Popliteus

As 2.5 km was fine on Tuesday I tried 3.7 km today. Not good, The knee became an irritation.

The physio mentioned this little muscle on Monday and here's a little summary. It seems like the history, presentation and causes fit. I've had tight hamstrings for as long as I can remember and this is given as a predisposing factor. Notably I gave them a good stretch before setting off on Tuesday but didn't today; historically I've not been a supporter of pre-exercise stretching. This little video is quite useful.

As the muscle is involved in medial rotation of the knee (lateral rotation is the key to breaststroke) perhaps swimming is not ideal as there must be side-to-side loading. I've been doing 50:50 breaststroke and crawl, perhaps I need to adjust that.

Road shoes worn too?

Today I did a gentle 2.5km to test the relaxed legs. A quick examination of my road shoes revealed an issue there. I have 2 pairs of Saucony Grid shoes whose age is unknown, perhaps 10 years? A notable feature is that 1 pair, which I suspect to be the newer, show considerable effects of pronation.

I decided to go out in the apparently less-worn shoes even though the EVA might be harder. I think it's time to try to load my knees consistently. 

This was a slow, gentle jog with mild ascent and descent but went well with no knee pain. A very small twinge from the insertion of quadriceps but that's a step forwards, if you'll pardon the pun!

It's coming up roses?

No serious damage

That was the general opinion of the physiotherapist. The movement of pain is apparently quite common and tends to show compensation between muscle groups and ligaments as they each try to help each other out. The main issue seemed to be marked tension extending from my lower back all the way to the sole of my left foot. This is putting my pelvis out of balance and so every step requires a twist of my leg through The knee.

Forty minutes of massage and it seems I'm a little more balanced and I can feel a reduction in tension through my calf muscles.

The original cause is unclear; probably a gradual fatigue and spasm with a 'final straw' after the bank holiday marathon and the new-shoe-run. The good news is that as there is hopefully no underlying injury I might well be fit in a month or so, Until then, I need to try short runs and see what happens, and of course, keep up the stretches.

Another interesting point was raised, "What about your walking?". On average I walk 30 miles a week just through commuting and more if I go on a hike. As I've done this since I was 18 it doesn't feel like training. However, this is wrong, it makes great base training and whilst I'm doing little running it is still wear on the legs. I probably should log this mileage and consider it part of my training plan, especially on weeks where I do a longer than usual walk.

Swimming is allowed too, so now I have to work on not bobbing my head side to side since my arms are getting tidier.

Gentle Parkrun

As The Knee survived thursday's trip around the block I decided to do the 5km Parkrun gently, rather than attempt the usual 10km plus uphill struggle. I'm pleased that I did as The Knee did pull on the second lap although it wasn't too unpleasant. This time the pain seemed to come mostly from the origins of gastrocnemius and not laterally. It was fine on the uphill walk home and now there's a very slight ache from deep to the patella. How odd that it's moving around all the time. I've got a physio appointment next week and quite nervous about hearing a diagnosis, and moreover, an opinion of healing time.

For what it's worth, my 5km took seconds more than 31minutes.

Baby steps

I've not run for 8 days due to ill defined pain around my left knee; my guess now is  that it's not ITBS as the discomfort is rather diffuse and tends to move around! I've been stretching, icing and merely walking into work to allow some healing of whatever the problem is. In an attempt to maintain aerobic fitness I have been swimming a couple of times but I can't do that for a 2 hour spell so not very good for endurance training.

Anyway, after a day sat on a train and in a meeting I needed a bit of fresh air. My knee also felt to be improving over the last few days and so I decided, rather hesitantly, to do a run around the block. 1.5km later it was still OK and so I called it a day and did stretches.

Hopefully this marks the beginning of the road to recovery.

Knees!

A few years ago I struggled with lateral knee pain on my right leg after cycling for 20 minutes or so. A local physiotherapist diagnosed iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) and prescribed some exercises. I have to say that I haven't cycled since. I think the precipitating factor was doing a long ride whilst under-trained. The bad news is that I now think I've started it in my left leg; I woke up this morning with a bit of an ache and I'm well aware of it after a stroll around Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

I suppose I had always done more of the stretches on the right and neglected the  left and perhaps that has come back to haunt me. It's the classic presentation, novice runner 2 months before event who increases distance. Anyway, I've paid good money for an event this summer so I'll have to work hard on the recovery programme:

• relative rest - probably means more swimming?
• ITBS stretches
• gluteus medius strengthening
• ice

I suspect that the long run and then a short run with new shoes were a trigger, but the old shoes and lack of stretching on the left had probably set things in motion already.

Bifocal sunglasses

On Tuesday I had my annual eye test and asked the optician about various options for mapreading whilst running with or without sun. I'd read online about using 1 contact lens for close work but he said that only 1 in 3 can adapt to that. He didn't offer a trial of that or anything. Not so helpful. Anyway, more online searching came up with bifocal safety sunglasses. Might be useful in summer, although not good in winter rain!

Elvex Atom glasses with +2 diopter reading area

The reading element is quite low and smaller than that in my normal glasses so it doesn't restrict the main view much. Nonetheless there is a distinct reading area that seems to work quite well. They were just under £9 from here so can't complain if they're not useful in the longer term.