Let's Plank!

I've become a running cliche. While training for a 50K run in May I have hurt my knee.

Big surprise, right? Running 75K plus each week may hurt. Funny thing was for the most part it didn't. I damaged my knee on a slippery run. Mud and ice on the trails mixed and I found myself sliding out sideways multiple times. By the end of the run that was that, my knee hurt. The rest of me felt great.

What really surprises me though is that it has been two weeks, one x-ray, one ultrasound, four musculoskeletal treatments and I still don't actually know what the problem is. I am still waiting on an MRI appointment, which I'm sure will shed light on the problem, but what do I do until then?

I am swimming, walking and biking. Sometimes I still get knee twinges, but for the most part these activities help keep me in shape. Enough for a 50k race remains to be seen. I suspect I may not be able to finish the full ultra, but I will stop myself from worrying about it until closer to the date when I know more about how my knee is recovering.

In the meantime, the knee hurts on the outside, slightly below my kneecap. This could be a number of things. IT band comes up immediately, but is probably not the reason in this case. My doctor suspects a torn meniscus, which I am hoping it is not as that seems more serious than my other ideas. A torn meniscus involves surgery and I'm worried it would mean future arthritis as well. Lastly, and I think probably the most likely, is a strained Lateral Collateral Ligament. At the moment the treatment for all of these is rest, ice, Advil and bracing/taping. So I guess I'm good for now.

What I've found during this experience is that everyone except runners seems to think running is bad for your knees. I just finished a book called, "Anatomy for Runners" by Jay Dicharry, and in his book, he says that yes, running 50 marathons a year probably is not good for your knees, but he also says, "Evidence suggests that some activity (running) is better for joint surfaces that no activity (not running.)" and "Mild to moderate running volume appears to be a healthy stimulus for the long-term maintenance of cartilage." His idea is that running itself does not cause injuries, it is the lack of strength training, balance and support for your joints that causes problems.

Many of the exercises he mentions are good for running are the ones that I do on a regular basis at bootcamp, so why am I hurt? I suspect I have to work on my hips, quads and glutes to help stabilize my knee. I am stronger on my right than left and my left is what is hurt, so that makes sense to me. Squats, here I come. I am also using a weight machine for my quads and hamstrings. And beyond that, I'll just wait and see.