Possible MCL Sprain

I tried to run this AM before Church (.6 of a mile). Rather painful from beginning to end. I think I have a MCL (Medial Collateral Ligament Sprain) on my right leg. I am sure my BA in History and Political Science makes me fully qualified to make this diagnoses. LOL. As intense as the pain was this AM, I have conceded that I will need at least 3 to 4 weeks to let is heal. I believe running outside of my normal gate last Saturday caused this strain.

The downside is I will not be running Black Warrior 50K next month.
The upside is I can now walk without limping, ride a bike, and swim. I intend to to those activities and my normal strength and stretching exercises until I can start to try to run again. This is why I like triathlon training.

I plan to go out on Saturday mornings as usual at 5:30AM and walk the trail until I can run it again. At least I will still see my training partners on the trails. Not running is unbearable, but at least I have the other activities to stay fit and occupy my urge to train.

Done and Done In (Bonk the Sequel)

I chose to run Saturday on an ice rutted trail in Decatur. It had been packed and refrozen and rutted by 4 wheelers. I was due a long run so I chose to run. At 5:30 AM it was hard frozen (low 20s) and it was not to hard to traverse. (3 mile out and back 3 miles). As we ran several circuits it began to become slicker. The pace averaged 8:54 and it was draining. I can run 8:20 pace usually at distance and a 10:00 plus pace is OK and easy, but an 8:54 is just draining. Kind of a dead zone pace. Last time I ran that pace I bonked and that is what happened Saturday. It was draining and I settled for 17 miles instead of closer to 20.

There was a physical price for the choices I made. Bad choices have consequences and I now have a very sore knee. I think trying to run within the rutted ridges changed my gate and forced a normally slew footed runner to run with my feet turned in. Around 15 miles the right knee was starting to ache. We took the road back and I was done at 17 miles. Between the pain and the grueling pace I had to call it in and that spells "bonk" to me.

The knee has been sore ever since and the motion of walking has gotten easier with very little soreness. I tried to run this AM and was only able to run .28th of a mile. It seems that the bending motion of running is what brings on the pain. I will now have to back off and lose some valuable training time. I hope to get back to running soon. With Black Warrior and McKay Hollow coming up I cannot afford not to be running.

At least with a triathlon training routine I can swim and ride the stationary bike to keep from losing fitness. This situation would be very frustrating without the other forms of exercise.