“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.” – Marcus Aurelius
It’s been a while since I’ve updated the workout thread and for that I apologise. I had a nice little break over Christmas and a few weeks ago, it was time to get back in to it. But as I started using the most of my time, I have discovered something horrible. While my mind is in this fitness thing whole heartedly, it seems my body might not be!
When I was younger I used to run everywhere, I loved running and as a result I was very fit. But at 39 it would seem my body, in particular my knees, shins and to a certain extent even my hips, don’t seem to share my enthusiasm for running. Of late I’m finding that I can run about 2.5kms fairly easily, in fact when I do go out, I’m slashing a good 10 – 20 seconds off of my kilometre lap time, which is a great thing.
But as I pass that 2.5km mark, my shins start to ache and I get some nasty pain in my knees. This pain surrounds my knee cap, is behind my knee cap and follows around the back of my leg. It’s an amazing pain that I’ve never felt before. As soon as I slow to a walk my run is over. The pain is actually worse walking and I dread it when the road hits an angle or I have to step up a curb. I’ve never felt pain like this before.
I literally have to limp 2 or 3kms painfully home. It’s a great way to kill a work out and one’s enthusiasm for training.
I have found though that as soon as I get home, if I elevate my legs and ice my knees, for 20 minutes (and throw in a couple of anti-inflammatory pain killers) and I’m good to go again. But really, do I want to run for only 2kms and then have to ice up every time I go out? No not really. While I can go for a decent sized walk and be ok for the most part, it looks like I’m out to find another fat burning exercise that’s low impact.
Which is what I’m doing right now. I’m out shopping for a push bike, so hopefully I can end the icing of knees, and start drinking those beers in stead!
I’ve also started taking Fish Oil and Glucosamine tablets in an attempt to help repair cartilage and hopefully get my knees and other joints back to a point where running is an option again.
Until next time, happy training peeps!