Change in Plans, That's It, Just a Change in Plans

Yesterday I scheduled myself for a nice, easy, 4-mile run. You know, nice and easy to recover from Saturday's race.

And then it was so beautiful outside... I decided to make it six.

Do you know where this is going? That's right, at mile 4 (and still 2 miles from home), my right knee started bothering me. And then some more. And then some more. I kept going because frankly it was easier to keep going than to stop and start up again, and I was still 2 miles from home, and I didn't want to walk (I didn't think it would feel any better to walk), but by the time I got home more than my knee was hurting.

Now, thankfully, I don't think I've done anything serious to myself. I could walk around mostly fine yesterday (just some problems after going down steps), and I haven't had any major pain today (just twinges... but a bunch of them). But I'm taking this as a big red flag to back waaaay off the running for a while.

Last year, at about this same time, I started having problems with my left foot, and I didn't back off... until January, when I had to, and then ended up with about eight weeks of wondering if I'd be able to run again this year at all. And I still have to baby that foot. I don't plan to make that mistake twice! So from now until the end of the year I'm going to hit the pool and the gym, and if I go running, just something nice and easy (for real), maybe once a week.

Happy that I already decided to do a sprint tri next year! I'll be able to enjoy those hours in the pool and the gym and not chafe at "missed" training opportunities. Now I just need to find someone to sucker persuade into doing it with me.