Knee and Salt Spring Island

I wanted to post a quick update on my knee and some recent runs.

After the finish of the half-marathon, my knee was super sore.  I was worried that I might have pushed it too hard and might be out from running for awhile.  I went for a walk that afternoon with a friend and was limping around, as it was too painful to bend my knee.  However, luckily, it didn't take too long to recover.  Sunday and Monday my knee was still sore, but by Tuesday, I was able to join my regular running group, the Prairie Inn Harriers, for their weekly workout and did not feel my knee much.  I was extremely happy.  I have also been trying to focus on the exercises that I have been given to do to strengthen my body, which are supposed to help with my knee.  The exercises are mainly glute strengthening exercises - various types of squats, deadlifts and leg lifts on the floor.  I also do hamstring stretches, as my knee pain seems to be connected to a tight hamstring in the opposite leg.  When I do the exercises consistently, I definitely feel stronger and I don't tend to have my injury issues creep up.  It's a good reminder to keep at them!

Last weekend I headed over to Salt Spring Island with Shane for a weekend of relaxing and some running.  I did two runs while over there - up Mt Maxwell and on the trails around Ruckle Park.  Both were fun, and it was nice to run in some different locations.

The run up Mt Maxwell started on a small, narrow goat trail, which really was not made for running.  Luckily, pretty soon it opened up a bit, which made the running more enjoyable, but then started to head straight up the mountain.  There were not a lot of breaks, mostly sustained climbs, but mostly the grade wasn't too steep, and the entire ascent was runnable.  Although there were a few sections that definitely got the heart rate elevated.  About 2/3 to the top, there was a small lookout, which had a nice view below.  The climb up to the top took about 24 minutes. At the top of the mountain, we had a beautiful view of the ocean, and the village below.  It was super windy though and the wind was whipping the clouds around - it was cool to watch them move so quickly, opening up new views every few seconds.  The run down the mountain was mostly pretty enjoyable.  However, we had to be pretty careful, as there were lots of roots and rocks that were pretty slick from the rainfall that morning.  The only unfortunate part was that right at the end of the trail; there were tons of stinging nettles and we both got stung quite nicely - I tried to avoid them, but didn't quite make it.

The next day, we headed over to Ruckle Park to run some of the trails over there.  Being a Provincial Park, I expected the trails to be relatively easy - but boy was I wrong.  The trails ended up actually being quite technical, with lots of roots, rocks and logs to jump over- the trail also zigzagged around and up and down.  Although there was only one sustained climb, there were lots of little ups and downs.  The run started off right beside the ocean, and it was beautiful and comforting to be so close to the water.  On the way back, the trail headed through the interior of the forest, and up and over a hilltop.  My hip flexors were sore from the run up Mt Maxwell, and they were definitely feeling it on all the climbs.  On the way back, we ran about 500 meters on the road back to the parking lot, past an open farming lot that was open for visitor viewing (there were also a few old buildings on site).  We stopped to check out the turkeys and chickens that were walking around.  I hadn't seen turkeys that close-up before - they are definitely interesting looking critters, with all the lumps on and around their heads.  Overall, it was a pretty good run - the technical aspect of the run definitely slowed things down, but it was still enjoyable.  The loop took about 1hr10min.

Now back to more regular training.  I'm going to try to fit in some regular longer runs, with more elevation, as I feel that I haven't been doing enough hills in my training lately.