So I’ve been having some pain in my right knee … the same one that has a partially torn PCL and some cartilage damage from way back. It started before AMBBR, when I started to revive my running to prepare for the Fall marathon season. It got really bad after I did a hard 50-mile ride with a much faster group than I was used to riding with (probably the one I would’ve been assigned to had I not been ride support), then ran Bay to Breakers the next day.
At first, I couldn’t really localize the pain beyond it coming from the medial part of my knee. AMBBR didn’t aggravate it — now that I think of it, it actually felt good that whole weekend — but it came back as soon as I did a little buddy run the Thursday after the century. So, naturally, I did what I did best.
I panicked.
I asked my coaches if they had any ideas, as per TNT protocol. Since we were having a sports masseuse at the next track practice, my head coach suggested I see him as soon as possible.
That day was our time trial, so I did the best I could in my 3-mile run (actually skipped a lap because I can’t count, but caught my error when I examined my GPS tracks). Then I went to see Phil.
When it was my turn on the massage table, I told him the issue I was having and he immediately went to work on my right quadriceps. He said it was very tight and had a lot of scar tissue built up in the area right above the painful area. My prescription was to get “The Stick” and roll it out and ice it regularly. He also showed me a stretch for that area.
Since I never used the foam roller I bought last year, I thought I’d add that to my routine. I also got back on my core exercises and added some leg exercises to strengthen my hip abductors. This had helped my hip problems last year, so I figured I’d do anything to prevent this problem from getting any worse.
I also did some research and my pain was probably caused by tendinitis in that area.
So, fast forward a little and the pain is getting worse and spreading up my leg to my hip, despite the leg exercises intended to prevent it.
I began aggressively rolling and icing EVERY part of both legs, kept up the core workouts, iced and took ibuprofen on a regular basis. I think it’s keeping it in check, but I need to find out what’s causing or aggravating it so I can cure it while I train for the marathon. I decided to hire a friend of mine to coach me on my running technique. If that doesn’t help, I’ll go see either the sports massage folks that come to the track (I mean their office…and pay for treatment) or possibly a sports medicine specialist.
It’s exactly 4 months to Nike Women’s Marathon. I need to figure this out fast.