Round 42 - 01/17/11: Injured.

It’s official...I am injured. I ran on the treadmill yesterday (which I hate with a passion) in brand new shoes (that sometimes bug my feet until they’re broken in but nothing else) and my stupid knee still hurt 5 minutes into my run. I tried everything I could think of: I stretched randomly, I decreased the incline, I decreased the speed (to a snail’s pace for me), nothing worked. I couldn’t run a few steps without pain after those few minutes. It. Totally. Sucks.

I wanted to start training for another half marathon and I (stupidly) thought the shoes would fix my knee pain. Cut to me lying on my bed with my knee elevated and an ice pack for most of last night. It hurt for the rest of the night and this morning and I’ve been trying to self-diagnose this whole time. I’m fairly certain it’s Iliotibial Band Syndrome. The pain seems mostly on the outside of my knee or surrounding it and it’s always running that causes it. Running is hard on your joints (compared to anything else) and if your IT band is tight your knee won't getting the cushioning and support it requires for the impact...so it hurts. My IT band is tight. Haha. It was confirmed today when I tried two different rollers at the gym (one foam, one plastic - ouch!). It seemed to help because my knee pain is down now even after I did some squats. My treatment for this problem of mine will consist of the following:

1. Stop walking at a crazy high incline on the treadmill to warm up for CF. We’re going to stick to rowing for the next 2 weeks and see if that makes a difference.
2. Take fish oil supplements again (I should be anyway, but they help reduce inflammation in this case).
3. Use the foam roller regularly at the gym (and possibly purchase my own).
4. Do the stretches my sister’s physiotherapist gave her when she was having knee pain during our half marathon training.
5. Keep my squat weights low for the next two weeks and focus on my knee position throughout the entire movement.
6. Ice whenever I do feel pain. 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off.

Anyone have any tips or suggestions that have worked for them? I’m a runner by trade and I need to be able to run. As much as I love CF…I still have to be able to run.

Alright enough knee talk. Onto CrossFit!

So WOD started with back squat (and yes, I did row to warm up). I also used the foam rollers to loosen up before starting, but I knew right away I wasn’t going for a max. Instead I did 3 sets of 5 (one at 125 and two at 105). It just wasn’t worth risking it today.

For the second part of WOD we did a 21-15-9 workout of deadlifts and pushups (or HSPUs for those that were able to). The progression was HSPU -> parallette pushups -> chest-to-ground pushups -> knee pushups. I stuck with chest-to-ground pushups and did my deadlifts at 105 (which I was pretty proud of!). Deadlifts will always feel the heaviest when you grab the bar, but that doesn’t mean you can’t lift the weight. I felt the exercise, but it was definitely doable. I might go up to 115 next time.

And that was my WOD. I’m going back tomorrow so I’ll let you guys know how it goes and how the knee feels. Have a good night!

- N