Half Marathon, knee pain

emiliewright
emiliewright Posts: 148 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi Runners,

I am running the Women's Rock half in 2 weeks. I am a bit worried because in my training I have found that my right knee (right on or behind my knee cap) is giving me some trouble. At about mile six, I have been experiencing severe sharp pain and after a long run, it stays the rest of the day into the night. I went to the chiro and got a massage yesterday and am hoping that helps but I am worried. Any suggestions about my next two weeks at all, please feel free.

I have only hit 8.5 miles as a high so far, but with only two weeks left I think I will have to hit 13 for the first time at the race, I hope!

Advice? Not just about the knee pain, anything!

Replies

  • levicrouch
    levicrouch Posts: 99
    Mayo Clinic has a symptom checker for knee pain. I suspect overuse.

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/symptom-checker/DS00671/SYMPTOM=43E2A918-2A5D-9994-E7C9F2A8BD7DC6A8&TAB=Knee%20pain
  • moondawg14
    moondawg14 Posts: 249 Member
    Hi Runners,

    I am running the Women's Rock half in 2 weeks. I am a bit worried because in my training I have found that my right knee (right on or behind my knee cap) is giving me some trouble. At about mile six, I have been experiencing severe sharp pain and after a long run, it stays the rest of the day into the night. I went to the chiro and got a massage yesterday and am hoping that helps but I am worried. Any suggestions about my next two weeks at all, please feel free.

    I have only hit 8.5 miles as a high so far, but with only two weeks left I think I will have to hit 13 for the first time at the race, I hope!

    Advice? Not just about the knee pain, anything!

    With only 2 weeks left, there's basically NOTHING you can do to IMPROVE your half-marathon fitness. But there's a TON of things you can do to wreck it. The top of that list would be to continue to run long distances with an injury.

    IMHO: Reduce your distance and intensity immediately. Only run every-other day until the race, a light 5-miler or so. Don't do any speed work. Don't do any hill work. If you want, try a knee brace to stabilize your knee cap while you're running. Do NOT continue to use the brace after the race. Braces are short-term only.... they're doing the work your muscles should be doing normally.

    Rest up, keep some light exercise, and go enjoy your first half marathon.

    After the race: Add in some core strengthening and leg strengthening exercises to your workout routine. Strong muscles help prevent injuries!
  • ang159
    ang159 Posts: 3 Member
    hi there. the same thing happened to a friend of mine before our first half. so we broke up some of our training days with water running. go to your local YMCA, i'm sure they have water belts and go in the deep end and run! same motion-it will feel weird at first, but it's still great cardio and good for muscle memory, without the impact or weight bearing.
    hope it helps...good luck on race day!
  • ThickMcRunFast
    ThickMcRunFast Posts: 22,511 Member
    Don't worry about not having run the full distance prior to the race, I agree that you shouldn't do anything to stress your knee out, but how old are your shoes? When my shoes have too many miles, the first thing that hurts is my knees.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    With only two weeks to go, expect to walk during the race. Trying to make a jump from 8.5 miles now to 13.1 in two weeks is a really good way to end up injuring yourself even further.

    For me, I have bad knees and bad ankles and have experienced pain similar to what you described in my right knee as I was getting into my longer distances when training for half marathons. Personally, KT tape helped to alleviate all of the pain while running and then I'd leave it on for an additional day or two after the long run and it definitely helped overall.

    But I also know what original injuries caused my aches and pains so I have a bit more of a sense of when I can self-treat and when I should head to a doctor. So if this is your first experience with a pain like this, I'd say head to the doctor first, and don't be surprised if you get told that you shouldn't run the race in two weeks, depending on what the injury is.
  • OtiWanKenobi
    OtiWanKenobi Posts: 340 Member
    As everyone mention that with two weeks till the race this isn't much you can do and you may have to run/walk to finish the race.

    From personal experience I have found that knee pain is due to the fact that your glute muscles are weak. A way to avoid this is by strength training during your marathon training (ie. squats, side leg lifts and clams) can really help. Unfortunately, your race is coming up so it's too late for this.

    For now, I really recommend getting a foam roller. You will have a serious love/hate relationship...but this will help you massage your IT band. It runs from the top side of your glute down your leg to your knee. It will hurt like b*tch!!!!! Make you cry! But this will help release the tension from your knees and easing some of the pain. It also won't hurt to get a smaller roller and doing the same thing on your calves.

    Best of luck on your race!!!!

    Here's a tutorial on how to foam roll your IT band.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoHBDim_fzk
  • Bommy_7
    Bommy_7 Posts: 24 Member
    I would defiantly look into shoes as well.
    Also I would talk to a doctor about it if you can.
    This would be my adivce you can take it or leave it :-)
    It sounds like an overuse injury, but don't quote me. So the race is two weeks away. You can still do this you may have to take a few walk breaks, but hey we wanna finish right :-) First off ice your knee after running even if it doesn't always seem sore. This is will take down the inflammation and maybe taking some Ibuprofen will help as well. These are tips to get you to complete this half not for long term use. When you race (I'm not sure if this is your first or not) make sure and take it easy especially in the beginning. I would try to stay to the back of the start so that you are will slower paced runners to keep you from going out too fast. Make sure you take advantage of the aid stations. It is ok to slowdown and walk through them and stop and stretch if you need to. Remember the goal is to get to the finish line even if you have to walk a little. After the race take a break from running and work on building up your muscles ( I recommend a some weight training or something like Jillian Michaels ripped in 30) Do that for about a month and then start to slowly add running back into your routine. As you get back into running make sure you do at least one to two days a week of cross training and this should help you with your knees. Good Luck :-)
    .
  • jojopel
    jojopel Posts: 348 Member
    My first half is on Sunday. The last couple of weeks, I was having tightness in my left calf. I went to see a physiotherapist last week and she helped diagnose the issue. However, after seeing her, I developed an ankle issue and I could barely walk yesterday - needless to say I was in tears. I went back to physio this morning and the physiotherapist fixed the problem again.

    The point I'm trying to make is that you should consider seeing a physiotherapist who specializes in running issues. Depending on the problem, the therapist could help even if your half is in two weeks (that was pretty much my case when I had my first appointment).

    Also, you should be tapering right now and not running long distances anymore. Good luck!
  • ze_hombre
    ze_hombre Posts: 377 Member
    The difference between running 8.5 miles to 13.1 is 90% mental and 10% nutrition. If you can run 8+ miles then your cardio system can handle the 13.1. I would give my knee three or four days to heal and then do a easy 5 mile run to test the waters. If the issue persisted then I would seek a doctor's opinion. If I could do the 5 miler then I would aim for a slow 10 miler a day or two later to see if the issue returns with distance but I would make sure there are AT LEAST 48 hours between the 10 miler and the race.

    I might get flamed for this but I would also take a couple glucosimine tablets every day for the next couple days. They help my knees tremendously.
  • pplf2001
    pplf2001 Posts: 133 Member
    you might have runners knee - i found some great stretches for that. You also need to build up the muscles to balance out the ones you are strengthening by running. I spent a few months in PT working past that... go get it checked out before it gets worse.

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