Well That Sucked

Last night it was back to the hills - this time we were "cresting" the hills, which means you sprint up the hill and then maintain your effort level (constant breathing) as the road flattens out. I was grateful that we were working with a much less steep hill, as we used the hill at west 86th, but right off the bat I knew I wasn't going to have an awesome practice. My left leg has really been bothering me for a few weeks now. The pain in my thigh appears to keep rotating - sometimes it feels like the center of my quad, sometimes it feels like the VMO, sometimes it feels like the hip, sometimes it feels like the groin, and sometimes it's just impossible to pinpoint. My PT doesn't feel a tear and confirmed that it's likely just a sore muscle or charley horse of some kind, so I'm just trying to be patient and massage, stretch, and heat it, and hope it subsides.

Then there's the knee - the goddamn knee. The original problem with my knees had to do with the patella being horribly pulled to the outside and grinding against the cartilage. That pain is to the front and the outside of the knee. Oh how I wish the current pain were to the front and the outside... No, this pain is now in the back and center of the knee. It's right where the hamstring connects to the knee, so when you're running hills (aka blasting your hamstrings), the pain is amplified and the ligament is aggravated. Super frigging awesome. During repeat number 5 I asked Michael Conlon (who is also a PT) to look at it, and he said the ligament is likely inflamed. That means icing, motrin, rest, and stretching for a few days and we'll see if it improves. Fingers crossed, pretty pretty please!! I had to stop after the 5 repeats so as to not aggravate it any further, which was a bummer since I was supposed to do between 6 and 8, and I don't like failing. I'm hoping it's for the best and it'll let the knee repair or relax or just chill the F out. Sigh...