Injury?

Well I guess I've been pushing it harder recently with the training but just towards the end of 20 miles yesterday I could feel my left knee starting to go. When I got up this morning to run in it was cold and my ITB felt like it was drawn tight as a rubber band over the outside of my knee. I have had 'runners knee' regularly in the past. The fact is I have ended up putting most of my longer runs together on concrete this past 6-8 weeks rather than sticking to trails. I guess that's part of the problem living in a city.

This past 7 days I've put in around 80 miles and the week before that 75. That was a alight increase from late November - mid December where I averaged around 65 miles per week (lowest 58, highest 84). I don't feel overly tired and the average pace of my long runs has increased significantly as I start to cope with longer sessions better with increased fitness. In the past I would happily run 20 - 25 milers in 4 hours plus whereas this past week I ran 23 miles in 3:02 and 20 miles in 2:32 a few days later, averaging 7:30 miles. It's nothing spectacular but i'll take the improvement and consistency in running longer. That is way more important to me in training for a 100 rather than speedwork.

Having a great base on which I was planning to build will count for nothing if my knee blows up. I will see the physio tomorrow and keep applying ice to the inflamed ITB. Boring story I guess but useful for me to look back on as another hard earned lesson not to train on the roads as much as I have been.

An old classic but always worth a view to remind where your limit really lies.

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