My Running IS Over! Long live cycling!

Yesterday I ran my 11th run since the 1st of January. After falling foul to degenerative cartilage in August 2011, putting an end to my campaign to run the 2011 Adelaide Marathon, I rested until January 2012. On the first of January I ran 5 km following it with a bike ride the next day and a rest day after that. Following a similar 3 day cycle I continued to run 1 in 3 days. I increased from 5 km to 7 km and eventually to 10 km. My 9th, 10th and 11th runs were all 10 km's. The first of those 10 km runs, left my left hip and right knee a little tight, so I rested an extra couple of days. I was cautious on my 2nd 10 km run keeping my speed down to below 10 kph and felt ok, then on my final 10 km run, I kept my speed down to below 11 kph. This appears to have not been enough as my right knee has blown up like a balloon. I have iced it for hours and have iced gelled it all to what appears to been no help at all.

So, today I went for an easy spin on the bike, no pressure, not a lot of speed and certainly not putting much strain on the knees. Averaging 24 kph, well below what I am capable of, on an undulating ride over 67 km to Willunga Hill and back, with a gentle cadence of around 60 RPM, I would have thought it would not have worried it. Well, maybe it didn't and maybe it did but my right knee is definitely not reducing its swelling and is painful.

Its all to hard, I no longer wish to put my body through this just to attempt two arbitrary goals, one to run the City to Bay in under 60 mins and the other to run a full marathon in under 4 hours. I know in my mind, that at one stage last year, I could have done both of these. I have run a training run of marathon distance with 60 seconds to spare from 4 hours and have run a half marathon at better than 12 kph, a speed that would break my lesser distance challenge of completing the City to Bay under 60 mins. I could have done them both but didn't, that's life, and I think its time to move on from those goals. Apart from anything else, I have found that I enjoy cycling, I never actually enjoyed running, it was just something I found I could do when I turned 50. Well, it appears that its not something I can do any more, just 2 years of running has left me with degraded knees, and so, I want to keep what I have left for the cycling that I enjoy. I will have to be careful not to stress my knees for a little while so that I can fully enjoy cycling pain free for a long time in the future.

Good bye Running, your gone and Hello the wonderful world of Cycling!

Tags: cycling, injury, knee, running

1 member likes this

Comment by Trent on February 9, 2012 at 17:23: Really sorry to hear that Steven. Hope that your knee gets better soon!

Comment by Gus K on February 9, 2012 at 17:53: Hoorah! You know, they invented bicycle so people didn't have to run anymore between villages. Then from that they invented Cyclo-Cross so cyclists could ride a short cut through fields.

Comment by Roger ... on February 9, 2012 at 18:56: Good choice Steve, get well soon.

Comment by heather on February 9, 2012 at 19:01: Sorry about your knees. Could have been worse, i.e. having to give up cycling :)

Comment by colin ware-lane on February 9, 2012 at 19:08: sorry to hear that steven are you sure it wont get better and its a no go on running ? could be shoes or poor running style unless a scan said " time to stop".

Comment by Steven Ellison on February 9, 2012 at 19:26: I was told that I should stop running back in August last year because tests had shown I had denerative cartliedge and that my knees were unable to repair the wear put on them by regular running. Being stuborn I thought I would give them time to repair themselves before training again. I thought that if I kept my running distance to a minimum by using cycling as additional exercise. After 40 days my knees have reverted to the state they were in when I stopped running in August.
All I have managed to do is confirm the original diagnosis!

Comment by colin ware-lane on February 9, 2012 at 20:22: well if i run this years city to bay i will make sure its under 1hr for you.

Comment by Darren Bosanko on February 10, 2012 at 9:21: Sorry to hear about your knee Steve. You may still be able to get it sorted out. I'm yet to be convinced that cycling is any less harsh on your knees, particularly if you are climbing as regularly as yourself.

Colin's comments about shoes and stride are spot on. Just because your shoes may look as good as new, doesn't mean they are. I go through shoes every 6 months and know within a week or so that they are on the way out as my calves, knees, etc start to get sore.

Massage an maybe a check from a phys might sort out some underlying issues...And may even help your cycling.

I know running is something that a lot of people love to hate, but it is such a great way to build fitness (and lose weight) and the satisfaction of completing a Marathon is something that would be hard to top. Particularly based on events available in Adelaide.

So all the Warnie's of running....Yes I see you......{insert emoticon of face sticking tounge out}

Comment by Steven Ellison on February 10, 2012 at 9:38: Darren, my current pair of shoes have covered 550km which is pair number 6 in 2 years. 10% of that distance would have been cool down walks. I have been to multiple specialists to investigate my injury and all have said it is due to impact from running and early degeneration of cartiledge. I have only been running for 2 years and have paid great attention to running style to be smooth and as low impact on the knees as possible. I have shortened my stride to help and tried various stride lengths to avoid injury. I have increased my volume of running progresively as I believe this is important when learning to run longer distances.

I agree, climbing hills is hard on the knees and in fact riding with a low cadance can be stressfull on the knees which is why I will be working on increasing my cadance over time and spinning up hills.

When I started riding for the first time 5 months ago I made the mistake of using my leg strength to propel me in taller gears than those around me. I now am struggling to correct that.

I am afraid I didn't even get to the point of loving to hate running, I just hate running ! I also hate not achieving my goals which is what helped me run over 3,000km in the last 2 years (18 months of actual running).

I am not unhappy to start looking at new goals for cycling and to leave the running part of my life behind forever!

Thank you everyone for your words of wisdom and suport but I am now here, a cyclist, and here I will stay until something else forces me to change my direction in life ;-)

Thanks again everyone!

Comment by Phil Crick on February 10, 2012 at 14:24: looking forward to seeing you out more on the bike, both Michelle and I use your Strava times as targets incentives to get us motivated on the bikes :-P

My Running IS Over! Long live cycling!

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