aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now it happened! I’m injured. At pretty much the worst time in this whole project!
I’m totally annoyed and frustrated! I mean here I am, doing all the right things and doing so great all these months and now, less than two weeks before the event my knee is hurting :-(

I first felt pain in my right knee towards the end of my long run last Saturday. And, honestly, this was the first time since I started training that I felt any pain beyond muscle soreness. The pain is on the outside of the knee about 2cm under the knee cap. It only hurts when I’m running or walking steeply downhill. When I’m walking normally, it feels a bit tense but no real pain (I think it’s mostly me knowing something is wrong that makes me think I feel something when I’m walking). I’ve done a bit of online research and I guess I have what they call the ‘famous runners knee’. Apparently it’s quite common among people who train for a long distance run for the first time. It’s nothing too serious but it is kind of painful.

The big question is what to do know? I’ve no idea if I should stop running altogether or if I should maybe just go walking until the event. And what about my gym workouts? Should I stop doing any exercise that includes the knees? I really don’t want to do anything wrong so close to the event. I mean I can rest and do all the right things after the 31st of October but until then I need a quick fix to get me ready to do the half marathon.

So I talked to one of the instructors at that gym this morning and he suggested two things. Firstly, cool the knee as much as possible and secondly, go see a Physio. He said under normal circumstance he would just tell me to stop running for a week or two and see if it gets better but as I want to do the half marathon in 11 days it is better to be careful now and get professional advice while there still is a little bit of time to do something. I have an appointment with a Physio on Friday and until then will just not do any workout at all, just to be on the safe side. My gym trainer also told me that I should be fine during the race even if I don’t run at all anymore from now until the event as I have been training so consistently over the past month. It is better to train less in the next 11 days and make sure I’m fit on event day. None of the training I will do in the next 11 days will really improve my marathon performance anyway. It’s sort of like “what I haven’t achieved by now I won’t achieve in time for the event anyway”.

OK, I will give you an update after the Physio on Friday. Keep your fingers crossed that everything will work out and I can do my half marathon without too much pain.