Injury

Earlier this week I was toying with the idea of running the California International Marathon (CIM) in Sacramento. It is a fun race and I felt like running a marathon again. When I checked the web it was sold out. Looking back at it now that is a good thing.

Today I decided to go for a run. Since I have one seriously black toe-nail and another one that is so-so, I have not run since the Ironman. I thought I'd start out easy on the treadmill just in case. I walked a few steps and my toe did not hurt so I kicked it up to a 7:30 pace and ran. For the first mile all was fine. Then I pushed the elevation to 1% and kept going. About 0.1 of a mile later I suddenly had a tremendous pain in my right calf, right behind and below the knee. I had to stop right then and there.

So here I am after limping home, with an ice-pack on my leg. It is painful and tight but not very swollen. Not much to see really. Why did this happen?

I noticed during the Ironman that my right foot was in a slightly different position. It did not bother me at all but around mile 85, I started getting cramps all around that knee. Still, I  was able to continue and run, although I did lose about 10 minutes in the run.

Ever since, my knee has been slightly "annoying." Not really painful but not really right either. There was a diffuse ache somewhere deep. It bothered me slightly when I rode in the past week, and somewhat on the swims but nothing major. Is this the end result? Although it seems tempting to jump on this, I doubt that it is the real cause.

I have noticed that every time I go fast on the bike (close to or above 21 average for a 112 miles, or close to and above 22.5 for 56) I get some knee trouble somewhere. It isn't always the same knee or the same spot, but there is always something. I do have a minor misalignment in my knees and one leg is a bit shorter than the other, so it is possible that, when I push really hard something gets unduly stressed. 

Years ago, I used to wear out my running shoes very unevenly but somehow that improved dramatically all by itself as time went on. So maybe all is well unless I really push hard and long? Or maybe I need to train a bit harder to move the threshold up somewhat more?

In any case, here I am, in the convalescent chair for a day or two. Ice and NSAIDs again. But before that, I swam 1,400 yds. Gotta do something today !