The New York Experiment

The New York Experiment

November 5, 2009

I was in Philadelphia, PA this week and should have titled this the Philadelphia Experiment after the 1984 movie of a US warship disappearance.

But my experiment is different.  Buoyed with confidence in finishing the Chicago Marathon last October 11, I was curious if I will be able to run another after three weeks; specifically, the NYC Marathon.

After finishing Chicago, I felt sore the next day but able to move around.  By the second day, I walked into my yoga class to stretch and heal my tired muscles.  I was recovering faster than I expected.  I hurt but I am able to exercise in the pool and managed to do some cross-training.  By the fifth day, I was doing three mile runs with my wife.  So I continued my progress of trying to slowly build my miles.

Last week Monday, October 26, I ran my longest run, 9 miles at the lakefront.  I woke up early for it since I was going to catch a flight to NYC for work, it was also marathon week.  I was very happy with my run.  It was the strongest run I had since the marathon.  I was doing 10 minutes a mile and on the two last mile was pushing it.  I felt soreness and left knee pain after the run, but did not think much about it.  After all I was rushing for home and airport.

While in NY, I tapered to simulate as if I was running the NYC marathon that weekend, November 1.  I did some treadmills but the left knee pain persisted.  Not painful but bother some.  I continued my training and ignored the left knee pain.

This time while in Philadelphia, I ran and was going to do another 9 miles.  I did not even get close to my goal.  My left knee pain progressed to the familiar pain I felt from my right knee ITB problem.  The pain slowly went up my left leg.  There it is, Jamie (my PT)!  I am in trouble again.  The experiment blew up in my face.  Oh my, I did it again.  WTF.

So it is back to the drawing board and I would have to re-think my goal of doing Chicago and NYC, three-weeks apart, next year.  Oh well….this Kenyan is done for the year.

Cheers.

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