The hip bone's connected to the... ?

"You've got your ubulus muscle, connected to your upper dorsimus. It's boring, but, it's a part of my life..."

I'm nursing an injured... knee? this week. Well, it's the inside of my leg, next to my knee. It's the muscle that extends and contracts my leg. Based on my (and Matt's) expert googling skills, we've deduced that I've strained my MCL.

I really should leave the diagnoses to a professional, but that's just not how I roll :)

It all started Tuesday during my tempo run. A tempo run is where you run at 90% of your capacity for 20 minutes, then follow it up with a 30-minute easy jog. I've been doing my tempo runs on the treadmill because I find that it keeps me honest... but maybe I don't need to be kept so honest.

Near the end of my tempo run I felt a soreness in my knee. It felt a little worse as my slow jog progressed. Then on the walk home I could feel it start to cramp and tingle like it was going numb. I came home and iced for a while.

Wednesday it was a little sore, but I couldn't tell if it was the kind of sore that can be worked out over a run, or made worse by running on it. I decided to try it out on my interval run, which starts with a 50 minute warm-up run. I ran out 30 minutes, and when I hit my turn around point I was in a lot of pain. The problem was, I was a 30 minute jog away from the car...

In the sake of time I decided to jog back. I was able to run on my leg for a little over 20 minutes, but then I finally convinced myself to walk. It took me about 20 minutes to hobble that last mile. I couldn't believe how painful it got.

I finally made it back to the car, and went to safeway to pick up some dinner. I also picked up a huge bag of party ice intending to just sit on that for the rest of the evening.

Much to my chagrin, I was talked into missing my long run this weekend. I know it was for the best, but I was really excited to run the course we had planned for this week. It was 8 miles through Interlaken Park and the Arboretum. I guess I'll have to run it on my own sometime :)

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Today my leg is feeling much better. I'm definitely going to yoga tomorrow. But I don't think I'll run there again. I think I'm going to wait until Tuesday before I run on this leg of mine again. I went for a 3 mile walk this morning, and it was feeling pretty good.

Sometimes I need to remind myself not to be an idiot. It's better to sit out for one run, than to push yourself and miss the big race. I probably should have taken it easy on Wednesday. I'm not invincible and there are some serious injuries (potentially permanent ones) that are looming if I don't take care of myself.

I need to learn the difference between mild discomfort and actual pain...

It also wouldn't hurt to know anatomy of the leg a little better, either :)