Knee Injury

Last week my legs felt pretty tired and tight.  I attributed it to Sunday's hilly 18 miler and my increasing mileage.  Trying to be smart and listen to my body, I stretched and rested and took it easier than my plan called for.  I only ran twice.

I ran a really tough 9 miler on Wednesday.  It was a flat route but I just felt tired and my legs were so heavy.  I decided to rest again Thursday.  Friday morning I ran a 10K route with Jenny and fet great.  I was happy and figured that I was smart for resting.

A few hours later I was walking down the hall at work and my knee locked up.  I couldn't straighten it.  When I did it hurt so bad.  The pain was on the inside of my knee and my knee was slightly swollen.  I went back to my desk and took some ibuprofen and iced it.  The ice felt good but when I was walking again later the pain came right back.   I have had knee pain in the past from time to time but never like this.  Usually I associate it with my super tight hamstrings and stretching helps.  Massage also seems to help too. This seemed different.

I started freaking out, sure that my running days were over so I called the doctor.  We have a really great orthopedic practice in our area so I called them thinking I wouldn't be able to get an appointment for weeks but they offered me an appointment for Saturday morning! I spent the rest of the day icing but the pain was pretty much constant.

The doctor did an xray and moved my knee all around.  The x-ray didn't show any injuries.  The doctor thinks it's just overuse and tight muscles.  He gave me a brace and told me to rest and ice for a few days.  He also gave me a script for PT.  He said they can do some exercises and stretches with me that should help.  I'm supposed to go back in a month for a follow up.  If it gets worse or doesn't improve I'm supposed to call him right away and they will do an MRI.

After icing a lot yesterday and wearing the brace it does feel better.  I notice the pain a lot on the stairs but for the most part it's getting better.  I plan to take the next few days off from any exercise and spend a lot of time icing.  Joe also gave me a gift certificate for a massage that I'm going to try to use tomorrow if I can. 

Please think good thoughts for me.  My training has been going so well up until this point.