Training to next event: Week -14: When injury sets in

As reluctant as I wanted to say, there's no training this week.

On Monday, I did usual recovery run at a shorter distance (8 km). Right knee area discomfort still present. On the other hand, I noticed more pressure was put on left leg to compensate the right. In fact left shin muscle started to feel pain, that suggest a rest.

Thus, I took a rest on Tuesday from run, but done core workout and stretching in the room.
On Wednesday, ran a few steps barefoot in the place I stay and didn't feel the pain. Therefore get change, warm up and get down for run. However, the first step feedback with right knee pain. I turn back, went up and get change to swimming pool instead,
Thursday also spent in the pool.
Friday - core workout and stretching.
Saturday - Totally rest.
Sunday - morning 5 km jog. Able to complete but knowing right knee still not in the condition for run yet. Continue with strength workout and stretching.

And I wondered is this another cycle of injury start.

My injury record usually start the same way. When the initial pain came, I continued to train with reduced mileage. Not recover. with the 1st day of rest, it then extended to days, weeks then months. Day after the day, the hope of return to road diminish. And sometimes the feeling of "license to rest" make me become lazy as the time with no training was ample. There's enough time to fall asleep, no rush in groceries, house chores, etc..

However, the time that spare out make the empty space of life materialized.
My daily life was planned around the training. When it suddenly suspended, the days seems no direction, not accomplished. Like a book without chapter.
Furthermore, the interruption of  training also means I need to rethink for the next event.

And the question will appear again - what went wrong?
This injury free duration was from around Aug 2014 - Mac 2016, this consider the longest duration I didn't have injury that interrupt the training. I thought finally found the right way to proceed with training. But no.

There's some slight changes in my training after Taiwan as compared to before, with the purpose to improve the quality of training. I need to lay it down for the record:

1. More attention was put on "arm swing" rather than "foot lift" - I was given advice that my arms was stiff and it "lock" my stride. After Oct 2014, I've attempted to change my foot strike to "lifting" instead of "pushing", and that did well so far. I admitted that my upper body is stiff, and indeed swinging the arm "free up" the stride. But I may need further tuning to make it better. Or learn to concentrate on foot and arm at the same time. The professional one, they have such a coherent movement of arms, legs, the whole body.

2. Running on the same shoes. I ran in PureFlow in Taiwan, and after the race in the evening while crossing the road, palm of right palm was painful. It continued at the few days stay in Taiwan, normally towards the end of day. After come back, I refrained from wearing PureFlow again and ran almost all the run in Launch. Before this, I usually rotate in 3 models of shoes.

3. Add in more weight workout and hill run. During the building up period, I have enough time to do weight workout. 1-2 times per week. And I didn't compromise on the intensity. Likewise, I'll arrange a run at Botanical Garden big loop towards the end of longer run each week, and run it with moderate-hard intensity.

When I couldn't run, only I realized how grateful it is to be able to run pain free.
When pain didn't strike in, I never understand the feeling of unable to run, but only asked why I couldn't improve.
We will never able to understand the pain of others, no matter how much we want to, until we experience it.
Is it me, or is it human.
We seldom able to see what beyond us, beyond the boundary of our mind.

I prepare for the worst, but hoping for the best.