping" in a knee or arch or ankle, or what have you. This may not be very scientific (or it may be quite scientific, but just in a way that is beyond my ability to evaluate in scientific terms), but I simply know that, in 98% of the cases, the pain will disappear later in the run and will certainly be gone the next time I hit the road or trail. The key is "repeatability," which is scientific. If the same pain occurs in the same place two runs in a row, it's worth checking into further. And to date, that's only happened three times, but that's another story. Anyway, the Monday pain didn't appear as though it were the type that would disappear during the run. I didn't freak out, but neither did I attempt to run it off. I just accepted the fact it was going to be a really short run, turned around and walked back.
Today-Monday's pain gone, per formula, and my run was feeling better and better the farther I got. I was flying along a trail at the Wood Lake Nature Center, took my eyes off the path for a split second to look at something that now I can't even recall when....
THOK
Ankle roll. God DAMMIT. There are those out there that know my long and storied history of ankle sprains. As often happens with individuals who have umpteen sprains & turns in their lives, the individual injuries tend to get less severe the more you have them. Not sure if that's because a flimsy ankle is more likely to ease you into an ankle roll (rather than put up a fight before giving way to a sickening "pop"), or if it's just because the victim is more prepared to absorb and partially deflect the initial instance-almost like learning how to "take a fall." In any event, I could have kept running today. I almost did, but then thought "why risk it" and settled in for another leisurely walk back to home base.
Just thinking here...maybe I should hold off on any more runs this week.
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- Dan
- Father, musician, trail runner, reader, geographer, craft beer aficionado, meditator.
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8 comments:
I've been wanting to start running again, and now I think I've found a park that is suitable here in Japan. But I hear ya on the old knees. I bike to work everyday and my knees are killing me. I'm hoping some continued weight loss will help it some, but I've never had such a problem before.
Is it mostly concrete there? Roads & pathways? That's so much worse on the body than asphalt, even.
But wow-biking is killing your knees? Is it possible that you have your seat set way too low? Not be be all Jack LaLane(sp?) here, but it's a general rule of thumb that you should always keep the angle of your knee over 90 degrees.
Jack LaLane? More like Mr. Lane.
Mr. Lane, our high school gym teacher, for those billions outside looking in on that one.
If Mr. Lane knows what a 90 degree angle is, then I'm The Green Lantern.
And everyone knows you are The Panther.
On the ankle rolls... I've done both ankles, and the first was the worst by far. I don't think it is that your ankles learn to "take the fall" as much as most of the damage is done on the fist hit. Everything is stretched out, and not much more to be done on consecutive rolls. I've also found I've been more prone to roll my ankle after the first time. But now it usually pops out and right back.
It wasn't just the first. I had multiple serious ones early on.
This particular one is a little worse than usual. It took me about a minute to get down my staircase this morning.
My favorite part is, if it bruises, how it all ends up settling under the ankle bone.
Not sure if I'm familiar with that penomenon, but I definitely have a "crushed" feeling in my ankle for a handful of days, depending on the severity of the injury.
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