Following a busy week of training last week I have had to take a step back this week following some pains in my knee. To be honest I probably overdid it last week and I think my knee pain is a result of over training as I did a parkrun on Saturday, a long slow run on Sunday and a further 6 miler on Monday. I didn’t enjoy the run on Monday as I struggled throughout with my knee and foolishly carried on going, despite opportunities to turn back. Afterwards I thought right no more running until the weekend just to give my knee time to heal.
Despite not running throughout the week I kept myself active by doing some strengthening exercises on my core and my knee area to try and strengthen these areas to avoid injuries in the future. I also did plenty of walking as well to substitute not being able to run. Despite this I still felt lost not being able to run as this has become such a strong part of my life now as I use my running as my self care time and to go into my own little world so to speak.
However as the week went on and the pain in my knee started to subside, I targeted Whitley Bay parkrun as an opportunity to get back running again. As the week passed without any reaction in my knee I made the decision on Friday night to go ahead with my run on the Sunday with the back up plan of stopping or walking if I had to. Honestly I was like a kid on Christmas Eve on Friday night as I knew I was going to be running again.
On Saturday I made the journey down to Whitley Bay nice and early to get there in plenty of time and as I warmed up for the start briefing I was raring to get going having not ran all week, I was also running against a colleague at work how regularly runs this parkrun and we had a little banter throughout the week who was going to get the best time. Once the race started I was really impressed with the route (you can’t beat running by the coast on a lovely summer’s morning) but also how friendly and encouraging all the marshalls were. To me this is exactly what parkrun is about.
In the end I got round quite comfortably, I started really quickly as I tend to do but I just slowed down a little as I went round and in the end I finished in 29:24, which considering I hadn’t ran all week I was really happy with my time. Sunday I decided to rest just to be on the safe side as I did not want to aggravate my knee any further.
Overall even through it was frustrating not to run due to my knee, deep down I think it has been a positive as I have learned just how important rest is and not to push yourself to hard if you are injured and this is something I will be taking forward with me as both the Great North Run and the Kielder Marathon move ever closer.
However as the week went on and the pain in my knee started to subside, I targeted Whitley Bay parkrun as an opportunity to get back running again. As the week passed without any reaction in my knee I made the decision on Friday night to go ahead with my run on the Sunday with the back up plan of stopping or walking if I had to. Honestly I was like a kid on Christmas Eve on Friday night as I knew I was going to be running again.
On Saturday I made the journey down to Whitley Bay nice and early to get there in plenty of time and as I warmed up for the start briefing I was raring to get going having not ran all week, I was also running against a colleague at work how regularly runs this parkrun and we had a little banter throughout the week who was going to get the best time. Once the race started I was really impressed with the route (you can’t beat running by the coast on a lovely summer’s morning) but also how friendly and encouraging all the marshalls were. To me this is exactly what parkrun is about.
In the end I got round quite comfortably, I started really quickly as I tend to do but I just slowed down a little as I went round and in the end I finished in 29:24, which considering I hadn’t ran all week I was really happy with my time. Sunday I decided to rest just to be on the safe side as I did not want to aggravate my knee any further.
Overall even through it was frustrating not to run due to my knee, deep down I think it has been a positive as I have learned just how important rest is and not to push yourself to hard if you are injured and this is something I will be taking forward with me as both the Great North Run and the Kielder Marathon move ever closer.