Take it easy

I haven't been driven to write anything here because I haven't been running. Haven't really been exercising at all. Towards the end of February my right knee started to hurt. It's often hurt a little bit, especially when going down stairs (not up). I understand that to be a kneecap tracking problem, most likely caused by imbalance in the muscle groups that surround and guide the kneecap. I'd mentioned that little tweak in my right knee to my doctor a year ago when I started running, and he confirmed it with some push & pull tests he did. I've been taking glucosamine basically the entire time on his instruction for that knee, and at one time I wore one of those knee brace things with a hole it it. Supposed to help guide the kneecap, but I didn't notice any improvement, so I stopped.Probably what I should've always been doing are the leg exercises (esp. for the quads) that are supposed to help this condition.

Well, it was seemingly ok until that Saturday night in February, when my knee hurt during the night no matter how I positioned it. Since my greatest concern about injury is for my knees, I was finally spurred into action. Or rather, spurred into inaction, since the first thing they say to do is stop running. I decided to take the month of March off. I also did some icing and lots of ibuprofen for the first week, and a few of those leg exercises (but really I should make that a permanent part of my regimen).

Sad to say, I also started eating worse. There's something ridiculous about that, but I understand the human weakness. When I'm running, I'm more motivated to eat better so I lose more weight and all that running (which is still work!) isn't for nothing. Trouble is, the converse is also true--when I'm not running I don't feel as compelled to eat better.

At least March is just about over, and I'm about to start running again. My knee is back to feeling at least as good as it did before last month, perhaps a little better. I hope that means I've staved off an injury, and if I get those hamstring & quad exercises going I can hope for even more.