Two days after the pain in my knee surfaced, I managed to run a 14 Km tempo run at a 4:55/Km pace. I also discovered that aside from the Russian March drill, sudden turns or u-turns to the right would cause pain to the side of my right knee. So that’s it: just run straight and avoid making any sharp right turns and I would be fine.

Or so I thought. I found myself doing a lot of turning at the Men’s Health All Terrain Race. I had signed up for the 15Km race but planned to do 2 loops to complete my mileage for the day. It was a hot day and it was a tough course. In order to avoid pressure on my knees, I ran at a slower pace and at each right turn I would pivot with my left. I was running in an awkward manner and I was tiring earlier than expected. By the time I finished 15Km, I was exhausted and decided to call it a day.

Usually, I would be satisfied with my week’s training if I could complete the assigned workouts for that period: 1 interval, 1 tempo, and 1 long run. I skipped the easy runs and stair workouts if I did not have the time nor energy to do them. However, I had cut my interval and long run short in my last week of training and I wonder if it would have any impact on my performance. I could only rationalize that had I not cut back dramatically I might not even be able to race which would put all my training to waste.

The last few days, I ran a short tempo, a 12Km at marathon pace, 2 easy runs and a 16km long run. With each step I became more confident that whatever was bothering my knee had somehow resolved itself. Hopefully, the last week of taper will allow it some more healing time.