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had PT appointment today. diagnosis: hamstring on right side is tight and weak relative to left, and right glute is weaker as well. got dry needled in the upper hamstring, bit sore now in the area around where the needle went in. hope it works as well as the last time i got needled.

the PT gave me a few exercise to do and i'll go back in a couple of weeks. feels good to have a prescription.

- dreadmill "hills" x 48:49, 8.04 km
knee felt totally fine

bought a pair of new balance supercomp trainers this morning after trying on like 7 different shoes (including four different sizes of the NBs). there's a 30-day return policy, so i took them to the gym to try them out on the treadmill before wearing them outside. total failure after like 3 minutes, they just aren't right for my feet. taking them back. pretty annoying. really want to support local stores but the selection just isn't that good. anyway ended up doing this workout in old kinvaras.

i ordered a pair of adidas evo sl online, let's see how they do. in the meantime, i'm gonna try to do my long run tomorrow in the novablasts, in hopes that it really was just a little overuse strain and not the shoes. if that fails, i'll switch to kinvaras.

yesterday

- strength circuit
-- 2 x [three-way calf raise x 10/position + cossack squat x 8/side]
-- 2 x [sideways band walk x 15/side + DB RDL x 8/leg +10s]
-- 2 x [deficit tib raise x 15 + BSS x 10/leg]
-- 2 x depth drop 24"
the cossack squats definitely hit whatever part of my knee is messed up. didn't hurt but i got the clicking when extending the right leg.

- dreadmill run
-- warm up
-- 2 x [10 min @ 6:49/mile, 2 min @ 10:00/mile]
-- cool down
should technically have been an easy run but that's so hard to do on treadmill. went with a low-intensity, moderate-volume workout instead. knee felt fine.

- warm up
-- joint circles
-- squats
-- leg swings
-- cossack squats

- threshold workout
-- warm up
-- 7 x [4 min @ threshold, 2 min jogging rest]
-- cool down
all reps between 4:08-4:09, except one at 4:06. per VDOT calculator, my threshold pace should be 4:12, so a tiny bit quick but ok. knee felt fine and still does. i thought the discomfort was associated with slow pace but maybe it's the novablasts? i have put at least 450 km on them (666 total km hail satan since i bought them in december and they've been my workhorses since then). but that isn't so long for shoes to be worn out and they don't feel bad underfoot or anything. OTOH, wore kinvaras yesterday and today and even down near 6:00/km pace this morning it was all good. sample size still small, so it's hard to draw conclusions.

made an appointment with a PT for next monday, let's see if she has anything useful to say.

yesterday

- run/walk x 7 km
meant this to be a shortish long run but knee started feeling "thick" within the first km and the feeling wasn't going away, so i stopped and did some joint mobilization stuff (leg swings, lunges, etc.). started again and it was fine for a few mins and then started feeling thick again. so i ended up run/walking the rest of the way and cutting the overall distance and duration. oddly, knee feels better if i pick up the pace a bit, the most discomfort - it wasn't ever pain yesterday - is at more relaxed paces. no discomfort at all while walking.

very frustrating.

yesterday

- run 4 mins/walk 1 min x 27:33
knee felt fine, maybe a little something in the last few mins but not enough to prevent me from trying again today.

- rehab/prehab
-- 2 x [toe walk x 60s + heel walk x 60s]
-- 2 x [3-way calf raise x 10/position + SLRDL w/knee raise x 8]
-- 2 x [sideways band walks x 30s + SL floor hamstring curls x 12/leg]
-- 2 x [cossack squat x 10/side]

will try to run tomorrow, slowly, and as a run/walk to start. no pushing, at the first sign of discomfort it'll turn into a walk. if i feel good, will run continuously but still slowly.

went to NYC this weekend.

saturday

- run 52:54, 10.17 km
circumnavigated central park.

sunday

- run 2:01:28, 23.00 km
ran from yonkers back to my aunt's apartment near columbus circle. upper right calf started clicking and feeling a little off right away and by a few km in was uncomfortable. not so much to make me stop or limp but enough to make me know it was not great to be running on. but i was stubborn and also the only alternative way home was to get on the subway in my running kit like an idiot. it's strained now, but pretty mildly. no running for at least the next few days. damn it.

i could probably do with a proper deload week, anyway, but obviously that should have come with some planning and not because i hurt myself. the injury is, i think, probably just from jacking mileage up too quickly and leaving it there instead of deloading thoughtfully. yesterday finished off what might be my first-ever 40-mile week. oops. the timing sucks as i wanted to be training hard for the next two weeks before tapering over the final two weeks of april until my race. as it is, i'll be lucky to get one week of hard training and then a one-week taper. guess i'll see how it goes!