Still injured.. humph

Well, here we are in the New Year and I'm still injured. If you recall, I was injured exactly 10 years ago. I was newly 30 years old and suffered a 9 month long injury to my posterior tibial tendon. Well, I am newly 40 and have a new problem. Well, same issue as last post. My knee doesn't seem to be healing as quickly as it would be expected.

A couple of notes as of today:

It's been almost exactly 3 months since the marathon. Since then, I have focused primarily on:
1. Leg strength: squats, lunges, strenthening around the knee
2. Pool time! I've actually gotten to like the pool. I'm doing about 4 miles per week.
3. Yoga. I do Yoga now!
4. As far as treament, i had 5 weeks of PT. I learned what exercises I need and do them daily.
5. Medically, I have had a cortisone shot (did nothing) and just last Friday did PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma). I'm actually taking a little bit of a break (back in pool today, but break from the other items) because of this. I plan on trying to jog in about 2 weeks.

All in all, I am frustrated but hopeful. No doctor I've seen has been saying "Well, running is over for you". They basically have said, "You are doing the right things, now lets try X". If PRP doesn't work, I'll try Stem Cells next. If that doesn't work (and we are talking maybe 1 year anniversary of running and doing all the right things for that long), i'll consider surgery.

I have big goals of running my last few marathons as well as just wanting to run triathlons and the occasional half. Not time to hit the panic button yet I don't think. In the meantime, I plan on getting really good at swimming, keeping up with yoga, and starting a spin class.

It has to be said too: I knew this was coming. Ten years ago, I learned the lesson that you have to adjust given the fact I was getting older. I had to get orthodics, I had to stretch, etc. I couldn't just run whatever/whenever. I had to listen to my body.

I knew there was a new version of that coming. I always knew I needed to do things like squats, lunges, yoga, diversify better. I started doing triathlons, but i really just loved the running. Everything else was just kind of a hindrance.

But I've come to see that swimming can be very good for muscle tone! When I am doing 4-5 miles a week, I really have never felt like I was in better shape. I have switched over to using a swim bouie recently, but that along with spin class and yoga? Really good shape. So when the knee eventually wants to start acting like it wants me to run, I'll be ready!