Lessons Learned

I'll start off saying that the LA Marathon a week ago was the toughest challenge I have ever faced. It was an incredible experience where I fought through pain and the feeling of "quitting" for a good 6 miles. It all started at around mile 18 on Sunset Blvd where I felt my right knee "pop." I had a strong pace (considering this was my second marathon - my first only being 3 weeks before) of sub 8 minute mile all through the first 18 miles. I felt good. I breezed through the first 16 miles like a 10 year old kid high on syrup. My gait and speed felt amazing and I had nothing else to do but enjoy the sunny southern California weather. But of course, I needed to experience a true challenge before I was able to say I did two marathons in less than a month. So my knee pops - 3 times! Once at mile 18, then again at 20, and again right before 21. At the third pop, the pain was so great I had to slow down to a walk. Knee was wobbly and weak. Burning, aching, and a piercing bone shattering pain was all I could think about. I was only 6 miles away, there was no way I could stop. So I kept my "walking" pace for about 3 miles and then I had to stop. My knee was throbbing from the inside out with every step. I stepped to the side to stretch a little and catch my breath. I carried on and this was possibly the slowest I have ever done a 5k. Before mile 18, I was scheduled to beat my first marathon time at approximately 3 hours, 50 minutes. At mile 20, I could've still been under 4 hours. But all that went away and I finished in 4:41:22. After crossing the finish line, I was taken to the medical tent on a wheelchair and given ice for my knee and ankle.

The following day, I was having a hard time walking and the pain in my knee was still present, but to a much lesser degree. Ankle pain was gone, and my legs were not as sore as I excepted them to be - probably from not actually running the entire 26.2 miles! Tuesday I made my way to work and made an appointment with the doctor to get my knee checked out. I turns out I wore out my the posterior surface of my patella (my knee cap) by rubbing it with the femur. This was cause by not allowing my legs to fully recover from my first marathon. During the race, my leg muscles loosened and were not able to keep the knee cap in its correct location. Due to this, the knee cap started rubbing against the femur thus providing me with a good dose of pain. Doctor gave me a few exercises to help with my Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome. Week later and I am finally able to walk up and down the stairs with very minimal pain, bike 3 miles, and walk like a semi-normal person.

While in school, I learned about a process called "Lessons Learned." This is an activity in which the participants of a given event, activity, or task get together after the completion of such event and discuss what went right and what went wrong. Well I did exactly that a week after my marathon and discovered that I really need to allow time for rest and recovery! The body is our temple, and we are only given one. We must take care of it if we want it to last. Providing it with a good foundation (training) and making sure we maintain a good upkeep (recovery). So after my injury, I stepped back and revisited my Texas Ironman 70.3 training plan. I have been researching more on injury prevention and proper form (in swimming, biking, and running). This week will be my pickup week where I plan to swim two 1600+ yard workouts. Biking will wait until next weekend once I my knee gets stronger. And running, is out of the question for at least 4 weeks. Easing back into running with a gait and stride analysis in a few weeks, testing out some new running shoes (Brooks), a pair of Newtons, and barefoot running (Vibram Five Fingers). I will use this opportunity to analyse my form and make any changes to get rid of bad habits and improve my performance. I will start taking a more technical approach to my training, including my swimming and biking and maybe even using some of my engineering background ;)

For now, I will go do some upper body work to prepare for my swim tomorrow.

...keep pushing!