I have been having knee pain for about a month now and need to know how to deal with it before the race?
I had been training for a marathon now for about 3 to 4 months. I run 5 to 6 days out of the week and each day now I averaging about 9 1/2 to 12 miles a day. I still have over a month to go and I know I can do 20 miles right now but my knee start to hurt around 10 miles now. I took the rest of the week of to give it time to heal, but today I start running again and it started hurting after only 4 miles. I try to run with the pain but it was only getting worse so I stop running for the day. My question is what can it be and how can I get my knee back so I can start running again? I know I can do 20 miles because I was not tire. So any help will be great.
Public Comments
1. icy hot2. I had this happen to me last year as I was training for the Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon...it started when I hit 11 miles during my training then it got worse....it didn't go away until just recently....My problem was my IT Band (ilitotibial band). This is a muscle that starts in your hip and narrows along the outside of your knee. If your pain is along the outside of your knee, then this is probably what your suffering with. It's a common runners injury and is caused by upping you mileage too quickly or running too much (overuse). Stretch it really well! Ice it, and rest it. You can still increase your mileage and run your race if you run only a few days a week and do some strength training the other days. If it begins to hurt, stop and stretch it (good stretches online, google IT band or look up runnerworld.com). I ran my race but the last couple of miles was hell! It hurt soooo bad, I couldn't walk well for a couple of days after and had to stop running for a couple of weeks. I should have rested it for a couple of months but didn't know what to do because running was all I did.
Anyway, I could go on about my process in healing here but it would be a book. runnersworld.com is a great site for finding out exactly what your injury may be....good luck!
3. i would say, treat your self to some muscle ointment, before the race
4. I had this type of knee pain present itself mile 7 of a marathon, fade away and surge back at 23. Nightmare scenario.
Turned out it was not my knee at all, but the soles of my feet were at a 4° angle, causing the knee to twist each step. Knees do not like getting twisted, and at some point the pain was unbearable. I had custom orthotics made and the problem was solved.
You can start to investigate that with a podiatrist. I had no idea I had an angle in my foot until I got an analysis.
Good luck
