Recently, completer of 14 marathons and our uncle, Steve Jaros wrote an article entitled, “How to Cure Runner’s Knee.” We asked him to write this article because after running my first half-marathon, my knee’s were killing me. I knew that I would have to do something to insure that a similar situation didn’t arise again in the future.
I want to highlight the tips that he recommended so that it will help to reinforce myself in becoming a more intelligent and less likely to be injured runner. Uncle Steve says that any injury below the waste can be contributed to wearing the wrong shoes, which I find fascinating. If that’s the case then I definitely need to get me some new shoes.
Increases in distances and pacing should be methodically planned out and that their is no need to push yourself in training as over-enthusiasm often leads to injury. I can definitely say that I was not ready to run the half-marathon. He also says it takes over 6 months to prepare for a marathon, I can say that I won’t be properly prepared for that either. Unfortunately, my brother and I became “over-enthusiastic” and know we’ll probably be hurting as a result of it.
The substance you run on does have an impact on your body. According to Uncle Steve dirt paths and grass parks are better than macadam and macadam is better than concrete.
Other good ideas would be to check leg-length discrepancies with a chiropracter; doing leg work-outs at appropriate intervals between slow-long distance workouts and speed workouts; checking your heart rate every morning (if your heart rate jumps significantly it’s a good indicator that you’re training too hard); and use ice and advil anytime you feel even the slightest pain in your body.
Thank you Uncle Steve Jaros for your tips on how to cure runner’s knee. I need to do everything I can to make sure that my knees will be ready to complete our first marathon . . . in just 24 days.
