Tough Day

The focus of Sunday is running and is typically my hardest day. Today would be no different. As I mentioned in Friday's post I ran an extremely hilly 4 mile race on Friday night and am still paying the price. My right knee has been a problem for me since tearing my posterior cruciate ligament in January 2004 and it seems that any high intensity hill running only exacerbates the situation.

Today is what I will call a dig deep day. The knee is hurting and my body is just generally fatigued from 15 consecutive days of training. To get through today I will need to dig deep and get a little creative. When my knee is bothering me I try to avoid any prolonged road work. So I loaded up the backpack and pedaled over to the track at Chichester High School. I can think of a few ways that I would rather spend my Sunday morning then running around a track for 90 minutes.

The cushion of the track is a welcome relief to my aching knee but the monotony of running around a track 41 times creates its on mental challenges. As usual I battle to maintain my focus on keeping a steady pace. I have a real struggles when it comes to staying within myself on any longer distance run and today is no exception. When I come across others while on a run I have this tendency to want to pass them. This causes me to accelerate my pace and really it takes its toll on my knee. I end the run with what appears to be a comfortable 8:45/mile pace but in reality I have spent the majority of the run bouncing between a 8 and 9.5 minute mile. If I run this way in Panama City Beach my chances of finishing the race will be slim.

Following the run the knee is sore but not as bad as I thought. I quickly change my shoes and am off on a 45 minute bike ride. 45 minutes....this used to seem like an eternity to me but at this point it is like a walk in the park. I easily cruise through a 13.5 mile course focusing on breathing easy and keeping my heart rate at about 60-65% of my max. The purpose of this ride is to flush the blood from the legs and add a little low impact cardio bulk to my week. These miles will payoff in November...or so I'm told.

Tomorrow's workout is a 45 minute swim followed by an hour of lifting and core work. No bike or run. My knee loves Mondays.