Injury - it keeps going and going (part 2)

A little over 2 years ago I started struggling with some knee pain that just got worse and worse, no matter what I did.  I ended up going to a Dr. (again) who told me (again) that I just couldn't run for a while.  I gave that a try, but it just wasn't helping, so I begged for a referral to a Physical Therapist.  I got one for several months out.  It ended up being almost six months from the time when my knee pain was near unbearable and affecting my life greatly, even waking me up at night, to the time when the pain was small enough I could run 5K again with only minimal pain.  It was a miserable time in my life and due to stress unrelated to running, but stressors that I usually managed with running, I plunged into the deepest depression of my life.  I won't go into the details of the darkness I experienced at that time, but I will tell you I learned some very important lessons from it all.

One lesson I learned pertaining to running, is that I LOVE it, and want to keep doing it as much and as long as I can.  The other important lesson that I learned is that my time is limited.  There are so many things that could happen that would make it so I could never run again.  That could be a sudden accident, or it could be a slow injury that I never bounce back from.  This realization has made me appreciate running so much more, and I've decided to do everything I can to keep running for as long as I can.

Fast forward to this past summer, the right knee pain hasn't completely gone away, and on top of that my LEFT knee decided it was its turn to give me trouble.  I tried to ignore it a little bit, but decided that wasn't a good idea to ignore pain again. So, I decided to "train" away my injury instead of the ever recommended R.I.C.E.  (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation).  I was okay with the I.C.E part, but not the R...don't get me wrong though, I love rice!

Anyway, for my "training", I kept up my PT from the old Dr., decreased my miles, moved off the hills and onto a track, increased biking to compensate for lost aerobic activity, and slowly started building up as my knee allowed.  It was enough.  I did much better with the reduced running than the non-running and it was great to feel like I was involved in my recovery instead of sitting on the side-lines.  

I also made an appointment with my Dr. who gave me a referral for a Physical Therapist.  Again, I got involved, I called a whole bunch of PT offices until I found someone who specialized (at least a little) in runners.  She's helped me identify and fix some of the issues and felt I was progressing so well that she "graduated me" and put me on a home program.  

The greatest part, while I was recovering from this injury I trained for 5 races (2020 style - virtual): a 5K, two 10Ks, and 2 half marathons.  The craziest part is as I'm recovery and strengthening my weak areas that are causing me injuries something else is happening that I still don't understand.  I'm faster!  At almost 40 years old, I'm faster than I've ever been.  In the last 6 months, I've been able to get new PRs on every distance I've tried (10K, 5 mile, 10 mile, and 1/2 marathon), except the 5K.  My mind is totally blown by this, but I'm continuing to recover and learn more about how to avoid injury so I can keep running in the future.  If a side benefit of all this is that I become not only injury-free but a better runner overall, I'll totally take it.

I'm not completely healed from either my right knee pain or my left, but every week (even while training) I'm getting a little stronger and I'm hoping all this will land me once again to a marathon starting and finish line.  Due to injuries over the years, it's been a long 4 years away from that very challenging (at least for me) race.  Can't wait to be there again!