On Saturday I made plans to meet up with my friend Tara for our long run. She was keen for company so I was game. The plan? 1:45. We shook things up by starting near the University of Calgary, running west along 32nd Avenue, south down Home Road, then east towards downtown Calgary.
The run is fairly flat with the exception of running down Home Road. The change in elevation is about 150 feet over 0.3 mi. Fun times!
It was a beautiful morning out. Lovely and sunny, and I realized part way through that I could have opted for shorts and a short sleeve top instead of capris and a long sleeve. Running with Tara pushes me out of my comfort zone a bit as she is faster than me. I know she does slow down for me, but I do wind up speeding up too. As we neared Edworthy Park I looked down at my Garmin and realized that we were running sub-10:00/miles. I tend to average about 10:30/mi on my long runs. I was feeling good though, so I didn’t say anything. A bit later on Tara checks her Garmin and asks if I realize how fast we were going. We talked about slowing down, but I think we wound up keeping the pace fairly even. We ran almost to the bridge at Crowchild, we turned around and stopped in at Tri-It briefly to say hi to Richelle (and to borrow their bathroom). I also downed an Espresso Love Gu. This was my first time trying this flavour. I love Hammer Gel’s Espresso, but I did not care for this one. Chocolate Mint is still my number one favourite Gu flavour.
As we approached going up Home Road I slowed down a bit in order to tackle the hill with a “slowly but surely” attitude. I watched Tara pull away up the hill, which was fine. I had run hill repeats just a couple of days before so my main goal was to just make it up the hill on my own terms. About half way up I felt a sharp pain on the inside of my left knee. The kind that they tell you that if you feel you should stop. So I stopped, rubbed the area, walked a bit, jogged slowly…where was this coming from?? When I met Tara at the top I told her what was up. We slowed it down for the home stretch, but the pain was there. Not the same sharp pain, but a dull, tight kind of pain. By the time we made it back to our starting point I was four minutes short on my run, but I didn’t think it really mattered. I stopped and stretched and oddly after that it wasn’t bothering me. Hmm…
On Sunday I had an 89 minute spin on my schedule – a strength workout with some squats. Given the knee issue I dialled the gearing back a notch and upped the cadence slightly, typical if you have knee issues. I figured that if my knee started to act up again that I’d be able to just hop off the bike. Luckily the spin went well with no discomfort. Time to throw on a jacket, swap out the bike shoes for running shoes and head out for a 15 minute brick run. Success! It went well.
So…fingers crossed that pain in my knee doesn’t come back, but if it does I’m heading straight off to my physio therapist just in case! So apart from that little niggly thing the rest of the weekend was a good one. I even managed to score a fantastic deal on a new Specialized S Works helmet at Bow Cycle during their Blue Light Special weekend. How was your weekend?
I feel your knee pain. Good luck with it! And Home rd is quite the hill. I’m not sure I’d want to run up or down that. I know I don’t want to bike it either way.
The quicker pace at the beginning shows that your training is increasing your fitness. Hope your knee is feeling better quickly.
God never shuts one door but he opens another. ........................................
That is so random about your knee pain! I hope it doesn’t come back! yay for training partners that push you!!
You got some solid workouts in this weekend. Great job on the run and pushing things a bit. I bet with all your training you will see a decrease in times.
Hope the knee issue was just a fluke.
When you said you were going down that hill all I could think of was “ooh, I hope she’s not going up it as well”…and then I kept reading.
I hope your knee pain is just one of those random things that just happens briefly for no discernible reason. Good luck!
I had something like that happen to me on the bike this weekend. Almost like something snapped back into place. I don’t know if I got twinged or auto corrected. Either way, later, it felt better/fine…
Looks like a great weekend! Good luck with the knee pain.. yuck. I feel ya.
I too like the Mint Chocolate Gu… mmm. it’s like dessert! 🙂
I’ve had a little tightness/discomfort on the outside of my knee lately, but it usually disappears after a quick rub or stretch. I’m heading to physio tomorrow to just to make sure.
Great job on the long run (and keeping up with your speedier friend!) and brick workout.
I hope that knee pain is just a fluke. Good for you backing off as soon as you noticed it. I’m off from working out for a bit while an ankle injury I got last weekend heals up 🙁
Way to keep that pace quick! I agree with RockStarTri—increasing your fitness.
Sad you don’t like Expresso Love—it’s my favorite Gu flavor. My fave gel is Hammer Vanilla though—I think b/c it doesn’t have a lot of flavor (or flavour as you would say =)).
Hope the knee feels better soon.
Great run and great response in listening to your body. 🙂
Nice run too. 🙂
Sounds like you got in a good weekend of workouts! Hope the knee pain stays away!
We’re at about the same paces and I couldn’t agree more, I love running with faster buddies that push me (and are nice enough to slow down a bit for me.) It’s so encouraging! Great run, looks like a beautiful route!