Answers? I Got Answers!

Yes, I got my answers this week to what was going on with my knee, as well as my treatment plan. Meanwhile, with my activity modifications, the pain calmed down to almost no pain--except when I did too much. I mean, 'too much' according to my knee. When my knee starts to bother me, I pull on my compression sleeve, which helps quite a bit. Hopefully, I'll be back to running soon. 

I runfess: It's too hot to run anyway. 

For the past couple of weeks, the temperatures have been in the 90F/30Cs with high humidity. The real feel has been over 100F/40C. It's just gross. It feels as if we are living in the tropics instead of the Midwest. We're not used to this! 

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: Trail Sisters Hike 5.5 miles

Monday: auxiliary strength

Tuesday: walk 4 miles

Wednesday: trail walk 6 miles

Thursday: auxiliary strength

Friday: Fluid Running Walk 5.1 miles

Saturday: Ice Age Trail Hike 5.3 miles

On a very warm, steamy Sunday morning, I met my Trail Sisters for a loop around my preserve. I tried convincing the group to start the outing earlier, but no, 8 am it was. I planned to walk and was surprised to have 5 other participants walking with me! The rest of the group ran. There wasn't much to see on the main trail, but I did spy a fawn and doe in the woods! No photos because they were moving. It sure was nice to have company today!

For auxiliary strength, we did a repeat of the last 3 Mondays. The goal was to build on last week. However, the gym was really warm for Monday's class. We were advised to work as hard as we comfortably could. I chose to drop the weight, but increased my reps. Each set of movements was an E2MOM, each round under 40 seconds.

 

Movement 1: Dumbbell deadlifts 65-->50#, 60-->45#, 55--.40# all sets of 8-->10 reps

Movement 2: Barbell backward lunges  75#, 70#, 65#. Because of my knee, I had to modify using a 25#KB. I had an ab mat under my left knee and did sets of 12 without pain!

Movement 3: Dumbbell strict press: 25#, 20#, 20# sets of 8

Movement 4: Bent over barbell rows: 85-->75#, 75-->70#, 70-->65# I dropped the weight a bit due to the heat and also to work on form

We were supposed to do assault bike sprints, but coach decided to call it due to the heat. I was feeling fine, so I was disappointed. We were offered the opportunity to work on the Summer Challenge movements for week one. I knocked off 500m Front Rack Carry with 2 20#KBs and 500m overhead carry of 2 10# DBs. Harder than it sounds, especially in the heat. 

On Tuesday, I was up and out the door for a walk around my hood before work. I was also able to catch the sunrise! It was warm and sticky--seems to be the theme for our summer!

Overnight rain made it even more steamy, but a trail runner's gotta get out on the trails, even if she's not running. I had a new pair of Brooks Cascadia GTX (Gore-Tex) that I was saving for winter, but I knew my feet were going to get wet this morning, so I broke them out of the box. I have one word for this outing, and that is GROSS. Wet grass brushing up against my legs, moist, humid air, and flies buzzing my head because I forgot to wear a hat. But...and it's a big but...I saw the twin young bucks playing in the grass, sporting little fuzzy nubs! And then in the woods, I saw a mama deer with her twin fawns. Even better, she let me approach to get a photo. I saw some fun mushrooms too. Day made, and I finished up this very wet walk with no insect bites and a very full heart. 

With modifications to accommodate my knee, we did our last workout of this 4 week cycle. The rep scheme for this class was the same as Monday, E2MOM x 6:00,  8-12 reps to failure, dropping the weight each set, and no longer than :40 per set. In my case, the goal was finding the heavy weight that makes me 'fail'. 

Set 1: Bulgarian Split Squats modified, doing them to a low box, without weight, using the back foot as a kickstand. I did 12 reps each leg, each time. Dare I say these feel just as effective as the weighted Bulgarians? Susanne might not agree!

Set 2: dumbbell bench press: 30# x12, 25# x12--.>12, 20# x12

Set 3: Hip thrusts: 135-->145#, 125-->140#, 115-->135# x10 reps each set

Set 4: Pull-ups: 6 assisted, 7 red/blue band, 6 green band-->4 blue band

The sprint was an E2MOM x 12 minutes of 12 mountain climbers, 8 dumbbell snatches (20#), 6 jumping lunges, which I modified to regular lunges. The goal was to be consistent, and I was, finishing each round between 34-36 seconds. 

After I recovered emotionally from my eventful Friday morning (see below), I headed out into the blustery, steamy sunshine for a walk around my neighborhood. Yes, it was 90F, but that wind was everything. As a runner, I don't like the wind because it makes it hard to run, but not so with walking. The Glycerin Max are the perfect shoes for walking!

We drove up to the lake on Friday night so we could fully enjoy the day on Saturday. I was on my way to the top of Gibraltar Rock by 6:15! It was cool--65F --and sunny. The little break in the heat sure felt good. There were bad storms up here earlier in the week, and I saw the carnage. So many downed trees and branches. Thankfully, the volunteers cleared most of the trail. The songbirds provided my background music for this magical hike. I tracked about 20 different birds on my Merlin app. The foliage is thick, and the flowers and mushrooms showed up as well. I wish I could share them all here, but you can go to my IG if you want to see more. 

When I finished, the hubs took me for a ski! He took me again after dinner, but the water was rough. I didn't go long. My consolation prize? He took me to one of the ice cream shops on the shore. Ice cream on the boat is the best!

Off the Road...

On Monday, I had my MRI of my left knee. The news was good-no meniscus tear, 'just' diffuse patellar tendinopathy and insertional tendinopathy of the distal quadriceps tendon. In other words, I made my knee hella mad when I leapfrogged over that fallen tree.  On Thursday, I saw my rheumatologist for a steroid and hyaluronic acid injection. The PT at the gym is going to work with me to get that left leg back in running shape. 

On Wednesday, I accompanied my dad to his hematologist appointment to discuss his recent appointment downtown at Northwestern with the specialist. As always, it was good for me to be there to help interpret the medical information imparted to my parents. It really is like a foreign language! He's still holding steady, no treatment needed at this time. He'll get monthly blood work until October, when he'll need another bone marrow biopsy. 

On Friday, I was headed to the pool for my weekly Fluid running session before work. I had to wait until some pop-up thunderstorms passed, so I was running late and in a bit of a hurry. On my way, I slowed to a quick stop and turned right...right into another car. Luckily, no injuries, but my car is going to need some TLC. The guy I hit suffered worse damage. I felt terrible, and luckily, he was very kind. He told me the exact same thing happened to his daughter at the same intersection last week. It is a dangerous intersection, and shame on me for not coming to a full stop to allow for a good look before I turned. Needless to say, I was pretty shook up and mad at myself. I may have shed a few tears. I took the day off work to get everything settled. Interestingly, I later learned it was National Insurance Awareness Day. Oh, the irony!

Last but not least, we spent a lot of time on the water on Saturday. It was hot, but it was beautiful! 

How was your week? How are you dealing with the heat? Do you push through it or slow your roll? Or stop and look both ways? 

BTW, I cannot wait to get back to running. My knee feels better, but it's still not right. I'll start working with the PT next week. 

Stay tuned for my June Mini Book Reviews on Tuesday!

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown.