Alright. I never said I was a smart runner. Sometimes I do dumb things.
Yesterday, my second day back running after my marathon, I asked TJ if he wanted to go running with me at the State Park. It was a beautiful day. In fact, it was one of those days that if I was training for something, I would have really enjoyed my training day. It was cool, low humidity, not a cloud in the sky. It was awesome.
So we decided to go trail running a bit. I don’t trail run (except in marathons) and I am not 100% back from last Sunday’s race. But I digress.
We drove to the park and went to the parking lot near the trails. Low and behold we ran into my running buddy Neill (BigBigGeek) running his 12 mile long run (the last before his half marathon next week). He looked great and was enjoying the weather. By the way, he ended up with a 13.1 mile run and felt great doing it. I am so excited for him. A couple of weeks ago we ran an 11 mile run together in the heat and humidity and it was tough.
After a few minutes of talking we parted. Neill went on to his record breaking run and TJ and I headed to the trails.
We had a fun run overall. Neither of us run trails so we took it easy. After about 1.5 miles the outside of my knee started to hurt. It was annoying and steady, but I kept going. After a while it became obvious that the pain was not going away and in fact was getting worse. I had to start walking. TJ showed me some stretches that helped, but the pain continued. So we walked out to the main road and headed to our car without going back on the trail.
The good news is that within a half hour all pain was gone and I didn’t have any issues the rest of the day. I imagine that my muscles are still repairing themselves and running a trail was too hard on them. Oh well, live and learn. It was only a 3 mile run/walk overall and it was probably good we stopped when we did. I did enjoy the run and really enjoyed running trails with TJ. It was a lot of fun.
Today is another cool morning but is going to get hot during the day. I’m going to head out for an easy run and enjoy another day of just running for the fun of it!!!
278 to Boston 
I am wagging my finger at you. Trail running? Really? Take it easy on yourself! 🙂
Yeah. I wasn’t real smart. It was just so beautiful and I had no workouts. Live and learn. Thanks!
Yes trail running is definitely a different animal! My very first run on rocky, unpaved trails – I had the worst shin splints ever, in a leg that NEVER bothers me! I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to handle it. It’s such an uneven surface that you use different muscles that you don’t use on the road. Good for you for listening to your body and slowing down/stopping when the pain was too much.
It is a much different type of running. I agree. If I have learned anything from training for a marathon, it is to not push so hard that I do damage to myself. It just isn’t worth it. I’m glad you made
It through too!!!
It’s true – I think I learn something on literally EVERY run I go on!
Trail running is a whole different animal. It uses a lot of muscles that road racing doesn’t. Glad you stopped early.
Yeah me too. I have run trails a couple of times a whole back, but this was obviously too soon after my race. Tough run.
Good thing you stopped, it’s difficult to know when to push and when to rest as a runner I find 😉
I totally agree. I tried to keep running, but after the pain wouldn’t stop, I thought I shouldn’t take a chance.
A big call trying to run trail so soon after your marathon, but you have obviously learned to listen to your body. I suspect you’re right about the knee, everything else was probably just still tight and repairing so you might have just had some ITB tightness and some inflammation of the bursa. Just keep up with the stretching and monitor the issue, but hopefully will be a post-marathon glitch and nothing more.
Yeah. I have only run trails a few times, but it was so nice out and we did go slow. Probably an 11:00 pace. Still, it proved to be a bad idea. The good news is that my knee is much better now. Thanks.