Right Back Into It

Ok, I know this sounds weird, but I think that jumping right back into running is making my knee better.

I did my first run since the marathon on Sunday. It was a 5 miler, and I knew that if my knee was hurting I had a day to recover before my next practice (which is tonight). I, of course, took it easy, and I didn't run on the road, but the bridal path in Central Park instead. I fully expected my knee to hurt afterwards and then to really hurt on Monday. But that didn't happen.

So, I went on with Ramon's schedule for the advanced group, and instead of taking a night off (like the beginners and intermediates did), I did my cross-training.

My knee is still fine.

Not even a tweak.

I'm wondering if it was just too much distance, too fast. I mean, I did have to ramp up my mileage quite a bit to run the marathon since my schedule was all over the place this winter and I didn't really train properly. So I am just going to take it easy with the speed, stick to the schedule, STRETCH and stay extra vigilant about my knee pain.

My mileage for this week is pretty even, so I'm hoping my body can get used to it fairly easily. If not, I'll take a rest night or knock back the mileage.

Tonight I have a 5-miler with the TNT group. I signed up to be a sweeper for the intermediate/advanced group so that it would force me to take it easy (the sweepers hang at the back of the group and make sure no one is left behind). Tomorrow and Thursday are both 5-milers. Friday is off and Saturday is 6-7 miles. So, a 25-26 mile week already. That seems like a lot to me.

We'll see how it goes.