It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and I am way overdue with this update. Training was going well in Week 10—until I hit my speed work on Thursday, October 2nd. Halfway through 4 x 1 mile intervals (total of 8 miles, including warm up, 4 x 1 mile intervals w/.5 mile recovery jogs, and warm down), I started experiencing some discomfort on the outside of my right knee. More specifically, it started in the first half mile of my 3rd interval. The discomfort held at a manageable level through the 4th interval, but by the end of my warm down, it was a sharp, shooting pain. Of course, it pretty much went away as soon as I stopped running.

Great. Just great. IT Band.

The next day I had 4 easy miles on the schedule. I made it 1.5 miles, before calling it a day due to pain in the knee. Again, as soon as I stopped running, it no longer hurt.

I got up Sunday morning for my 12 mile long run, not really sure what I’d be able to do, but intent on running until the pain made me stop. Within the first 2 miles, I was pretty sure that I’d be stopping soon. But then a funny thing happened—the discomfort never materialized into pain, and in fact went away for the next 2 miles. By the end of mile 4, I was taking in some nutrition and fluids in preparation for running the full 12 miles. Unfortunately, by the time I finished mile 5, I knew I was almost done. The discomfort had returned, and it wasn’t subsiding. By mile 6, I was done.

The worst part of it was after those 6 miles, I didn’t even feel like I had worked…it was as if I hadn’t even started to run. Aside from the knee, I felt great!

Here’s the rundown from week 10:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 5 miles easy
• Wednesday: 4 miles easy
• Thursday: Speedwork – 8 miles, including warm up; 4 x 1 mile @ 8:01 w/.5 mile jogs; cool down.
• Friday: 1.5 miles easy (supposed to do 4)
• Saturday: Rest
• Sunday: 6 miles easy (supposed to do 12)

I’ll have more about my knee in another post.