Thanks Everyone — For all the advise and tips regarding core strengthening and knee and leg problems. Thank goodness Saturday I did my last long slow walk, covering 20 miles in 6 hours.
I was breathing fairly well , but once again was plagued with leg and knee pain from mile 8 which really slowed me down. Next week I have a 12 miler followed by a 10 miler the week after that. Then it’s two weeks of NO WALKING (over 4 miles) before the race. Knee Problems — After doing my 20 miler, my left leg and knee was killing me . I could barely walk without a limp. Immediately after that walk, a good friend ( and a USA Track& Field coach) was kind enough to examine it for me. He thinks it’s a pronation or muscle imbalance problem.
It appears to have something to do with the way I’m landing on that foot. I seem to be landing on the outer edge instead of directly on the center of the heel, which in turn, is putting too much stress on the muscles that allow you to turn your foot downward and side to side. I’ve never had this problem before. The only thing that I’ve doing a little different lately, is that I’ve been incorporating more and more racewalking form into my longer walks. Maybe that’s culprit? I have to have Dave Mc Govern analyze my gait to see what Im doing wrong. Ironically it’s my painful leg ( my left leg) that has good form on video ( the knee stays locked through the landing phase). It’s right leg that I have bad form on ( knees bending prematurely) , but I have no pain in that leg!! … weird
My biggest concern now, is whether or not I should I continue on with my marathon plans? The Portland marathon is less than 4 weeks away. Will I make things worse by walking 26 miles on it? I can tolerate the pain, I just don’t want to cause permanent damage
Last year it was calf cramps, this year its knee problems. What will it be next year?
College Football Frenzy Am I the only person on the planet who is not a College football fanatic?
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Steve, I’m starting to catch up on blogs and its so GOOD to see all those greenlight graphics in post after post. Happy days!
Oh, this thing with the knee is a real dilemma. I know exactly what you mean: it’s not so much the pain that bothers you as the fact that it’s there for a reason.
No, you’re not the only one on the planet who is not a college football fanatic. I could not care less.
It’s a tough call. If it’s in pain, I would definitely not try to walk on it. Pushing through the pain come race day is not going to make for a pleasant experience. Although there isn’t a lot of time left, you might want to try fixing the muscle imbalance if that’s at all possible to take some stree off of the knee.
I am NOT a football fan, and I live in the land of the Cornhuskers..not only do I live in the same town as the team, I go to the same University. I think if anyone outside my family found out about that I’d be hanged…
As I told my grandfather the other day, I’d rather watch the XC team then the football team. 🙂 Actually, I might just go and watch them next weekend at their meet.
Have you tried some length strengthing exercises for the knee? I had some knee issues in May and started doing some striaght leg lifts w/ ankle weights and another that focused on the inner quad muscle. It really helped out a lot!
Brittney
Good luck with the knee issues. It’s a tough call. Just listen to your body and if it tells you to quit – then do it! Who knows, maybe the tapering will take care of it.