Keeping the Habit

I have just completed week SEVEN of "wake up early and get my butt out the door at least seeing how I have nothing else to do anyways." I have NEVER been this faithful to any sort of daily habit. I really do try to make habits, but I'm a lazy slug and maybe make it two weeks, especially when waking up earlier than necessary is part of the habit. So, yay me.

By the end of week four I was running 1.7 miles five days a week. I was on track to be able to run 3 miles by week nine which is the first week of August. However, I was painfully running 1.7 miles. I have this thing called patellofemoral pain syndrome or PFPS or runner's knee or tennis knee or jumper's knee...yada yada. Essentially my feet and thighs suck at coordination. It is really really common and is fixable but hurts like no other if you run on it. What happens is when you run your patella or knee cap glides up and down in its track, if you get your patella off track then it's grinding into cartilage which is quite painful. It falls out of the track for a couple reasons 1)the hamstring or back thigh muscle develops more than your quadriceps the front thigh muscle which causes enough of an imbalance to pull and twist your kneecap to the side 2) your feet aren't falling on the ground the way they are supposed to. They are either overpronating, rolling your foot in, or supinating, turning it out too much. I don't know what I'm doing with my feet, although the heels of my regular walking shoes are wearing out faster on the outside of them. And the thigh muscle problem is actually very common in my family. I don't know where we got it but all my siblings and myself have tree trunks for thighs and it seems since most of us have knee problems we are all prone to our thigh muscles developing differently.

Ok, enough of the anatomy and physiology lesson. Point is that I was definitely over working my knees by running 5 days a week when I have these issues. So I sadly needed to stop running. Literally, every step was painful. Even sitting with my knees bent for a little while was hurting. All of week four I tried to push past it by icing and taking ibeprophen everyday after I ran. No good. Week 5 I started walking everyday. I have been walking at least three miles everyday at a decent pace but it is soooooo BORING! Last Thursday was the first day in six weeks that I kinda hid inside and didn't do any workout that day. Yesterday I did it again.

Believe it or not, I was really enjoying running. It became a challenge. If I could push myself enough I would be able to start running three miles on a regular basis. How awesome is that?! I don't know many people who do that. Especially on their own. Well, I have snuck a couple of runs in since I decided I was tearing my knees up. They felt really good.

I have a plan that I hope will work. If I continue to do these knee strengthening exercises, regularly that is, (Oh yea, I have several exercises that help strengthen my lame muscles that aren't doing their job right) I think I could manage three days a week of running and walk the other two. If that's too much then I'll run two days and walk three. I ran a bit two days this week and it was refreshing.

I ran a mile and a half today.

Oh, and the CamelBak waistpack that I bought is awesome! It fits nice and snug so I barely notice it while I'm out and it keeps the water cool and convenient which helps me run longer. I like it. Thank you very much.