Knee Pain: Can You Run a 5k over WDW Marathon Weekend?
Embarking on the journey of training for the WDW Marathon Weekend's 5K event is an exciting journey, but it can be especially daunting if you've experienced knee pain or injuries in the past. Training after a knee injury requires a strategic approach, one that takes your specific condition into account and tailors the training to your needs. You're not alone on this journey, and in this blog post, I’ll dive into the important aspects of training effectively while managing knee pain. Whether you're running or doing the run walk method, understanding how to navigate your training with knee pain will set you up for success and help you conquer the 5K over WDW Marathon Weekend.
In this article:
Training when you’ve had any kind of injury, especially knee pain, needs to be specific, planned and tailored to your knee(s).
You need to start at the exact running distance your knee can tolerate without flaring up again. And this doesn’t mean guessing how far you can run and hoping for the best… you need to test it before you run. More on that in your 1st 2 weeks of training.
Once you know your starting distance you need to increase your distance incrementally each week and then taper at specific intervals to allow your knee to adjust without overdoing it.
While you’re working on the actual running (or run/walking if you’re using the run walk method for training with knee pain) you also need to balance out your training with cross training, strength, stretching, rest and recovery, and use the right equipment like shoes and fuel and hydrate the right way.
Learn more about balancing it all below.
Is it safe to run with knee pain?
Yes and no. Only you with the guidance of a professional can decide if you should be running.
It’s not a blanket statement “no you can’t run with knee pain”, it depends.
How to know if you should run with knee pain:
Questions I ask my clients on our free introductory calls to help them decide if they should be running are:
When does the pain come on?
Can you walk any distance without pain (or with very low levels of pain?)
Can you run any distance without pain (or with very low levels of pain)?
What makes the pain better?
What makes the pain worse?
Are there other activities that make it feel bad?
Are there other activities you do that don’t bug it?
Does the pain go away after you’ve been moving around awhile?
Does the pain get worse as you’re going?
These are just a few questions that we go over to help decide. Some of the most important questions are about can you walk/run/do activity at any distance without pain, or with low levels of pain?
How much is too much knee pain with running?
And when I say low levels of pain I mean under a 4/10 on the 0-10 scale. If you start at a 0, meaning you have no pain at rest, and you get some discomfort that’s rated 4/10 or lower and you feel like that’s tolerable then keep going.
If you start at a pain level under 4/10, and your pain increases by 2 points on that pain scale and that feels tolerable to you then keep going.
But, I am going to stress this: it’s all up to you. You get to decide what’s tolerable.
I take those numbers from my experience in the physical therapy clinic and listening to hundreds of people talk about their orthopedic injuries and basing how their injuries progressed (or regressed) based on how hard they pushed it. Don’t take them as hard and fast rules. Use your best judgment to decide what’s tolerable for you.
How do you keep running when you have knee pain?
Keeping up with running when you have a pain or injury is all about starting off on the right foot and keeping things balanced from there. This means figuring out exactly how far your pain or injury can tolerate walking and running. There is a specific test I guide my clients through, I call it the Living Room Test, because you do it right in your living room (or any room really) before you ever start running. That test gives you the exact mileage to run even when you have a pain or have been injured.
Once you know your test results you get to go out and run. When you’re out there listen to your body and if you feel good complete the whole distance, if you don’t, then don’t.
But, even if you feel good don’t go past the exact distance laid out in the Living Room Test. That’s important because that’s the distance that your injury told you was the top distance. If you go past that, even if you feel good, it sets you up for failure. Maybe not failure today… but that injury and pain is going to catch up to you.
See, running injuries from overtraining, the kind that come on without a specific accident or incident that you can remember, they don’t come on from any 1 run. They build up over time until it’s the straw that broke the camel’s back and it’s just too much.
OK. So now that the test and first run is complete… great job! Give yourself a pat on the back. Now let’s look at balancing the rest of it so you don’t go overboard.
A balanced training plan includes increasing distance gradually and tapering here and there so your body can adjust. A balanced training plan also includes a balance of cross training, strength training, stretching, proper fueling and hydrating, proper equipment, recovery and rest when needed.
To help my clients easily see how their plan is balanced I write out the STRESD system for them. This is a framework I created to show how the different parts of the plan work together to balance each other out.
Strength + Training = Recovery + Equipment + Stretching + Diet
Strength and Training both add pressure/stress/work to your body. These are good things. You need them to get better. But, if there’s too much of them you overwork your body and this pain you have is created.
The other side of the equation helps balance out the stress of the strength and training side. Recovery techniques help calm down soreness and literally help your body recover. Equipment like using shoes that fit and aren’t too worn out help support your body. Stretching decreases post workout soreness and diet (fueling and hydration) help build strength and endurance so you get stronger, help minor injuries heal before they get out of hand and help you not feel so worn down.
It all needs to balance out because too much ST and not enough RESD you overwork your body and get hurt. Too little ST and too much of the RESD you won’t work your body enough and won’t get any results.
Keep reading for details about all that specific to your knee pain so you can keep running.
When should you start training for WDW Marathon Weekend 5k if you have knee pain?
When you’re coming back from injury you want to give yourself plenty of time to ease back into running and progress the right way so you can hit the distance without overdoing it. Marathon Weekend 5k is January 4, 2024.
So training should begin around October 1, 2023.
This recommendation is based on someone starting from absolute 0, and if you’re having knee pain when you run you need to start at absolute zero. This isn’t something you can rush because if you do rush it and try and get the mileage in too soon you risk making your pain worse, getting hurt worse, causing a new injury and having to miss out on the race that you’ve already paid for.
Strength exercises for runners with knee pain
Strength as you know is super important to your overall health, but definitely your running health. You need strong muscles, ligaments and bones to keep moving forward.
The biggest mistake I see people making when they’re running with knee pain is that they look for strength exercises to give them stronger knees (quads). And this doesn’t work because your knees are on fire because they’re working too hard.
And adding strength exercises to them is giving them even more work to do. To check if you have a knee problem from weak knees it takes some digging and I recommend getting evaluated by a physical therapist. But, for a quick note, things I’d look for in the clinic was getting an idea of how much work can the quads take and have clients do supine SLR while keeping the knee locked straight, doing squats and/or single leg step up/down on a step.
The key for really determining if there is a strength problem, you have to be able to do all of these without pain, if you stop because of pain that doesn’t mean the weakness is causing the pain because we never got to the strength part. It just means that right now you can’t perform the test because of pain, it doesn’t give an indication of strength. Yet.
So instead, focus on a strength routine to work on the whole body in general. If your knees hurt because they’re overworking you need to get the rest of the body stronger so your knees don’t have to pick up the slack from other places.
Your plan should include 2-3 strength training days. These can be on your run walk days, or cross training days. I do recommend avoiding strength on rest days.
Training plans for runners with knee pain
When it comes to running with shin splints you’ll want to focus on a training plan that incorporates cross training, running (and walking if you’re doing the run walk method) and rest days.
Cross training should be 30 minutes of activity that makes your heart beat faster and is different from running (or run walk intervals if you’re doing run walk method).
This includes:
swimming,
riding a bike,
elliptical,
row machine,
ice skating, and
walking (if you’re not doing the run walk method).
Running should be 3 days a week for a 5k training plan, and it should start at the exact amount you can run without flaring up your knee pain. To learn how to know exactly how far your first run should be check out my free PDF Your 1st Two Weeks.
If you’re doing the run walk method, which 80% of my clients use the run walk method, you can keep your training up by adding walking as part of your run-day training plan. Make sure your walking distance is the exact distance you know doesn’t flare up your knee pain.
In total your training plan should include 2 cross training days, 3 run walk days, 2 rest days.
Recovery and rest needed for knee pain in runners
As I mentioned above, rest and recovery are important. Your training plan should include 2 rest days when training for a 5k.
These rest days should be recovery rest: this means no cross training, no running, no speed walking, no strength exercises.
You can include stretching and recovery techniques like
massage,
massage gun,
foam rolling and
hot epsom salt baths.
Rest days are built into training plans to allow your body to recover and heal from the work it did in the past 7 days.
Equipment needed for runners with knee pain
Most people get into running because there’s very little equipment needed. This is true, though some equipment is still needed.
Things like shoes, clothing, socks, foam rollers, massage guns, epsom salts, ice and heat packs are some just to name a few. You want to make sure the items you’re using are good quality and are what you need.
The biggest mistake with regard to equipment I see runners make is they blame their shoes and then spend so much money and time on getting the perfect shoes. It’s very rare that shoes are the culprit for runner’s knee pain, instead the cause of knee pain is overtraining… doing too much too fast.
Of course there are many types of knee pain, this blog post you’re reading is about general achey knees, maybe has the occasional sharp pain, and it’s in the general knee. This type of knee pain is an overuse injury where the muscles get inflamed and have some microtearing. Shoes can’t cause that.
Can shoes be uncomfortable or the wrong ones for you in general? Yes. But they aren’t the cause of knee pain.
So before you go and buy a new fancy and expensive pair of shoes look at your training plan, especially where you started.
If you picked a running distance for your first run based on anything but an exact test I urge you to download the free PDF Your 1st Two Weeks… I walk you through how to choose how far to run the first time with a specific test.
Stretching for knee pain in runners
Stretching is so important, especially if you’re battling knee pain when you run.
Though, a big mistake I see people make is focusing on stretching their quads and hamstrings muscles and not making progress. Although your knees feel tight and sore, stretching them more won’t help get rid of the pain for good.
To get rid of the pain for good you need to go back and look at your training plan because doing too much too soon caused your knee pain. If you chose your first distance in running based off anything except a specific test then you need to go back and test your knee tolerance with the Living Room Test.
But, when it comes to stretching to decrease soreness and improve mobility incorporate a well rounded stretching routine that hits all the major muscle groups.
That way everything moves well and you don’t compensate in any one area for the other areas.
If you’re already stretching regularly for at least 15 seconds each repetition, make sure you’re doing 2 repetitions. And you’re doing 2 reps for 15 seconds each move up to 2 reps for 30 seconds each.
If you’re brand new to stretching, aim for 1-2 reps of 15 seconds. Always stretch all major muscle groups: upper and lower body.
Fueling for runners with knee pain
When it comes to fueling I’m talking about what you eat and drink specific to your knee pain needs. Yes you can eat a right way and a wrong way for your injury. Knee pain in runners from overtraining is a muscle injury and when muscles are injured, or any part of your body is injured, you need more protein to build up the strength. Incorporating more protein in your diet will help the building blocks of muscle. And you also need to hold off on foods that cause or contribute to inflammation. These types of foods are processed foods and those that have a lot of sugar in them. Taking in food, and beverages, that keep you inflamed keep your pain from lingering for longer.
Training for the WDW Marathon Weekend 5K with knee pain might seem like a challenge, but with the right knowledge and strategies, you're more than capable of crossing that finish line. Remember, it's not about simply running through the pain; it's about understanding your body, respecting its limits, and gradually pushing those limits while fostering a balanced approach to training. By incorporating the Living Room Test, gradual progression, cross-training, strength exercises, rest, nutrition and everything in between, you're well on your way to crossing that finish line with a smile on your face and ready to go get a Dole Whip.
Video coming soon
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