Of Training and Injuries

February 13, 2009, at exactly 5:15 a.m., I hit the road running, and planned on running at least 12K mixed tempo and drills. After 2K of tempo, I went to our village's basketball court to do some drills which I learned at the Nike Running Clinic. After doing the drills, it was 5 x 1000 for me at 5:00 pace. I ran the 1st 1K faster than what I wanted, at 4:43. The 2nd 1K was at 4:59, the 3rd at 5:07 and the 4th at 4:51. I rested for 3 minutes between laps to recover.

On the 5th lap, my Garmin acted up. It somehow hanged and stopped functioning properly.

At the same time, my knee started hurting. There were needlepoint pains in both left and right sides of my right knee cap. I tried to shake it off, but the pain persisted and I had  to stop running.

Stretching didn't help. The pain stayed throughout the day. I was afraid I've torn a ligament.

It was frustrating as I was training for my upcoming 15K race two weeks from that day.

I was in a limbo. Could I run the RunNew marathon?

I rested the rest of the day but everytime I would climb stairs, the stabbing pain hurt so much that I had to limp.

The following day, I braved the pain and biked 10kms going to Ultra for my swim training. The pain wasn't as bad as the day before and I was glad about it. However, after starting my swim workout, the pain came back. What was I supposed to do then? I had two choices: either stop my swim workout or continue and then let it all hang out and see what happens. I decided to take the latter.

After more than 2 hours of swim training, I biked 11 kms going home, taking a different route. The pain subsided but I noticed a slight swelling on my knee.

Sunday, Feb. 15. I biked going to the Pasig Waterpark to meet my swim coach and do some drills. After around 8 30-meter laps of buoy pulls, I stopped, as my knee started hurting again. I went home frustrated.

I remember what my father told me before: Never push yourself when you're feeling something different, as a small injury may lead to something bigger if not rested properly.

I spent the whole day of Feb. 16 doing office work and resting my knee and it worked! At the end of the working hours of Monday, my knee wasn't hurting anymore.

I woke up at 5:30 a.m. yesterday, Tuesday, Feb. 17 and ran for 10kms. To be sure I wasn't stressing my knees too much, I wore a knee support to somehow assist my knee in absorbing the impact of the pounding. I survived the 10kms without any pain.

This morning, I biked at home, using a Minoura Bike trainer, for 20 minutes at high-cadence, high gear. My knee didn't act up. I am okay!

My brush with a possible injury reminded me that I am not getting any younger, and that I need to be careful in everything that I do, as I heal slower now than when I was in my 30s or 20s.

I have opted for an active life in the 40s and I still am sure that I have no regrets in deciding such.

Age is just a number.

Deo P.