A week ago I did my first 10K in seven months, then the next day, I stretched my left leg out repeatedly on top of my right leg while sitting in my office chair. This was apparently a bad idea, because it left my left knee feeling rather sore. The right knee, usually the problem child, was fine.
I decided to pass on Wednesday’s run to allow the left knee to recover. Then I did the same on Friday, favouring caution.
Finally, today rolled around, and I decided to give it a go, planning a short counter-clockwise loop. As often happens, I changed my mind and did a full loop around the lake, 5K running, 5K walking. And it was fine.
The left knee did start to ache a little around midway through, but it actually receded away as I kept running and feels fine afterwards, as I type this, so I think I am past the weird leg-folding incident. Continuing to be cautious, I will likely stick to 5K runs for the rest of this week, though.
As for the run, it went better than expected. I started slow, which was unsurprising–I was being careful, I was cold, and I’d had a week to get soft and flabby. But my pace improved as I went, and my final average of 5:47/km is perfectly cromulent. My BPM was higher at 155, but I chalk that up to the cold and the week off. I actually felt pretty good.
Remembrance Day was on Saturday, which meant most people got today off, so the trail was much more crowded than it would normally be on a Monday, but that was also fine. There were no egregious trail hogs, dogs were leashed, with only a few exceptions. Everyone was just enjoying the cool but mostly sunny conditions.
Plus, I saw a rainbow!
Stats:
Run 827 Average pace: 5:47/km Training status: Recovery Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 10:51 a.m. Distance: 5:03 km Time: 29:02 Weather: Partly sunny Temp: 8ºC Humidity: 84% Wind: light BPM: 155 Weight: 170.2 Total distance to date: 6025 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (160/306/466 km)
