Friday, April 10, 2009

Friday Night Theory

It is Friday- a great day. Although I am sure I told Dave I did not have to work today- my 1 day off for the whole clinical rotation, he still made sure to let the dogs in this morning at 7:15am to "wake mommy up." He is such a sour grape- just because I get to sleep in and he doesn't, he has to find some way to sabotage.

That is okay, though, because I spent the a.m. catching up on blogs, scrubbing the bathtub, dropping my bike off at the shop, eating jelly beans, etc. I made my way to lunch time master's swim class, only to find that I was the only person there. Thankfully the coach gave me a workout and left, because I really didn't want a ton of attention and stroke work today. So, 3000 yards later, some more jelly beans (and a banana to make myself feel healthier post jelly beans?), and I was off to ride. It was a crazy, windy day with Laura, Layla, and Ashley, but I really enjoyed myself and have found that sometimes I can embrace the wind and not be in such a battle with it.

What happened next made the wheels turn in my little brain. I got off of the bike and felt medial knee pain immediately in my right knee. I thought of my smart friends, Kerrie and Marit, who have suggested that this may not be running related at all. Marit even suggested I get back on my road bike until I we figure everything out and I can run again. Have I listened to my smart friends? No...... not me. I am still on my cute little new tri-bike that has not been fitted to me with a brand new peddling system. Not anymore! Starting tomorrow I am back on the road bike. I have a standing appointment for a fit on my tri-bike in a few weeks.

Maybe I am grabbing at thin air with the new bike theory, but the more the little detective Columbo in me works, the more I start to think about the common denomator in this whole equation. Damie= healthy in February. Damie=healthy half marathon in February. Damie=riding tri-bike in mid March in aggressive group rides. Damie= an unhealthy half marathon in March and cannot run for 25 days.

What if my lateral knee is just as unhealthy as it has always been, but the new stress that has caused everything to unravel is the bike? I am throwing this into the pot of hypotheses.

It is now Friday night. Everyone else is probably out, but mawmaw Damie is at home playing on the computer and eating tofu, veggies, muffins, and yes...jellybeans. And, even though Alyson avoided and did not respond to about 10 phone calls from me this week, I still persisted in my efforts to make her answer the phone and have been rewarded with a cycling partner for the morning- road bike, of course.

7 comments:

Marit C-L said...

Good girl! GO with the road bike and see what happens... and the tri fit... yeah - very important! :) Just be steady, be smart - you WILL get through this.

Sorry about the early wake up call...but I bet the puppies loved it.

Ah yes, jelly beans for you...swedish fish for me! Yum!

Anonymous said...

Thats interesting about your bike theory....i think it could totally be the reason your knee is hurting. Pin pointing the problem is the hard part, i hope once you get fitted, your knee will be better. YAY!!!

Mel said...

DAMN..still hurting :( I feel ya...but I can't say it was the bike for me (as my bike has been hung up since July:)...but I do know some times I cause my own pain...because I tend to think about the hurt knee before it really starts to hurt..so I would start to straight it and throw my run stride off and then it would turn into a limp and felt like I was jamming my knee (sharp pain) or I would run and then walk and try to start running again and the pain would start!!! It was to the point I could not run further than 2-2 1/2 miles before it hurt!!! It was always the same knee and the same pain....Is any of this familiar with you?? I am running 8miles today...it has been awhile so will see what happens...
Hang in there....hugs

Laura said...

I was going to ask you about that yesterday since I thought you were switching back to the Giant for a while. I think that's a good bit of detective work.

Have a great ride today. Turns out no Pickwick afterall so I could have gone long with you today. Oh well, I'll be swimming at some point...

Robert said...

Cool blog. I look forward to you visiting my blog and following it as well. I will start to follow your progress too.

God bless you!

CBD said...

Good thinking!

Did you get new shoes and/or pedals? If your hip angle and crank to saddle distances are the same, I'd guess it's related to your foot camber or toe-angle.

What kind of pedals did you switch to? If you have a lot of float in your pedals (relieving any toe-angle strain), you may need wedge-shaped insoles to help with camber.

GoBigGreen said...

Have you ever had your pedal stroke videotaped? I know it isnt the total answer ( read the post about the MRI's) but it may provide some short term input to the knee pain related to riding. Some Outpatient Ortho clinics do it up here in MN and it isnt rocket science. Being that you know your stuff you can see what your knee is doing if it is played in slow-mo, with views anteriorly, posteriorly and laterally.
Hope you find some relief from the cortisone and are back at it soon.