Half marathon 6th January - knee injury!

bxboards

Hi

I've got a half marathon on 6th January - to say I'm under prepared in an understatement as I entered it fairly randomly as it's been on my bucket list for a while, and I'm not getting any younger.

Here is the thing, back in November, I did something nasty to my knee, not sure what but going down stairs was / is painful, as was walking down hills (I do a lot of walking down hills here, as I'm in the Lake District)

Now since then, I've been cycling to keep my fitness levels up, often 2 hour rides+ with plenty of hills. The knee seems to be recovering nicely, but I dare not test it on a run in case it goes again, so 6th January will be the first run in about a month and it's a distance I've not done before (usually I do 3 to 6 miles once or twice a week)

Has anyone else done a long-ish run after a layoff, keeping fit cross training and did it work out?

TIA

FestiveJoy

bxboards wrote: »

Hi

I've got a half marathon on 6th January - to say I'm under prepared in an understatement as I entered it fairly randomly as it's been on my bucket list for a while, and I'm not getting any younger.

Here is the thing, back in November, I did something nasty to my knee, not sure what but going down stairs was / is painful, as was walking down hills (I do a lot of walking down hills here, as I'm in the Lake District)

Now since then, I've been cycling to keep my fitness levels up, often 2 hour rides+ with plenty of hills. The knee seems to be recovering nicely, but I dare not test it on a run in case it goes again, so 6th January will be the first run in about a month and it's a distance I've not done before (usually I do 3 to 6 miles once or twice a week)

Has anyone else done a long-ish run after a layoff, keeping fit cross training and did it work out?

TIA

You are, to use your own words "not getting any younger"

You have not run for the last 2 months.
The most you previously ran was 6 miles

And you plan to run a half marathan in a week's time, where you plan to also see for the first time if the knee you have damaged has recovered.


I'm sure you'll be fine...:cool:


:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmassign:

trailingspouse

Don't do it.

You don't even know what you've done to your knee!! You could do yourself a LOT of damage.



Get to a doctor, get it checked out, do what the doc/physio tells you to do (and I'm betting they won't say 'Make sure you do a half marathon on 6th January.')

chucknorris

bxboards wrote: »

Hi

I've got a half marathon on 6th January - to say I'm under prepared in an understatement as I entered it fairly randomly as it's been on my bucket list for a while, and I'm not getting any younger.

Here is the thing, back in November, I did something nasty to my knee, not sure what but going down stairs was / is painful, as was walking down hills (I do a lot of walking down hills here, as I'm in the Lake District)

Now since then, I've been cycling to keep my fitness levels up, often 2 hour rides+ with plenty of hills. The knee seems to be recovering nicely, but I dare not test it on a run in case it goes again, so 6th January will be the first run in about a month and it's a distance I've not done before (usually I do 3 to 6 miles once or twice a week)

Has anyone else done a long-ish run after a layoff, keeping fit cross training and did it work out?

TIA

You are ridiculously under prepared, don't do the race, see your doctor and most likely he will refer you to a physiotherapist.

But to answer your question, I had to stop running for 9 months, in fact, I had given up and switched to cycling, but some friends at work got me into doing park runs. Based on my previous runs, I expected to do the 5k in about 27 mins (I'm 61 years old in a few weeks), but when I saw the course (Mole Valley) and I realised how hilly it was, I revised that to 28 mins. But I ran it in 26.41, and I quickly improved to 25.10, then when I ran on a flatter course I did it in 23.57. I didn't realise how well the cross training had prepared me (cycling, hiking, body pump and conditioning gym classes as well as weight training) for running.

I'm thinking about doing a half marathon in the Summer, but I will build up to about 15 miles for my weekly long run before attempting the half marathon. My long run is currently only about 6.75 miles, I'll find out later today because my GPS watch has just been delivered, so now I can measure distances more accurately.

Barny1979

Are you able to defer your entry until 2020? Short notice probably.

Sibz

If you can't go down stairs without discomfort you can't/shouldn't be considering a half marathon next week - simples. - Postpone ticking off a half marathon until you've properly dealt with your injury.

It sounds like it could be cartilage - but as a previous poster said - go see a Dr or a physio. If it is a meniscal tear it's highly unlikely to resolve itself - especially when its persisted for at least a month already.

There are pretty straightforward exercises people can do to strengthen the muscles around the knee that support the joint (both for rehab and prehab). But go get it checked out...

bxboards

Thanks everyone - yes, I'm pretty sure running it will be a bit silly!

I cycled over Whinlatter Pass (mountain pass here in the Lake District) a day or so back on a 28 mile cycle and can still feel the knee.

It's really frustrating as although this isn't as distance I've run before I'm confident I could finish from a fitness point of view if it wasn't for the knee acting up.

bxboards

chucknorris wrote: »

You are ridiculously under prepared, don't do the race, see your doctor and most likely he will refer you to a physiotherapist.

But to answer your question, I had to stop running for 9 months, in fact, I had given up and switched to cycling, but some friends at work got me into doing park runs. Based on my previous runs, I expected to do the 5k in about 27 mins (I'm 61 years old in a few weeks), but when I saw the course (Mole Valley) and I realised how hilly it was, I revised that to 28 mins. But I ran it in 26.41, and I quickly improved to 25.10, then when I ran on a flatter course I did it in 23.57. I didn't realise how well the cross training had prepared me (cycling, hiking, body pump and conditioning gym classes as well as weight training) for running.

I'm thinking about doing a half marathon in the Summer, but I will build up to about 15 miles for my weekly long run before attempting the half marathon. My long run is currently only about 6.75 miles, I'll find out later today because my GPS watch has just been delivered, so now I can measure distances more accurately.

Thanks a lot, thats really useful. My usual distance is / was about 5k most runs, but I had no problem stepping up to 10k (6 miles) or 8 miles on occasion if I fancied it - I reckon most of my fitness levels are from cycling and hiking (often cycling out to a trail head, doing a walk, then cycling home) - good to have some first hand experience of cross training benefits.

I use a GPS and started using a heart rate monitor, I often had a tenancy to go flat out on all my runs, which probably didn't help the knees - I tried a couple of long (for me!) runs pre-knee issue keeping the heart rate low and that seems to help.

Good luck with your 1/2 in the summer :j

chucknorris

bxboards wrote: »

Thanks a lot, thats really useful. My usual distance is / was about 5k most runs, but I had no problem stepping up to 10k (6 miles) or 8 miles on occasion if I fancied it - I reckon most of my fitness levels are from cycling and hiking (often cycling out to a trail head, doing a walk, then cycling home) - good to have some first hand experience of cross training benefits.

I use a GPS and started using a heart rate monitor, I often had a tenancy to go flat out on all my runs, which probably didn't help the knees - I tried a couple of long (for me!) runs pre-knee issue keeping the heart rate low and that seems to help.

Good luck with your 1/2 in the summer :j

I just bought a GPS watch, and I ran just over 10 km using it yesterday, I really like the info that it gives me. It wasn't that expensive, it was £75 on amazon, it was the Garmin forerunner 25. I wish that I had bought one years ago, I'll always have one now.

bxboards

So...yesterday I decided to see how the knee was, so I cycled out to the nearest fell, walked up it, and ran down, as it's descents where I feel it.

No knee problems during the run, and I'm not feeling it today either which is a better indicator, and can walk downstairs OK without issue.

Almost certainly will not run it, to be on the safe side but probably will decide for sure the day before....

trailingspouse

Well done - tough decision, but better than the alternative.

And - go to the doctor. Pretty please?