September 9: Run 3 miles

Week 11 (first run): Run 3 miles

Wednesday (5:49pm)
Distance: 3.00 miles
Duration: 43:50
Pace: 14:36/mile
Shoes: Nike Lunarglide

My left knee was sore and hurting for many days after that painful 12-mile long run. I took more than a week off to let that knee recover. For the first few days, it was painful to go down the stairs. My left knee was so stiff that I was walking funny. I had to walk many minutes before the knee warmed up and then I could walk almost like a normal person. I had to ice my knee and did a lot of stretches.

I finally went for a trial run on this day. I bought an ITBS strap but when I tried it on it was very tight and it felt like it was slipping down, so I put on a jumper knee strap on my left knee instead.

Ran on grass, my left knee felt ok. Then moved on to asphalt, knee was still ok. Then went on a slight downhill and the lateral side of the left knee started to feel tight again. Not wanting to aggravate it again, I just walked the rest of the half mile.

So I'm kind of in a limbo now. I have not been able to keep up with the marathon training schedule. If I did, I'd probably get injured again. If I didn't, I'd really really suffer on marathon day.

Looking at the marathon schedule, I guess I'll have to throw that out of the window and just hope for the best.

All I know is that I can deal with the tiredness and soreness of long runs pre-August 30 but if I had to endure that ITBS pain during marathon day, I'd drop out.

I guess the plan now is:
1) Let the knee get better
2) Don't run through ITBS pain again
3) Try my best to avoid situations/terrains that may trigger the ITBS pain (run on grass or the running track for the mean time)
4) Stretch the IT band and strengthen specific muscles
5) Slowly try and build up the miles again
6) If I had to, I'll just walk through most of the marathon
7) I've been getting lazy and it's getting harder to go out for any run. It's a mix of laziness and fear of injury. I should start the training schedule again. I have to start getting out there, even if I can't run, I should get the time on my feet in.