Ouch!...

Prior to my regular evening dinner appointment with my kakis, I went to MacRitchie for a 10km run. The sun was out in full force. I brought along a water bottele, put on a cap, and started off from the zifg-zag bridge. I was planning to take it easy just to put some mileage in on a x-country terrain.

I reached the exercise area (about 2.5km) into the run in regular timing of about 13min+, when I started to feel a twitch on my leg knee area. Ouch, a slight stinging pain. I tested to see if I should carry on, and it seemed ok. I then meandered through the undulating 'roots' area, and when I came out into the open at the golf course area, my left knee wobbled, and at times gave way if I landed on my left foot too hard. I had to shorten my strides. I felt my knee, and I think it is some vein being twisted slightly. The pain could be felt intermittently, but was bearable.

I continued on at a very slow pace, and took it as training for a real crisis situation should I ever encounter it. I continued on to the wooden bridge area, and then to Jelutong Tower and Sime Track. All throughout Sime Track, I ran slowly and ensured I lifted my legs high to avoid tripping, but the pain in the left knee did anot allow me to lift my legs. Since I was already in the middle of the route, I decided to just carry on for as long as I could. Going back into the Northern Route from the SICC road, I had another 3km+ to carry on, and the slopes were steeper and undulating. As I went on the upslope, the pain was not evident, but the moment I went downslope, the pain came back sharply. I then realized I could have injured my vein while running down the slopes of Telok Blangah Hill the other evening. I continued on at about a 6min/km pace, and ran slowly to reach the end point in 1hr3min. Pooh...this is the longest time I have taken for this route (normally running it in about 54min), but I was glad to have completed it nonetheless. Looking at the HRM data, I ran at an average heart rate of 154, which was about 80% of my MaxHR. That was just about right for my slow run training. As I did my stretching to warm down, with a bottle of h-two-o, I was wondering if I could still run the 8km Terry Fox Run this Sunday. Maybe I will just slow jog if I recover on time, and if the injury flares up, I may skip the run altogether. I hope for the best in the next 2 days.

Distance Ran:10km XC ___Time:1hr03min____Pace:6:18min/km
Average HR:154bpm___Max HR:168bpm___KCal:806K