What happened?

Surely I have been doing all the right things this spring....not pushing too hard, not piling on so many miles that it causes chronic fatigue or injuries. SO I am a bit confused as to what I did.

Saturday my plan was to run 10 miles on the 25k Pineland Challenge with a friend who is running it this year. It was actually a great run as we ran a pretty good time and both felt really great at the end.

Upon finishing, we crossed the road and ran an easy cooldown across the street so he could see the terrain on that part of the course. It was a comfortable hard workout and I kept my Heart rate mostly in the 140s as an average. For me that relates to about 80-85% effort which I though to be good at this point of the year.

Even though the course was still quite soft and soggy, my legs felt pretty good and definitely better than the 6 miler I ran there last week. Overall, it seemed like perfection and exactly the right thing to do.

Problem is, about an hour after the run I felt some very disturbing pain on the inside of my left knee. I wasn't sure what it was because I have never had pain or an injury in that area before.

I couldn't think of one point during the run that I landed bad or felt anything pull. The only thing I remember during the run is a slight discomfort and pain in the ball of my left foot which I noticed a couple times during the week. I figured I probably landed hard on a rock or root during a past run but it didn't bother me that much so I didn't think anything of it.

The pain was more of a discomfort when sleeping Saturday night but definitely noticeable when I got up Sunday. I decided to skip my run and assumed it would surely feel better on Monday. I figured it had to be just a running pain like most that come and go for no pin point able reason or cause.

This morning the reality of it all hit when I got out of bed and started walking. No doubt something is not happy in my knee area. In trying to decipher it, I think the closest prognosis I can find is MCL, which is usually caused by some type of hard contact or at least a severe twisting, though I have no memory of either.

At this point my plan is to take it easy, don't run for a couple days and see how things settle out......almost makes me wish I had thrown caution to the wind and at least have a reason to complain about some stupid decision that put me in this position.

Saturdays stats at Pineland trails:

9:55......144-157
10:01......145-153
10:29......136-150
9:40......143-155
11:33......141-154
12:02......138-146
9:15......139-163
12:19......129-144
12:01......139-159
10:10......145-156