Return to the pavement

After watching my training shoes sit idly by the door for 3 weeks, I returned to running this week ... in small measure.

Been doing leg raise exercises - 3 sets of 20-25 in between lap swimming in my pool and abs on the deck. The knee feels good afterward. After the pool workout, I run a short distance to complete a light workout. I started with a 7:12 mile on Tues, did a 6:22 mile tonight. At 148 lbs tonight, just 6-8 lbs heavier than race weight, combined with not running for 3 weeks, whoa... Holy cow, do I feel fat and sluggish.

I'm pretty sure my knee issue was the result of a ligament strain, not directly related to running or repetitive use, but to the power exercises I did when trying to change my training regime to sprint training this winter. I have a natural weakness in my ligaments as I have had shoulder surgery in high school (football, wrestling) and 17 yrs ago, an acl replacement (on my good knee) after a skiing accident. I think I've found a good regime to get my knee back and into shape to do some running this summer, but I doubt I'll race again til the fall. If, after a month or so, my knee is not 100%, maybe I'll pay a visit to my knee man Burton Elrod. He did a great job on my left knee back in '91, it's been perfect ever since.