Run #89

Wow, I felt great after taking time off from running! It had been 5 days since my last run, and I think that was really good for me. Since my knees have started bothering me a bit I have been doing a lot of research. I'm going to be focusing more on strengthening my legs (quads/hamstrings) AND hips.

I'm also not focusing much on speed, and I'm going to increase my distances more gradually (3-5% a week instead of 10%) at least until my legs get stronger. I'm also going to limit the interval training for now, only doing it occasionally. And I'm preceding every run with a 10-minute warm-up walk. Just going to baby my knees a bit while I also work on getting my legs stronger!

These are three articles I've found online that have been VERY helpful to me. I'd recommend the first two to any runners who may be having knee issues, or whose legs need more strength. The last article I'd recommend to pretty much every recreational runner.

Article on why hip strength is so important for the knees, along with resistance band exercises for the hips

Very simple quad and hamstring exercises to strengthen the knees (I talked to a running expert at a local store yesterday. He suggested I do 60% quads/40% hamstrings--3 sets of quads for every 2 sets of hamstrings.)

The 10 Laws of Injury Prevention

Warm-up walk: 10:06, .58 miles
Run: 30:07, 2.86 miles (10:31/mile)