Houston, we have a problem!
After running a fairly fast half-marathon last Sunday, I had knee pain. It was mostly on top of the knee and seemed to affect the front of the knee cap when the leg was bent. I spoke to a top area runner, who's a friend of mine, a running shop owner, and an exercise physiologist. He promptly diagnosed it as tendonitis. This is both a good and a bad thing.
Tendonitis, because it's a "harder tissue" injury tends to heal slower than soft tissue. Also, my plantar fasciitis is a version of tendonitis, so unfortunately, I'm learning a lot about this condition. I spoke to several runners about it this week. Most indicated that this can be a chronic condition, but can be trained through. Use of ice and anti-inflammatories was widely recommended. I'm anti-anti-inflammatory (Now, that's an ugly construction!) , so for me that means ice. After running only twice during the work week, I ran almost 7 yesterday, and after about 2 hours of on and off icing, I awoke today to a knee that had only a tinge of "off" sensation.
The plan is now to take a long run today of 15+ miles. If the discomfort can be controlled, then I'll feel pretty comfortable that I can return to my training level.
I spent a lot of my run yesterday thinking about how this injury likely came about. As a result of paying attention while on the treadmill earlier in the week, I realized that I torque my right toes inward when running faster and think it may relate a little to controlling speed. Two weeks ago, I hammered a big downhill, trying to catch two "runners" (I later realized they were on bikes, but the hill was steep and curvy enough that this took a while). During the week following, I had some stiffness in the knee, but it was non-specific, arose late in runs, (perhaps 5 miles in) and involved no pain. Then, to pre-warm prior to an outdoor run, I jumped on a stair climber at my gym the day before the half. I think this stressed the already sensitized tendons. Then, the half-marathon finished the job.
So, I feel pretty good that this injury, which could be chronic, is going to be pretty controllable and should not seriously impact my marathon plan for this spring.
Tendonitis, because it's a "harder tissue" injury tends to heal slower than soft tissue. Also, my plantar fasciitis is a version of tendonitis, so unfortunately, I'm learning a lot about this condition. I spoke to several runners about it this week. Most indicated that this can be a chronic condition, but can be trained through. Use of ice and anti-inflammatories was widely recommended. I'm anti-anti-inflammatory (Now, that's an ugly construction!) , so for me that means ice. After running only twice during the work week, I ran almost 7 yesterday, and after about 2 hours of on and off icing, I awoke today to a knee that had only a tinge of "off" sensation.
The plan is now to take a long run today of 15+ miles. If the discomfort can be controlled, then I'll feel pretty comfortable that I can return to my training level.
I spent a lot of my run yesterday thinking about how this injury likely came about. As a result of paying attention while on the treadmill earlier in the week, I realized that I torque my right toes inward when running faster and think it may relate a little to controlling speed. Two weeks ago, I hammered a big downhill, trying to catch two "runners" (I later realized they were on bikes, but the hill was steep and curvy enough that this took a while). During the week following, I had some stiffness in the knee, but it was non-specific, arose late in runs, (perhaps 5 miles in) and involved no pain. Then, to pre-warm prior to an outdoor run, I jumped on a stair climber at my gym the day before the half. I think this stressed the already sensitized tendons. Then, the half-marathon finished the job.
So, I feel pretty good that this injury, which could be chronic, is going to be pretty controllable and should not seriously impact my marathon plan for this spring.
posted by Scooter at 8:22 AM
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