This morning I watched my dog chasing deer and I was jealous. No, I don’t have a burning desire to hunt or run after wild animals, I was jealous that she could actually run. I’m injured and I’m grumpy and irritable because of it (just ask my family and friends). I’ve been afflicted by my nemesis, patellar tendinitis, and it’s caused me to be sedentary for weeks. I can’t tolerate biking, don’t even dream of jogging, and to be honest, I don’t swim because I find it intimidating and a chore. The pain has gotten so bad that I’ve put my goal of running 2009 miles off until 2010 (when I will run 2010 miles) and have even sought out medical advice. The doctor told me what I already suspected - it’s an overuse injury- but I needed to make sure it wasn’t more serious.
So what did the kind sports med doc say I do to recover and how might you recover from whatever pain ails you this season? Here’s what the pros told me to do:
- Icefor 20 mins at a time; 20 mins on, 20 mins off, for a few hours a day.
- Stretch–repeatedly. Apparently I’m getting old and now need to actually stretch whereas I used to just head out the door for a run. I now stretch my quads, hamstrings, ITBand, and calves 3 times a day.
- Pop an anti-inflammatory pill regularly (while under the doctor’s care of course). I decided to one-up my doc and have also added in an Omega-3 supplement.
- Rest- aargh. I hate this necessary evil. I will remain at 0 miles a week until he tells me otherwise. At least my dog benefits from the fact that I now have plenty of time to take walks and throw a stick. Glad I can make somebody happy in my misery.
- Do the above list for 24 hours and you should be good to go… no, they didn’t actually say this but I was wishing they had. I have to sit tight for the rest of this week. I’ll let you know how it goes in a few days (if I’m still sane at that time).
Happy trails friends (to those of you who can run anyway!)
