Workout: 11-12 miles, team walk (sort of)

Time: ~3.5 hrs.

This morning was my first opportunity since deciding to walk the marathon to meet and train with the walking group. I exchanged emails with one of the walking coaches, got a copy of the weekend walking schedule, and just needed to know the time, since the schedule didn’t list any times. The coach I was in contact with was going to miss this morning’s walk, but she told me that unless otherwise noted, the walks always start at 8am. For directions, I had “Morristown Park off of I-287”. When I consulted [Google Maps][1], the only park that seemed to fit that description was the [Morristown National Historical Park][2], so that’s where I went. |inline

I had my appointment to get my knee checked out last Friday, where the doctor confirmed my suspicions of “runner’s knee”. He talked a lot about what is and what causes it and what to strengthen to prevent it, but I came away feeling like I got little or no useful information as far as whether it would still be possible to train to run the marathon. As far as I could tell, he was saying don’t run until the pain is gone, and only cross-train and work on strengthening the leg muscles until then. Well, that doesn’t help me much because I don’t have access to cross-training equipment, and “don’t run if it hurts” is useless advice to me, because I only find out if it hurts by running to test it out. If it hurts, I shouldn’t have run. Great. |inline

Workout: 10 mi., team walk

Time: 2 hr., 31 min.

I’ve been keeping my TnT coaches updated about my knee and the affect it’s having on my training, including how it’s bumming me out that I keep missing group workouts, so it cheered me up when Coach Bill told me that there would be a walker at today’s workout, so I’d have company if I showed up. Company makes all the difference, because without it, it’s just a long drive on a cold early morning to walk alone. |inline

As I described in my [last entry][1], I found the cardio equipment at the local YMCA not to my liking, so it was back to the drawing board for cardio alternatives. Kat and I have wanted to replace our old treadmill with an elliptical machine for a while now, so that’s a definite possibility, but I want to hold off on making that investment until I’ve had my doctor’s appointment. If the doctor tells me that training to run a marathon in three months is out of the question, then I’ll plan on walking it, and that doesn’t require as much cardio work. That doctor’s appointment is still a week away, though, and I don’t want to just sit on my butt all week, so tonight I turned to my Playstation2 and a game called [Dance Dance Revolution][2]. |inline

My runner’s watch has an event countdown feature that lets you enter the date of an event you’re training for, and then whenever you want to know how many days are left until your event, the number is there at a glance. Today, it tells me there are 98 days until the New Jersey Marathon. My right knee doesn’t have that feature, but if it did, I think it’d be giving me a somewhat larger number in the countdown to being marathon-ready. |inline

Workout: 3.5 miles; the Yard

Time: A ridiculously slow 51:50

Temp: Pretty cold

After my last couple of runs, I was concerned enough about my knee that I didn’t want to run again until I’d consulted with my coaches, which I did at last Thursday’s team get-together. It was an enjoyable get-together and I got some good advice from coaches Bill and Megan about my knee like when to ice it and some stretches to add to my routine that might help, and that if that still wasn’t helping within a few days, I should probably get it checked by a doctor to be safe. I was all ready to put those tips into action starting with my next run, which was the Saturday team run, and instead got sick, so I missed a few more days of running. |inline

Jan. 8: 3 mi w/ Kat

Jan. 9: 3 mi.; the Yard

My knee is starting to concern me again. I’ve learned to stop short of pushing it to the point where I feel the painful twinge I used to sometimes get, but I’m slowing to a walk way too early in my runs for this to keep up. The discomfort/pain is centered in the kneecap, and then radiates up and down the leg from there. It goes away almost completely when I rest, and doesn’t return until I run again. I walked about the last half mile of yesterday’s run with Kat, and today I planned on running four, but I was already walking after the first mile and a half and finally just cut it short at three. I was disappointed because I hoped that running on the flat grass would feel good on my knee again, but I think maybe I’m compensating for it now (not on purpose), because other parts of my legs were hurting more than usual even though I was running very slow. My lungs could have taken much more, but the legs just wouldn’t cooperate.

I plan to ask my coaches for advice at a non-running TnT get-together this Thursday. I’ve already adopted the habit of stopping to stretch about a mile into my run, and then stretching again when I’m done, and that seemed to work great until I ran some hills again, and a couple days rest between runs hasn’t been enough to get my knee back to normal. I tried icing it after running today, but couldn’t tell if it helped. It’s not like my knee is bothering me much between runs - just when I’m actually running, and for a short time right after I’m done. I’m hoping there’s something else I can do like maybe some resistance training that will make the knee more durable, or trying a brace. It’s nothing debilitating right now, but I would sure hate to take the “suck it up” approach and end up injuring myself to the point I can’t continue training and risk missing the event.

Dec. 27: ~ 4 mi. on the cart path of a golf course

Dec. 29: ~ 6.5 mi. around the new neighborhood

Jan. 4: 6 mi. on a high school field where one lap = .5 mi.

Jan 6: 6.2 mi on a hilly route with local TnT chapter

I usually log my mileage and time pretty accurately, but during yesterday’s run (back in NJ), the battery on my running watch zonked out, and since I hadn’t yet logged the recent runs that were stored on it, I lost that data.

I am recently returned from a two-week trip to Southern California. I had to deviate from my training schedule more than I anticipated, but I still got in a few runs, including a very enjoyable run with the Ventura County Marathon Team of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of Team in Training. (That’s quite a fingerful when you type it all out, so from here out, I’m calling them “Team Ventura”.) |inline

I don’t want my two or three readers (depending on if you count my wife) to worry that I’ve quit either running or writing, so here’s a quick update: I’ve had a good, productive trip to California, but didn’t stick to the training schedule quite as much as I’d hoped. I did manage four runs - about 20 mi. total - which included a very enjoyable run this morning with a local TNT team that my mentor helped me get in touch with. I’m returning to NJ tomorrow, so expect an update about my team run and more by Monday or Tuesday.

Yesterday (Christmas Eve) was a scheduled rest day, and although today called for running a few miles, I instead spent most of the day enjoying Christmas with family, and the rest packing for my trip tomorrow. Kat and I are flying out to my home state of California for some visiting and other reasons I’ll get into later (not related to TnT). As far as my training goes, I’m not going to stop running during the trip, but I’ll have to adapt the schedule to fit the demands of the trip, not to mention find suitable places to run in an unfamiliar area. Depending on how many neighbors bother to secure their wireless networks, I may or may not have a regular ‘Net connection, so please be patient if you don’t see any updates here for a week or so.