After week five of my running program, the pain in my left knee got to the point where I had to stop running entirely. It was impacting movement outside of running. It turns out that blowing out a knee isn’t help me reach my goals, and as stubborn as I am, I decided it wasn’t worth the risk. If you are going to injure yourself, doing so right as winter hits may be the best time. I would have been forced to tough out training in the ice-cold temps or battle with the treadmill, neither of which options excite me. Just getting to the point where I could type all of this out and not be extremely upset, frustrated, and mad has taken me time. I had my mind set on finishing several races this year, starting with a half-marathon in March, a timetable that is now questionable at best.
So where does that leave me?
I made my way back to the gym, though reluctantly and with as little motivation as I have ever had. So often I feel that all the years of getting up early and working out built up a muscle memory and that alone has allowed me to continue to train. I backed off running and any impact movements until my knee felt normal. Thankfully our gym has a recumbent bike and I have made good use of it. I was roughly following a powerbuilding type template, making modifications based more on what I wanted to do rather than what I needed to do. As expected, any new movement tossed into the schedule left me more sore than I wanted. Most recently, when I tossed in some trap bar deadlifts, I was so sore that I was shocked the next day. I was really just going through the motions, not moving the needle in any direction.
I miss the feeling from finishing a ride at Cyclebar or some of the more intense cardio sessions. I miss those more than I thought I ever would. I have been in the habit of just going in, doing a few movements, and leaving, but knowing that what I was doing wasn’t working the way I wanted.
This week I picked up a program different from that I have ever tried before. This appears to be a combination of CrossFit style elements mixed with bodybuilding. I am tempted to create my own version of 75 Hard and follow that for the length of this training program and see what the results would be. I see the benefits of that program but don’t want to lock myself into something so rigid when I haven’t proven to myself that I can just keep my head above water yet. Today was the first day of following this program and though I had to modify it slightly, I left feeling accomplished and loved the workout that I got. Maybe this will give me something to yap about on this blog.
The training plan is 4x per week and allows for other exercises, such as biking and running. The focus is more athletic movements, which I desperately want (and need), which should put me closer to my goal of getting in better shape and being able to run again.
Time will tell.