I had a good weekend. I can’t complain. Saturday I did a little training triathlon, today I hiked 40 kilometres. That means I’ve spent almost 8 hours outdoor. There are worse weekends than this. Yet, I’m getting frustrated and impatient. Why? Because I still can’t run.
Okay, I ran last Saturday. The last leg of the triathlon was an easy 5 kilometres run, together with Sara. 6,5 minutes per kilometre. My knee is fine with that. As long as I don’t run any further than those 5 kilometres. I do feel the tendon in my right knee as soon as I start to run. It feels irritated, but it doesn’t prevent me from running. If I push further than those five, it will. Believe me. I’ve tried.
Hiking & cycling
Cycling is no problem. Hiking neither. Well, hiking for 30 kilometres. Yesterday I started to feel a little irritation in my knee after that. Nothing major, nothing permanent. Just a little irritation.
So why am I complaining? I can bike, I can hike. So, what’s the problem? I’ll tell you. I’m a runner. Running is what I love. Hiking is fun, biking is fun, swimming is fun, it’s just not running. Above all, I haven’t been able to run for half of my life, because of an ankle injury. Now I can run again, I want to make up for all the races I missed, for all those beautiful early morning runs I’ve missed. I want to see the sun rise while running. I want to see the sun set while running. I want to run.
Don’t take running for granted
It’s funny how quickly you take something for granted while doing it. I mean, a couple of weeks ago I wrote a column that I didn’t feel like running. All those long hours, long days of preparation for the UTMB CCC were getting on my nerves. Now I can’t run, I miss it.
And not just the running itself, but also the races. When I’m online, surfing, I feel like a kid in a candy store. I want to try everything. Be everywhere. Maybe that’s the good thing of being injured; more time to discover new races and new events. And to discover cross training, like biking. I never had a gravel bike. It’s actually fun. I see a lot of great trail runners – Kilian Jornet, Jon Albon, Katharina Hartmuth, Toni McCann – bike, so I guess it will help be be a better runner.
Triathlon
Biking also opens up new possibilities. I’ve already got my eye set on an off road duathlon in Reusel; trail running and mountain biking. Up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t even know they existed. I do now, and I’ve got a great interview with Claudia Striekwold for you coming week about a crazy off road triathlon. I also discovered a fun triathlon in Eindhoven. Eindhoven is the closest city near me, and the triathlon is held on the campus of the university. It looks fucking cool.
Yet, for a duathlon and a triathlon I need my knee to be okay with running again. This and next week is full with hospital visits: dry needling, blood test, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and echo. All in an attempt to still run the CCC. And of course all those other cool races I’ve discovered by sitting on the sofa instead of running.
Keep on running,
John
