The Injury Cycle

I've been talking about my injuries since I started this blog.  First it was the capsulitis in my right foot, then the tendonitis in my left foot, then my shoulder injury, and NOW, it's my right knee.  I've been having twinges of pain in my right knee on my long runs for a while now, but it hasn't been anything debilitating.  

This past Saturday, I set out for an 11-mile run.  At mile 6.5, I stopped by my house for a pit stop.  I wondered out loud to Asa if I should continue since my knee was starting to hurt, especially going downhill (and the Winchell neighborhood is full of hills), but I decided to give it a try and take walk breaks as necessary.  At mile 7.5, I was completely walking.  At mile 8, my knee started buckling, and so, half a mile from my house, I had to call Asa to come pick me up.

I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo flippin' frustrated!  My lungs have felt great, and I've finally been able to push myself to do speed work, but once again, my body is not cooperating.  This is all happening just in time for fall, which, as all runners know, is the most wonderful time of the year for running outside. 

I have had many friends with IT band injuries, and so I'm doing stretches and PT exercises that are supposed to help with IT band stuff.  At the gym, I'm just doing CXWORX and the arc trainer, and I've actually rested 4 out of the 5 days since the injury occured.  Even the dreaded, boring elliptical seems too hard on my knee these days.

I did find this article about the injury cycle.  It's a little (okay, very) technical, but the overall gist is that injuries are a result of our entire lifestyle, especially our stress levels and overall nutrition.  I'm sure there is much more information out there, and I'm going to keep researching.  I'm hoping this doctor I'm seeing Monday will help me treat this injury in the context of all my past injuries and experiences as well as my future fitness goals (I kinda feel like he'll need to order a full body MRI with all my problems!). 

So, I don't know if I'll be able to do the fun bike ride and running races I'd planned on in the next few weeks.  I hope so - both are really fun events!  The first is the Baker's Dozen Beer Run (which I'm planning to bike) on September 29; the second is the Eight and Eat  run on October 6.  Cross your fingers for me!