Running with knee osteoarthritis is interesting and seemingly unpredictable. For instance, I was having a little knee pain on Thursday and wasn’t sure if I should run. I was feeling a little down about it and a bit annoyed. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING! And maybe there was a little anger as well. All kinds of thoughts go through my head as to the cause. What did I eat? Am I advancing too fast? Are the cross-training exercises too much? Am I dehydrated? Who knows. It seems that everything can be going just fine and then there is a flare-up. If I could just understand the reason behind the flare ups, then I could manage it better. Maybe, it’s just changes in the weather. Maybe there isn’t much I can do regardless.
Unsure, I eventually made the decision to go running. I have actually experienced a decrease in pain in the past during a run. I thought that if it didn’t work out, then I could just walk. Some of the latest research (see post) says that activity is better for arthritis than no activity at all. And my 10 min warm-up must have made things better because I was actually able to run without any pain. I continue to advance on a walk/run program. Thursday was supposed to be a 10-minute warm-up followed by 2 minutes of running/1 minute of walking x 8. I was feeling so good that I actually did 9! And the next day, I literally had absolutely no pain at all! My take away is, if I can run, then run!!
As for cross-training, I continue to bike and cross-country ski. At the beginning of the week, Scott and I decided on skiing down Eagle River. I was a little unsure about that being that the temperatures had recently increased to the 40s for a few days which could obviously affect the thickness of the ice. As you can see in the photo below, we kind of hugged the edges of the river just in case. I did not want to break through any ice! Due to the recent high winds, there were a few rocky areas, but otherwise the skiing was awesome. We had ourselves a nice little break about halfway and we also ran into a friend who was taking his 600 lb snowmachine down the river. And I was worried about skiing it ha ha. We don’t usually see that many people out on the river, so that was kinda nice.
I only got out on the bike once this week. The area is pretty hilly so they made for a nice challenging ride. We haven’t ventured out on the river yet with the bikes or anywhere else for that matter. I am riding mostly on the roads, but there are lots of cool places to go. Scott and I hope to check out some of those areas soon.
So, to recap this week’s running and cross-training: I have a warm-up routine that I do prior to going out and then I walk for 10 minutes prior to running. I also do a 5 -10 minute cool down followed by a warm shower (TMI) and then stretching.
- Sunday – Cross-Country Skiing (forgot my watch so not sure how far we went)
- Monday – Rest Day
- Tuesday – 7 x (2 min run/1 min walk), 1 x 3 min run
- Wednesday – Biking 8 miles
- Thursday – 9 x (2 min run/1min walk)
- Firday – Rest Day
- Saturday – 7 x (3 min run/1 min walk)
My heart rate training zones (according to my Garmin) haven’t improved in comparison to the previous runs , but I think it is just conditioning and the changes in these two runs specifically was with an increase in running time (so more time running up hill). I am not too worried about it. I will just continue to monitor it. (For reference, I should be more in zone 2 or 3 at this stage)
Fun Facts
So many people believe that we live in the dark up here in Alaska. We don’t. Well, unless you live further North like in Barrow. They have about 67 straight days of darkness during the winter months. Still, our daylight hours are pretty short with the shortest day being 5 hours 28 minutes. Right now we are gaining 6+ minutes of daylight per day. We gained about 37 minutes of daylight this past week.
These shorter days can have an even greater impact on those of us that live out in the Eagle River valley. Our home is surrounded by mountains. Around November of each year, the sun goes behind the mountains and we don’t see it again until, well, now. So it was pretty exciting that the the earth finally tilted a little in our favor so that we could actually get some direct sunshine. To actually see the sun, even briefly, just really brightened my day. Still missing those sunny and warm days in Hawai, though.
Family
Friday was my daughter’s 39th birthday! Yeah, shocking right. Nothing like a child’s birthday reminding you how old you really are. Ha! She is just simply amazing. She works as an L&D nurse, clincial nurse instructor, and she may possibly launch her own buisness in the near future. She is also an awesome Mother and I am sure her husband would add wife to that list. I could go on all day about how she can brighten up your day and make you feel like you are the most important person in the world, but y’all get the picture. I just love her so much!!
I got to spend most of the day with her because I knew that Matt had plans for the evening. We went out for coffee and then shopping for some of her “business” supplies (I don’t want to give it away just yet). I love spending time with her.❤️
While Sonja was out celebrating her birthday, we got to hang out with the kiddos. Tylor spent a lot of time outside helping Scott plow the driveway while Charilie and I did puzzles. Maddy seems to like her time alone. She spent most of her time reading or watching youtube. I actually learned something new about her that I did not know before. She loves Math! She especially likes working divison problems. These guys are just growing up way to fast. The days are zipping by.
Well, that was my week. It’s going to be interesting to see how the knees hold up as I progress to more running. I also have to get back to more strengthening as well. That will be part of my focus this upcoming week.
Until then, Happy Running
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