Training Tips #1) Inside Knee Pain w/ Guest, Scott and Group Speed Work!

Q&A on Inner Knee Pain
Out of all the people I know (and some I don't) that follow my fun little Tour De US on here, some of them actually ask me advice on running/training/injury prevention etc. Of those people there are a few that actually listen and even then there are a fewer people that I actually manage to help. I'm not a Dr. but I've been running long enough to see-- sadly in some cases firsthand-- what causes injuries, what prevents them and how to treat them.


Scott in front of the Wall 'o' Bibs


Question: Meet Scott! Scott sits next to me at work and is a novice runner. He and his wife have started the couch to 5K program and have added the extra strength conditioning benefit of bringing their son in his jogger along for the ride! Scott came to me a few weeks ago and asked if I knew anything about knee pain... specifically on the inner part of his knee. Although I haven't had any serious knee injury (knock on wood), I could tell that there isn't much there, and it's a difficult place to injure unless you're doing some sort of lateral movement (usually in running, you're not!). At the time he was icing and didn't enjoy that part of training at all. The only thing I could think of was that Scott was somehow forcing a lateral movement or a stability muscle to do more than it needed-- by running only on 1 side of the road. When you run only on the the one side when a road is naturally arched, the outer foot needs to compensate for the road slanting downward. The knee will actually be used to pull in the foot and correct for the uncomfortable position.

Solution: I suggested either changing to running on 1 side out and the other side back (so both knees would do a little work instead of all the damage done on 1-- or running in the middle of the road (as long as it's safe!). Also-- If you've seen the newest runners world, there is a tip on strengthening the knee. The knee is NOT an easy place to target strength train, but this exercise isn't too bad. They suggested doing half-squats on a forward slanted surface. You can use a slanted driveway, a slant board, or a bosu ball and put all your weight on one side. You should be facing with your toes downward (as if you're standing in high heels). Do half squats (not full-- or your knee will go past your toe!). Watch yourself in the mirror for good form. I believe they suggest doing a couple sets of 10-15 reps.

Injury Status: Scott has been running in the middle of the road and no longer feels that inner knee pain! He has been ice-free for 2 weeks! Good job Scott!

Speed Work with Coach Bob!


Mojo Running... Next week I'll get a pic of the group

 Last week I decided I needed something to change up my routine. I had 3 weeks off b/t marathons (crazy, I know) and I wanted to get some extra hard speed work in. I decided to contact one of the running stores near my work... Mojo Running! I went here for my trail sneakers before the 50 miler and found out they had a running group. This group meets on Tuesday nights and we have the option to go for a group run or to do speed work with Coach Bob on the track. Coach Bob is a local HS XC coach and seems to very much know what he's doing... I could tell when I was pretty sure I died after last nights work out. 

Coach Bob likes to encourage consistency in your speed work-- keeping a consistent pace over many intervals, rather than running all out for 1 then dying on the rest. Last nights workout looked like this...

Warm up ~1mile (running to the track, then 2 laps)
2 x 200 @ 70-80%
2 x 400 @ 80%
2 x 800 @ 80-90%
2 x 400 @ 80%
2 x 200 @ 80% to all out
Cool down ~1mile

When I saw that workout on the board I thought "ah that's not too bad"-- yeah until you have VERY speedy speedsters dashing off in front of you and you are sucking wind to keep up! By the last 200m of the 2nd 800 my legs were SHAKING and I just had to hope they didn't fall apart. I tried to keep my 400's and 800's at a 6 min/mile pace and was pretty successful. For the 200's... I tried to keep them under 40 seconds with my last one around 32? Nutso!

For speedwork I've been doing Yasso 800's or Mile repeats and keeping my pace around 6:50-7:20 min/mile, but I'm hoping this extra fast speedwork (albeit with less mileage) will help me push my pace! I have the mileage in, now I need to work on the turnover and not sucking wind.

Upcoming Races: Omaha Marathon next weekend, then 1 week off, followed by 4 weeks in a row! 5 States in 6 weeks... eesh, good thing I had this break!!!

Happy Running!
Stephanie
"Run to Win" - Meb