6/25

Wow--have I really not written in 3 weeks?  Quick update:

1. Trainer was AMAZING.  She released my IT bands (which was incredibly painful!) and then showed me a handful of exercises to do to combat the problems that are causing the knee pain (wound-up IT bands, shortened obliques on one side from carrying kids around on my hip, and a misfiring glute muscle that never started pulling its weight post-pregnancy and so my quads have overdeveloped to compensate, plus a shortened calf muscle in one leg due to the oblique/quad issues).  I must say it was totally fascinating listening to her put together the complete picture of how one thing has led to another.
2. Ran the night after meeting with the trainer with NO brace, over a hard and hilly 4.5 miles around my parents' home--totally pain-free during and after the run.  This is big stuff.
3. Continued running with similar results--it's been a little more achy than after the first run (which I expected) but it's gotten progressively better each time.  
4. Right now I'm running about 3 miles, then stopping and rolling my IT bands, then running another couple of miles.  This seems to work really well (it gets a little achy around that 3rd mile and then is fine after the foam roller).  NO PAIN at all post-run.
5. Not a ton of miles or very fast right now; just trying to build up slowly and steadily.  I had some pain a couple weeks ago when I was walking all over Chicago, but last weekend I ran 3 5-milers pain-free and then did another day in Chicago without my knee bothering me at all!  Hurray!
6. Starting to build in some 8:34/mile pickups (every 3-4 minutes for 1-2 minutes).  I definitely need to build back up before I'm running that for the whole run, but things are feeling so much better!!!

6/4

Another week, another update.  Last week I decided to try running--just a bit--and I ran a leisurely three miles.  No pain the next day, which I spent driving to Tennessee.  The day after that I spent hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains.  I felt fine for most of the day and then my knee started hurting the last mile (of four or five--hiking up a crazy steep broken trail in totally trashed old running shoes, packing Luke on my back).  The next day after that I spent walking around Dollywood (amusement park) and no issues there.  And then the next day I didn't do any hiking (go-karts, shopping, and the longest nap ever when I totally crashed--so crashed that I fell asleep on a hard wooden porch swing in a freezing-cold breeze) and the day after that we drove home.

So I ran tonight--it had been a good week since my last run.  My knee gave a few twinges but it didn't ache like it did a couple of weeks ago--hopefully the rest is helping?  Started off slow (10/mile) and worked up to 8:34/mile.  3 miles at an average pace of 9:20, stopped for water, and then finished the last mile at an average pace of 8:37/mile, then walked another third of a mile to cool down. I really miss running and I SO hope that the trainer I'm seeing on Friday can help me figure out how to fix this!

Off to ice...(so, so, so sick of icing).