Leaving tomorrow

Tomorrow I continues a journey that started last year in December. AAUT 2012. It has been 7 months of disbelief, training and injuries. I'm in awe. 

Tomorrow I leave my house and will not return as the same man. Stronger, in pieces or not at all.

AAUT 2012

It has been a while I know. But I've felt more like training/running than writing about it.

I'm training harder and harder. I'm more fit than I've been for years and just yesterday I made a 19 km PR running on a very hilly trail.

I can still feel my knee but the specialist that I go to says that my symptoms are to small for me to get a free MR scanning. I've come to the conclusion that I'll ignore it. Instead I'll continue to strengthening the joint with exercises.

3 years ago I wasn't running. 2 years ago I ran a lot of half marathons. Last year I ran a lot of marathons. This year my only focus is AAUT. 230 km in 5 days. Very hilly, very hot and very hard.

AAUT 2012 - Stage 1 - 37km - Elevation Gain : 1,182m / Elevation Loss : 830m

AAUT 2012 - Stage 2 - 48km - Elevation Gain : 1,208m / Elevation Loss : 1,069m

AAUT 2012 - Stage 3 - 39km - Elevation Gain : 798m / Elevation Loss : 1,107m

AAUT 2012 - Stage 4 - 68km - Elevation Gain : 1,257m / Elevation Loss : 1,296m

AAUT 2012 - Stage 5 - 37km - Elevation Gain : 805m / Elevation Loss : 1,044m

Solitude.

19 km @ -15 degrees

Did a 19 km run today together with a friend of mine. It was freezing 15 degrees Celsius when we started at 08:00 AM this morning but we had both dressed up (don't you just long for summer where you can run in shorts a optional t-shirt and nothing more).

The cold air made me short of breath at first but after a few kilometers everything felt fine. The route was part tar part trail. We saw quite a lot of deer, eagles and alike through out the run.

My friend is normally a much faster runner than me but had to slow down even more since I didn't wanted to stress my knee :) Our average pace was 5:46 which is more like my normal 30 km speed.

After the run I took the picture which should give you an idea of how cold it was.

Snow is here :)

When I saw that the earth was covered with snow I got eager like a little child to get out there 'playing' in the snow (running). I recently bought a pair of Salomon Speedcross 3 but have not had a chance to really try them out due to my knee.

Since the doctor at the sports clinic told me that it was okay to start running again I've run twice on a treadmill, short and slow, today was my first outdoor run in a little more than 2 weeks.

I ran about 8 km at a fairly slow pace (6:08) both on and off trail. It was really really great and I would have run for at least 20-25 km had it not been for the knee. I don't want to take any chances. I hope that I'll be up to my normal speed and distance in a week or two at the latest.

Running again .. and eating!

Had my knee scanned yesterday and everything was fine so the doctor said that it was time I started running again. I still went to have a final treatment at the acupuncturist though.

Today I've had a short slow run just to get started. The muscles was still a little sore from the needles but the knee was/is fine.

I hope to be up to my old speed in a couple of weeks and distance soon after. Then the real training will commence.

I don't know exactly why but while I haven't been running I have gained 5-6 kilo in weight and is now 3 digit (~100 kg). This is probably from the strength training and the accompanying large appetite I've seen but was somewhat unexpected.

Short update

I'm currently taking a break from running.. It seems my doctor was a bit optimistic when he said that running wouldn't affect my knee. Last week it started hurting after a run (normally it has just been sore) so I decided to stop running until it is totally ready again. I got checked by another doctor and luckily she agreed with the first one that nothing serious is wrong it is 'just' an inflammation.

I'm currently being treated by an acupuncturist and I hope that it will fix the problem soon. Until then I'm training with weights to prepare the upper body for the back pack that I need to carry during the 230 km race.

Taking a break is hard. Even though it is less than a week ago I ran lastly it feels like a eternity. 

Training again :)

After nearly two weeks of resting (=not running) I finally had a chance to get an appointment at the doctor. He gave me a pretty thorough examination and which took a fair bit longer that the designated time slot too bad for the next person waiting ;) He was able to rule out all the knee injuries that I had been reading about and fearing like injuries to the meniscus, cartilage or cruciate ligament.

Luckily it was nothing more that a inflammation in a small tendon to the left of the knee cap. He even said that I couldn't make it worse by running which really really really made my day. He suggested a few things that I could do to speed up healing but stop running wasn't on the list :)

Afterwards I of course contacted my mentor and he gave me a new training schedule right a way. I don't do anything with out his approval. He has the experience and I respect that and I only hope to learn as much as possible from him.

This evening I've had my first training session and it was great :)