Enjoying summer and an ART session

It's been almost 4 weeks since SD 100 and my body is not recovered.  I've developed on/off crepitus in my left achilles tendon and the knee issue is lingering.  I tried picking up the pace at the end of a run last week and felt the same issue that plagued me off/on over the past year- a feeling of pulling inside my knee that prevents me from straightening my knee when I try to run faster...arg.  I've been resting and stretching with less pool running this week and more time relaxing and enjoying my summer.  I attended a wedding Monday and subjected myself to wearing heels; thankfully, my knee and achilles survived and I was able to walk around and enjoy a day at the San Diego Natural History Museum.  As we jogged back to the car, I longingly eyed the trails around Balboa Park and Alan said we could change clothes and go for a run.  Feeling I was already pushing my luck, I decided to drive back and indulge in Taco Tuesday at On the Border..ah, a long weekend of gluttony.

I'm okay with mountain lions...as long as they are stuffed and behind glass

I admit that I shivered when seeing this rattler behind glass...never want to see one closer!

The "creature" I would not be afraid of seeing during a trail run...

Wednesday I ventured out for a run to burn off the excess food and drinks with the goal of 6-10 miles; I stuck to the flat bike paths/gravel areas near my apartment and thankfully turned around early.  My knee started hurting and I had zero endurance...running at a slow pace didn't seem to help much.  The run made me decide to seek out a chiropractor/person who does ART (Active Release Technique); I've had it before with success and decided to find someone closer to my apartment.  Thankfully, I recalled a doctor responding to an email on the Orange County Trail Runners site and that he seemed very runner-friendly.  I called Dr.Scott Neubauer this morning and got his only appointment for today.

I seem to have excellent success in finding great doctors lately and Dr.Scott is no exception.  He's a talented athlete with tons of experience in treating crazies like myself and he has enough of a crazy streak to "get it."  He did a very thorough examination and gave me two options...either get a MRI to check for possible torn meniscus (booo....I have enough of the symptoms to make it possible) or do the conservative approach of treating it with ART, stretches and seeing if that offers a cure.  I have so many little muscular issues that it's hard for him to pinpoint what causes what...huge areas of concern are my left psoas, quads, and gastrocnemius (he had lots to say about how bad it is...).  He did lots of work on those areas and commented that the way my left leg turns out/lands/turns makes it amazing that I can run as much as I do...guess I'm a walking freak of nature. :)  He used Rocktape to tape my knee and told me I could go for a run today or whenever I wanted.  If my knee started hurting, he wanted me stop and stretch the psoas and then run more...if it still hurt, stretch psoas and quad and run more...still hurting, stretch previous ones plus gastro....still hurting, stop running.  All this to see if we can pinpoint the cause of my knee issue.  Fingers crossed big time that this works!

After a run and a shower...coming off one one edge but better than KT brand that I tried

I went for a little over 4 miles and it took getting used to the tape around my knee.  I stopped after the first mile to stretch the psoas and then finished the run; by the end, my knee was starting to hurt but very minimal...not sure if it was the tape or the ART or the stretching or all of the above. I stretched tons post-run and even gave my gastro a long session with The Stick.  Tomorrow I'll go for a longer run and see how everything fares.  I've dealt with enough injuries where I'm optimistic and think ART plus tons of stretching will get me back to running a 100 miler by January.  Worst case, I get a MRI and spend tons of time sitting by the pool being lazy over the next month...lol!