I’m running (or at least was going to) my first marathon next week. The build up was slow, and the milage wasn’t excessive.
I had run 20 miles once and had multiple 17/18 mile runs. Then, about three weeks ago, after another 17 mile run, I felt fine; No different than usual. That night, though, I woke up with incredible pain on the outside, lower part of my knee. This is the FIRST time I’ve ever felt this pain or anything like it. Very sharp; no burning. I can’t really state a basis for it, but it felt like what I thought was a ligament issue.
Walking was little painful for a couple of day after. I tried running 3 -4 days later and couldn’t go 150 ft. I didn’t run at all for the next 2 weeks.
This week I ran 4 miles twice. No problems during the runs, but it was a little stiff the next day.
Possible contributors to the pain: (1) shoes probably should have been replaced sooner; (2) the run was mostly on concrete/asphalt roads and sidewalks, whereas I normally run on grass and dirt.
Other note: I’m flat footed and then some, but I wear good stability shoes.
I never detected any swelling and this was the first knee pain I’ve felt. I don’t have any points that are painful to pressure.
Anyone care to venture a guess on whether this sounds like ITBS? I’ve looked around the net and it sounds similar.
I felt fine during my 4 mile runs this week. Should I layoff the marathon? I hate to put that work in and not run the race, but tri season starts up soon and I don’t want to throw that off by doing something stupid. I’m leaning towards laying off the race.
Lastly, I’ve seen the ITBS bands. Anyone else tried these with sucess?
I had a similar experience with an IT band injury prior to a spring marathon a few years ago. It was an important race to me and I didn’t want to miss it. The strategy I took was to load up on Ibuprofen for the final week and not run a step (I discussed this with my doc). 2 days before the race I really wanted to check it out so I ran slowly for a couple miles in cool drizzly weather. When it started to stiffen up I stopped running. Obviously, this was not the reaction I had wanted. If I had not traveled to do this race, I probably would not have started. However, on race day it was warmer and I took the Advil prior to the race and had no problem until about 20 miles. At that point, I felt a little pull but was able to continue with only minor discomfort. I finished fine but did notice that the ITband was especially sore as I recovered.
I believe that if it had been cooler on race day I would have had more trouble. Also, I was 24yo and I don’t know if I would try the same thing now at 39. I do think that the Advil was a major help. Good luck to you with whatever decision you make.
This sounds a lot like ITBS. You are blessed if you have gone from having “trouble walking” to running four miles pain-free in such a short period of time.
I developed what I believe to be ITBS back in July. I had no problem walking, but was stuck at 20 minutes running, and the knee was burning pretty bad by then.
I tried to limp my way through a mountain bike tri a couple weeks after the onset of the injury, and then figured I could just rest a couple weeks. Well, I’m still fighting this thing, and it seems to be winning.
I would recommend bagging the marathon if it is not extremely important to you. This is an injury that can sideline you for a LONG time if you don’t get it under control early.
This advise is coming from someone who HATES to take time off from running and triathlon. I do incorporate rest and recovery times, but this has been the longest injury I have ever expereinced.
If your focus is the tri season, then focus on it and don’t risk sacrificing the whole deal for a mid-winter marathon.
This was a good site that was referred to me by a couple of ultramarathoners: