Brrrr

I titled this post "Brrrr" because this story has a cold ending. Let me start from the beginning.


My knee still hurts. I had to stop early during the last two track workouts because of the pain. In an effort to get a referral to a physical therapist, I saw two general practitioners during this past week. While only one gave me a referral, they both diagnosed my knee pain as Patello-femoral Syndrome. Basically, my kneecap is moving at an angle instead of straight up and down, so it rubs and causes pain. It doesn't go straight because there is an imbalance in my quadriceps. Until I can see the physical therapist, I have a few exercises I can do at home.

I've determined that my running form greatly affects the amount of pain in my knee. When I run slowly, my heel strikes the ground first. Not only does this slow me down, but it increases the amount of impact on my knees and the rest of my body. When I run faster, my weight shifts forward to the ball of my foot. As I learned this past Thursday, 6:00 min/mile pace means no pain but 7:45 min/mile pace means lots of pain. Too bad I can't do a 6:00 min/mile for more than about, well, one mile.

I come home from the track workouts with sore muscles and an achy knee. Our coaches have been advocating ice baths, so I've done it a couple of times now. Here's how it works: I take all of the ice from the freezer and dump it into the tub. While the tub fills up with cold water, I put on as many layers of clothing on my upper body as I can. I even put on my beanie. I climb into the tub and immerse my legs and hips in the icy water and sit there for 5-10 minutes. Or as long as I can stand it. It is a cold and miserable 5 minutes that I do not wish on anyone. However, my legs feel pretty good the next day, so it seems to work.