What an up and down 5 or so weeks it has been since I confidently proclaimed that I would "take 4 days off and be right back to normal." If you read my last blog post, Quieting the Demons, you'll know that the 4 days off plan didn't even come close to working. Now though, after a slow reintroduction to running and an in person assessment with my PT, I am feeling quite confident that I am past the worst of this little injury and can move onto an intelligent build back to some significant training volume. Yesterday, I ran 8 miles on trail and climbed about 1000 feet and didn't notice anything wrong with the knee. It seems sort of silly at times to be excited about running 8 miles, when my goals involve running 200+, but after 5 weeks of near-constant stress about my knee, I can't tell you how good it felt to be enjoying some sunshine on my hometown trails.
I'm still going to continue to be cautious as I initially build toward the volume I desire in my training, but after seeing my PT, I have some tangible, physical weaknesses I know that I can improve. We think the primary factor in my right knee becoming irritated is a lack of mobility in my right ankle. I think I'm going to make a YouTube video detailing a few of the exercises I've been doing to improve the patellofemoral symptoms, but the low-down is just that my right ankle prevents my knee from moving smoothly over my foot at its fullest range of motion.
It's nice, mentally, to have a single factor to focus on and improve. I've been enthusiastically completing a new and improved nightly-ish (5 times a week) mobility routine for about a week now and I feel like I already notice a difference. I wake up the next day feeling just a little bit less stiff than I have become used to, which is not only beneficial for running, but just makes me more comfortable walking around in the morning as well.
As with all my past injuries, this little chunk of time on the sidelines has really made me appreciate being healthy and able to complete the activities I want to do. I mentioned in my last post that I had to cancel a few trips I had planned prior to the knee acting up, but now that I'm back out and moving I don't feel quite the same angst or sadness for those missed opportunities. Instead, I am finding it really easy to enjoy being outside. It's helpful that my reintroduction to trails has coincided with disturbingly nice weather here in Western Colorado, but I think I would be enjoying my time running whether it was cold or hot, sunny or cloudy. Taking time away from running reinforces the spiritual connection I feel like I have to the sport. Feeling my breath go in and out of my lungs and my feet crunch in the gravel or lightly slap on some desert slick rock is the best way for me to feel connected with the Earth. In the most literal and cliche way possible, it's grounding.
Like I said, I think I will make a video detailing the steps I've taken to improve patellofemoral symptoms. If you spend time googling runner's knee, you'll find many people in Reddit forums talking about the symptoms lasting for months, so I feel really lucky to have had excellent guidance in this regard.
I think there are also some silver linings to this particular injury occurring at this particular time. For one, it was far enough out from a race that 5 weeks of low activity didn't wipe out a huge base of training I had already developed and it's not bothering me as I head into final preparations for a race. Sure, I may have missed about 4 weeks of training that I had planned for Tahoe in June, but I think it's totally possible that training a little less for Tahoe will mean that I feel less long-term fatigue when I get around to Moab in October. We can only peak for so long, as athletes, and I don't think it's absurd to believe that this enforced break toward the beginning of my training for 2025 will actually result in a fresher version of me toeing the line at the Moab 240. Furthermore, adding some exercises to and improving my mobility routine will hopefully prevent other, potentially more serious, injuries in the future. I'm still young in the sport of ultrarunning and I want my career to be a long one, so figuring out some of these issues now will ideally result in some happier running into my 40s and 50s.
Another notable fact about this bout of patellofemoral discomfort, is that I dealt with it better mentally than I have in the past. To be clear, I'm not saying I dealt with it well or perfectly, not by any means! But I didn't allow myself to get dragged by my thoughts into depressing worst case scenarios for very long and I think (I've checked with my wife and she agrees) that I was more enjoyable to be around than when I have been injured in previous years. It's not like being injured is something you want to get used to necessarily, but it is gratifying to see improvement in oneself handling different kinds of adversity.
As you can imagine, I am beyond excited to get back to a full training volume. Getting in a 100 mile week and my favorite 6 hour long runs is still a few weeks off but I am finally feeling confident that I am once again on the right path toward running healthy and happy. It's time to focus on the build, stay smart, and get ready to run 200 miles in June!
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