Week 15, 49k

This week’s running; a few things to talk about. I only did 49k this week and you are saying what? Only 49? and yes, you are correct that I was aiming for more. Let me give you the break down. During the week, as usual, I had some good medium runs at the gym. All of them around 12k. No problems there. New shoes are still good, old shoes back in rotation. Friday I had a birthday party, but still managed to get to the gym for an hour of lifting before hand. Saturday, once I had shaken off the previous night’s beer, was good. I was out ON THE ROAD by 12. Yes, the snow has slacked off enough that my paths are open. Joy.
So Saturday, which was my actual birthday, I went out for what I hoped to be a 20k run in the balmy 3 celcius weather with overcast skies and rain spitting on me. Despite the perfect weather I was feeling great. Do you have any idea what it feels like, after 6 weeks of treadmill running, to be liberated to the outdoors? It was awesome, happy birthday to me. Plus I had my REI OXT jacket which kept me mostly dry and mostly warm. Got a nice reminder of how hot I get running in winter gear and how cold I get if I stop even for a couple minutes. Thanks winter.
Unfortunately around 15k my left knee started to feel a bit of pain, so I stopped to walk for a bit, felt better and kept going… for about 2 minutes then had to walk again. I repeated this a couple times, each time thinking; ok, just working out a kink. Not so.
I ended up walking the last couple of kilometers and even that began to be a bit painful on the knee. So the rest of the day Saturday I spent keeping my leg up and keeping ice on and off (watched The Book of Eli). I'm pretty sure it has to do with switching from a soft surface treadmill to a hard surface road. In the next couple of weeks I will be forced to make my runs outside so I am fit enough to do the marathon on the road. Blessed be the road. Sunday and Monday felt ok, but I wasn’t taking any risks. I only counted 15k of that run because the last 5 were more like a run/walk/hobble. Here I am Tuesday, ran 5k today and feel ok. But hey, that’s this week. Not week 15.