Marathon Training & Runner's Knee

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cmccreesh
cmccreesh Posts: 2
in Fitness and Exercise
I am 10 weeks into training for my first marathon, with my longest run so far being 13 miles. Before I started training I had some knee pain that was diagnosed as Patellafemoral Syndrome/Runner's Knee/patella tracking issues, which I went to physical therapy for and the pain went away. I ran 9 and even 10 milers pain free, but recently the pain came back. I have been icing, stretching, taking ibuprofen, etc. and have backed off a bit on the running, but I am trying at all costs to avoid backing out of the marathon. I am going to incorporate swimming into my training plan more, but I am nervous to cut back on mileage as I get closer to the race. I am still planning on doing all of the Saturday long runs as planned (barring any unbearable pain) but will probably skip a shorter run every week and maybe cut back on the "medium runs" for a week or 2 in hopes that the knee pain gets better. Will swimming instead of running hurt my training significantly? I am following Hal Higdon's Marathon Novice 1 and have stuck to it perfectly so far and am nervous to stray away a bit! I am not trying to run the marathon in any certain time, just to finish. I typically run a 9:30min/mile while training. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

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  • juicemoogan
    juicemoogan Posts: 999 Member
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    I had similar knee problems, my physio said it was because my other leg muscles -glutes especially were weak. I have keen doing exercises to increase the strength and flexibility of those muscles NAND have had no problem since.
  • cmccreesh
    cmccreesh Posts: 2
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    thanks! what exercises do you do? I do squats, lunges, bridges, and leg raises with the stretch band, not sure if there are other great ones i should be doing that'd help
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    One helpful exercise is single-leg leg extensions moving only through the last 30 or so degrees of extension, not the full ROM. If you can't adjust the start position, then use both legs to lift the weight to full extension and switch to the single working leg.

    http://youtu.be/KMzj41mTdJw

    This is a rough (!) idea --the video is with 2 legs but you want to do it w/ one. Emphasize "squeezing" the muscles around the knee. Do 3-4 sets of 15 reps.

    The problem is that if you are not tracking properly, then you are unlikely to get better while continuing to train. In fact, with marathon training, it is likely that you are making the inflammation worse with every run. Having said that, I would recommend that you get back in touch with your PT, let he or she know you plan to continue to train and see if there is a palliative intervention that will keep things from getting too much worse. There is a taping technique that can hep keep the patella in line when exercising; there might also be a brace that might help. These would NOT be permanent solutions but they might help limit the damage until you address the issue in a meaningful way.
  • FrenchMob
    FrenchMob Posts: 1,167 Member
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    One helpful exercise is single-leg leg extensions moving only through the last 30 or so degrees of extension, not the full ROM. If you can't adjust the start position, then use both legs to lift the weight to full extension and switch to the single working leg.

    http://youtu.be/KMzj41mTdJw

    This is a rough (!) idea --the video is with 2 legs but you want to do it w/ one. Emphasize "squeezing" the muscles around the knee. Do 3-4 sets of 15 reps.

    The problem is that if you are not tracking properly, then you are unlikely to get better while continuing to train. In fact, with marathon training, it is likely that you are making the inflammation worse with every run. Having said that, I would recommend that you get back in touch with your PT, let he or she know you plan to continue to train and see if there is a palliative intervention that will keep things from getting too much worse. There is a taping technique that can hep keep the patella in line when exercising; there might also be a brace that might help. These would NOT be permanent solutions but they might help limit the damage until you address the issue in a meaningful way.
    Tracking issues usually do to weak VMO muscle and tight IT band. Leg extensions like Azdak mentioned and stretch/foam roll the IT band.
  • mlb929
    mlb929 Posts: 1,974 Member
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    See a massage therapist and start working 30 minutes daily on hip strengthening. How new/old are your shoes? If you are 10 weeks in now long is you whole training program.

    IMO - your long runs maybe aren't what you should stick to personally - if you can do 8-10 at race pace you may be just as well off at 18 at one minute slower than race pace for keeping your training up. After PT for the same knee pain - I bought the Brazil Butt Lift program, do it regularly and have no problems with knees since then.

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