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February 12, 2006
Sore Knee
I think the "Big Storm" missed us. We only got 2 or 3 inches of snow at the most. Boston, on the other hand, seems to have gotten hammered. Unfortunately that means I missed an opportunity to meet my first fellow blogger Audrey as her flight into Pittsburgh this morning was cancelled (along with every other flight in Boston I think!). Hopefully she'll come another time.
This morning I woke up with a very sore right knee. I was pretty surprised by it because I don't remember doing anything to it and it wasn't sore at all yesterday. O must have been kicking me in my sleep last night. It hurts on the inside and is felt most acutely when I walk up the steps. I didn't think much about it and went running anyway and truthfully once it got warmed up, it was fine on the run. O, Roxy and I ran for 45 minutes and everything (including my wayward feet) felt pretty good. 45 minutes is a long haul for me so I was pretty tuckered out, but I was glad to get be out there and enjoying running for that long! When we got back I did my core and feet exercises.
I don't think the running made my knee any worse but the soreness persists. I'm guessing the culprit is spinning yesterday as that seems to be pretty hard on the knees. I'm definitely going to have to keep my eye on this new ache because I don't need another injury on top of my persistant plantar fasciitis! Bah!
Otherwise this day has been pretty relaxing. We went to church, went out to lunch for our Valentine's Day meal (actually going on Valentine's Day requires too much waiting!), went to get O a Steeler's Super Bowl sweatshirt with leftover Christmas gift card money and also purchased the part needed to (hopefully) end the puddles of water we keep finding under our kitchen sink. Turns out the water supply line for the dishwasher was corroded and leaky! Kudos to O for taking the dishwasher apart (and actually knowing how to get it back together) and figuring out what we needed without having to call in professional help. Who says a math teacher is no good around the house... :) And now we are soon headed back to church for a meeting. Did I forget to mention at some point in there I took a 90 minute nap? Ah...what a life... :)
Posted by beth at February 12, 2006 5:28 PM
Comments
Let's hold off on the "knowing how to get it back together" kudos until we actually run the dishwasher. :)
Posted by: O at February 12, 2006 6:00 PM
Perhaps if the sore knee is from spinning, then your seat and pedals aren't quite adjusted to your leg length.
The easiest and fastest way to get close to the right pedaling geometry is this: Raise your seat until your hips just start rocking while you pedal (meaning that your hip tilts down just a bit on each side with each pedal stroke). Once you're there, lower the seat down until the hip rocking goes away.
It's really a matter of comfort, though, and finding what's right for you. Many people keep their seats way too low, and this causes increased pressure on your ankle, hip, and knee joints and the connective tissues in them, rather than having your skeletal and muscular systems absorb the force of pedaling. It matters less if you're spinning easy, and more if your pedaling hard (either spinning fast or pedaling against increased resistance).
For what it's worth... :) I hope your knee feels better!
Posted by: Meghan at February 12, 2006 9:03 PM