Saturday, November 20, 2010

Bum Knee

Been a few days since I checked in here and I blame it on work. The good news is that a major deadline is out of the way and things should stabilize through the holidays. I didn't run Monday or Tuesday as a result of some long hours and pressing commitments.

I picked things back up on Wednesday as I began to sense the end of the long haul that's been the past couple months. Wednesday was 4.9 in 37:08 along the CCT, Thursday was 5.8 in 41:45. Yesterday I stayed home from work and fit in a Mathewson loop between naps. 5.5, 41:03.

The most exciting news of the weekend thus far was a bike crash Friday early evening. I was headed up 11th St with Maia, not paying enough attention to the busy intersection at U St, and totally crushed a pedestrian trying to jet across on a yellow light. It happened in a flash, and all I remember is flipping over the bars. The ground impact is a blur, but somehow I now have a banged up knee. It felt OK for the rest of the night, however a stiffness slowly crept in as the hours passed by.

This morning it feels pretty crappy for sure, but not quite bad enough to ditch my plans for a run. I headed down Park Rd with a noticeable swagger that loosened as the minutes passed. In a gameday decision I turned north on Rock Creek instead of south and opted for another Mathewson loop. I see this becoming a staple in my routine. It's long enough to be worth the trip to the park and has multiple options for extensions when I get to that point.

In the spirit of keeping score, I timed the section between Beach Dr and 17th St. This stretch is a little more than 3/4 miles in length (1474 yards to be unnecessarily precise) and includes the famed Mathewson hill. On average the stretch is probably 3-4% grade but Mathewson is 8-10% at least. Today I covered it in 6:38 without pushing it, just under 8 min pace. Not all that bad for having a gimp knee.

Total for the day was 5.5 in 42:03. All this adds up to just over 30 for the week. Not much different than last week although the rest on Monday and Tuesday seemed to make a difference in how I've felt up to today.

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