Trouble with a capital "T"

Thursday's run: 11 miles of General Aerobic at 8:07 pace

As in knee Trouble. As in left knee trouble!

Through about half of the run, I experienced what I think of as the second stage of the irritated plica injury that I had experienced in January on my other knee. The second stage feels like there is something in the knee that, as I bend it and unbend it, is rubbing against something else. It is not especially painful, but it does not feel right.

This is most distressing. I know, from having seen a doctor about the right knee, what he'd say:

• Ice
• Reduce hills
• Reduce mileage
• Rest

In January, I stopped running for a week (rest) and started icing my knee several times a day, every day, then started running flats, three days a week (resting in between). I slowly built up to where I felt little or no pain when running, and no off-day pain. I reached about 30 miles a week before starting the program, and since then, I have felt little or no pain in my right knee. I have continued, however, to ice the knee three or four times a day.

If I were to follow the same procedure, I'd be completely off the schedule and not be ready for the marathon.

So at this point, I am hoping that ice and ibuprofen are sufficient to keep the left knee in check. I will re-evaluate each run. (But at this point, it seems to be getting worse on each run.)

•••

Thursday's run was the same route as two weeks ago, and I was joined by K-Star stalwart, Galen. Very enjoyable to run with Galen!

Galen and I noticed a few things (though mostly talked, rather than noticed):

• What appeared, from a distance, to be a lot of kites flying from Marina Green turned out to be a clatch of parasailors!
• Another cruise ship in dock, meaning a very crowded path on the Embarcadero and Fisherman's Warf.
• Curse those cyclists who think it is okay to ignore the Embarcadero's bike-lane and instead, weave recklessly in between pedestrians! One of them seemed to play a game a chicken with me.

•••

Pacing. One note of interest. Generally, I've been doing these General Aerobic runs at a reasonably slower pace (and Galen and I had intended to do this run slower). In fact, the last time I did this particular route, I was almost 4 minutes slower (25 seconds per mile slower). However, if I use the heart rate monitor as an indicator of effort, this was just where I should be: average of 156 bpm. (Last time, 155. Sunday's 12.8 miler: 159). If we use heart rate as an indicator of effort, then it seems I spent the same effort and ran faster.