The Knee

if you've read any of this blog for any amount of time, you know I have a bum knee. On occasion I have had two bum knees.  And if you've been reading lately, you know I'm doing a new training plan that is pretty intense.

My omnipresent knee brace. Don't leave home without it. 'cept I haven't needed it. 

It's called Run Less, Run Faster. It comes highly recommended by some peeps I know who have experienced some amazeballs PRs using it.  And as I have alluded to in some previous entries, it's a tough plan. There are no junk miles. There is not a high volume of miles. I'm doing the 10k plan right now, and after a 10k next week will be transitioning to the half-marathon training plan for my big goal race in October. My total volume has been about 20 miles a week. 

But a big component of the training plan is cross-training, which I've been getting on the bicycle (sometimes on the rowing machine at the gym, but mostly on the bicycle). And last night, after a particularly tough interval set in which I hit puke threshold not once but twice, as the endorphins wore off and I settled into bed, I had a realization. A realization that convinced me that even if I don't have crazy-drastic improvement in my times (something I won't know until race day come October), this training plan is working.  And that realization is:

MY KNEE DOESN'T HURT.

It doesn't ache as I drift off to sleep like it typically does. It doesn't snap, crackle, pop like it used to. It doesn't draw attention to itself at all.

I don't know if it's the reduced miles, or the cross-training, or the combination of both. Now, will that hold up once I start piling on more miles in the half training plan? I'm not sure. I won't know until later in July and August. But I do know I'm doing long runs of 8 and 10 miles right now with no problems. And that, friends and neighbors, is something to rejoice in on this Wednesday.

Now, what are YOU joyful about today?