I'm getting ready for my goal race in three weeks. I've been training through a minor knee injury for the last month. I got all my key workouts in, but had to take a couple extra days off after the hardest days because my knee was really stiff and painful.
If I take three days off to try and heal up, what impact will this make on my fitness? What about 5 days? A week? This is an important race for me and I still want to try and reach my A goals.
Take my advice and stop- I was recently running through my left knee full cartilage defect ( got to 20 mile long run at 6:30 per mile despite limping) and now my right hip is so injured I can barely walk. Problem with running through injury is it leads to another injury
I probably won't take my own advice and will start running again when my right hip is better, (left knee pain will never go away) but maybe you have more sense than myself
Stopping a week shouldn't affect your fitness level much. You just start your taper earlier.
Your longest runs are behind you. The hay is in the barn. Don't try to squeeze your missed workouts into the last 2 weeks !
Rest up.
Nothing you do running-wise in the last 2-3 weeks is going to *help* your marathon significantly, but you can certainly *hurt* your marathon during this time by aggravating your knee problem.
Some of my best races have come after taking time off in the last 2-3 weeks before a half/full.
You are not going to lose any fitness if you stop running for a week. Your legs will thank you on marathon day.
Reality is real wrote:
You are not going to lose any fitness if you stop running for a week. Your legs will thank you on marathon day.
this is BS
Ken' wrote:
Reality is real wrote:
You are not going to lose any fitness if you stop running for a week. Your legs will thank you on marathon day.
this is BS
No, it isn't.
The injury should be your biggest concern, if it heals in a week and you can get some rhythm back the last two weeks you should be fine. If it lingers and turns into three weeks mostly off you are in trouble. Take 5 days to a week off and try to cross train.
