Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight Run & Walk/半月板損傷リハビリラン＆ウォーク

Dec. 19, 2022

I'm in the 62-day countdown to the 55th Ohme 30 K Road Race. But I'm not doing very well. Sad to say, but it's true. Five days ago, I felt a pain in my left calf while jogging at night. To avoid worsening the situation, I canceled the training and walked back home. The main continued till the following day. But it had mostly subsided two days after I first felt the discomfort. Then this weekend, while spending time in Central Tokyo for pleasure, I walked quite a long distance to enjoy shopping and sightseeing. I walked a little less than 10 K in two days. During this course of time, there was little pain felt in the calf. So, hoping that I was ready, I hit the road tonight. But it turned out I wasn't ready.

Feeling disappointed, I walked home. But then a few steps toward home, I stopped and said to myself, "If you can walk home, you might as well continue to walk for an hour or so as a substitute for an hour-long run.

So I turned around and went for a walk. A sudden change of plan will give you a fresh outlook on things. I decided to head for a destination that I normally don't go to, a park about 4 kilometers from home. It has athletic equipment that allows me to do some upper-body exercises. I will be able to burn the calories by using the equipment that I was originally planning to burn by running.  

While walking to the park, I tried running on and off to figure out what movement gives me the greatest pain. I discovered that a forefoot landing slightly before the center of gravity gives me the greatest pain. I tried a middle-foot strike exactly under the center of gravity and measured the impact on the muscle. This time, the pain eased. 

From this test, I learned two things. One, the muscle strain has to do with my running form. If I keep up the middle-foot strike and make sure my feet fall exactly under the center of my gravity, the strain on the calves will be lessened. 

This is a great learning experience. In fact, I had a similar problem several years ago when I first tried barefoot running. Back then, I was younger, still keeping some growth potential, I overcame the discomfort by becoming stronger. As I get older, though, becoming stronger is becoming less and less of a viable option. I must learn to cope with the weakening body. There is a bit of sadness associated with that realization. But it is something I must live with. 

Two-Hour Run & Walk

 Jun. 29, 2022

It was Meat Day today! Meat is 'niku' in Japanease. Two of 29 is pronounced as 'ni' and nine as 'kyu' or 'ku'. Therefore is 29 is 'ni'+'ku'. Hence, 29th is Meat Day.

It is also triple point day at the Ikinari Steak restaurant chain. I went to the nearest location twice, once for lunch and again for dinner to get a total of 6 poinst for two visits. (You normally get one point for one meal.) This helped fulfill the requirement for a bonus free steak (300 g). I am glad.

Sufficient intake of animal protein energized me enormously. I was in a mood for some cardio work after dinner. Although I was cautious about re-starting my running training, a short jog several days before made me feel that in fact I might be ready for a light job. So I decided to run, ready to stop in case it should hurt, or switch to walking if a slight sign of ill mechanics was detected in the recovering knee joint. 

The result? A refreshing run and walk over a stretch of 2 hours with occasional stops at convenient stores for a sensible intake of a boiled egg and a happy indulgence in ice cream!

There was no pain, nor was there any discomfort in the recovering knee.  At one point the other knee hurt a little while jogging. I immediately stopped and walked for a while. I started running again after a while when I felt ready. By then the pain had been gone.

This way, I ran, stopped when something was off, walked, and then ran again, and then stopped again when an aid station was in sight, which is a convenience store in this case, and then took a break with something to eat, and rolled on. It was a pleasant session, totally stress-free and far from the rigorous training regimen that I had been used to before injury. I guess I've learned to be sustainable.