We are now half way through the month of January and my training has been going well. Now, it definitely has not been ideal but all in all I can't complain. There is one exception to this statement and that is my right knee, specifically my burser sac that is just below my knee. I started experiencing pain in that knee and I thought there was cartilage or ligament issues that would require surgery.
After seeing my sports doctor it turned out it was tightening in the muscles leading into my knee. This was good news of course but it was also somewhat of a surprise. The therapy for treating it was stretching and strengthening those muscles. Soon after this appointment I had my bike crash and was down for a month. Now I am back in the gym and working on stretching for really the first time in my life. I am doing groin muscle stretches and also others for my legs and this leads me to the infamous foam roller.
This little torture device is an interesting form of training and rehab. They come in many different varieties and should only cost you maybe $15. What the foam roller does and try to massage your muscles and get the scar tissue that may be causing inflammation and soreness in the muscle.
You can see in this picture the athlete is working on "rolling" his calf. At times this simple movement can cause extreme pain because of that scar tissue. The thought is that over time this scar tissue is reduced or eliminated whereby your muscle now can move more freely and without pain.
Runners World Magazine has a great page on how to use the foam roller, just click here to check it out.
Getting to that point is the trick. I have only started working with the foam roller and I can tell you it hurts. I am focusing on those muscles that lead into my right knee and so far have seen a slight improvement. When walking or biking the pain is pretty much gone. I need to keep working to try to eliminate the pain that is there when I run.
I am headed out now for a 10k easy zone 2 run but I will keep updating you how this goes. If I am going to achieve my goals for this season I have to get this darn knee fixed.