Exercises to speed knee recovery (Read 1245 times)

It sounds like being in too big a hurry is what caused the injury in the first place. I wouldn't do a thing to "speed knee recovery". It will recover when it is ready in its own time. Exercises outside of running probably set up the knee by irritating it. Walking until you no longer have any discomfort or pain is all you should be doing until this problem goes away which it probably will if you do not injure it again trying to hasten a recovery that your body knows it should delay.

The human body is a marvelous instrument. It knows when something is wrong and an injury will occur in order to correct the "imbalances" that are assaulting the physiological systems. Forcing a period of rest and reflection is just as much a part of "training" as any training plan we might devise. You can use the period to read about your chosen sport and the training methods that are employed early in one's life. You cannot model your training after already accomplished athlete's training regimen and there are no short cuts . Weights can be used but if you are young, more in the way of general fitness and not specific to any sport. You need to build a significant level of fitness before employing weights specific to a sport and you have to know what you are doing. Otherwise, stick with the basics and just use weights to help obtain a level of overall fitness. It works well when the weather is not good for running.

There are World Class Marathoners that have set course records that stood unchallenged for decades and those Marathoners never touched weights or did weight training. They also trained for much much more than a few years to achieve their goals.

I hope your knee problem improves and you are left with no further difficulties. I suggest that weights are not what you want to be doing specific to a particular sport until you have achieved all the fitness and conditioning you can through ordinary training methods first. If you use weights for overall fitness, you should generally consider a weight workout as a "hard" day and make appropriate stress reductions elsewhere in your overall program.

Good luck Dave.

There is an old book out there: "Serious Runner's Handbook" by Tom Osler. Its a bit dated but Tom was a very dedicated and inspired runner (and college level instructor) from upstate New York and he wrote a book to help people starting off with decent, experienced training advice. He began running years before it became "popular" and long before Jim Fixx's book "Running". Of course things have moved forward, but everyone has to start at the basics in the beginning and that aspect of training has not changed. Tom's book is an easy read, covering long distance as well as the 100,200,400 800 and the Mile. He tells you how to sharpen your ability for a particular race: when to start, what to do, how to do it. Good stuff. It will help. You have the enthusiasm. I hope you find your path.

I did notice that your original post was many weeks ago and I am relieved and happy that everything is coming back to you now. I did read that you had seen a professional and it appears that you followed his advice rather well and are on the way back. Great! Your enthusiasm is obvious and I hope you continue to be patient and careful. You will have better results long term is you are conservative with your training but determined to continue.

Do keep in mind that you should NEVER run all out in practice...it cannot be done without a certain amount of strain and stress that can cause or set the stage for injury, ruining your ability to continue training.

Something that has worked well for me in the past when recovering from injury is to alternate walking with running. I would start off walking for 10 minutes as a warmup at an easy 3.75 mph pace (16 minute miles) and then switch to running no faster than twice that or 7.5 mph pace (8 minute mile) and then back to walking again. For me I found that the walking session at 3 minutes long kept my heart rate up just enough that the transition back and forth between walking and running felt seamless. After two weeks, when feeling particularly good, I would then increase the running from 3 minutes to 4, 5, 6, 7 or even 8 minutes (a mile long) before going back to the walking recovery phase. I have continued this pattern, varying it as my mood and energy level moves me and have continued it for 2 hours, sometimes longer. Alternating in this way makes a 2 hour workout at least 11+ miles long. That may be above your current level but the method is a decent and safe method to employ when you take into account your current mileage level. A two hours "recovery workout" is appropriate for someone putting in around 80-100 miles per week and working their way back into their training.

It works particularly well on hot and humid days when straight running can be overly stressful and actually harmful to your health. Tom Osler, in his book , said "Running in the sun on a hot day is like getting hit repeatedly with a stick. No matter how many times you do it, you will never adapt to that stick".

In June of 1967 the US National Championship and Pan American Games Trial was held in Holyoke Mass. on an unusually hot day when the temperature reached 100F. The marathon started at 12 noon and the conditions were so bad that only two people continued to the finish line and everyone else had dropped out before 20 miles were completed. I believe 62 people were taken by ambulance to the hospital and the area was awash with people suffering from heat stroke in varying degrees. There is no question that if many of those people who dropped out had tried to continue, some of them would have died. It never worth an injury or harming your health to continue in a race. Wise men drop out. Fortunately, there were a lot of wise men present that day!

Here is a mathematical progression: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144,233,377,610,987,1597. Take the first number, add the second to get the third: 1+1=2 Then add the second and third to get the fourth: 1+2=3

Continue doing it and you get the entire sequence. This sequence repeats itself in nature in plants and animals. You can see it in the way a flower spirals outward, or a conch or sea shell grows in size. You can see the sequence in the shell of the Nautilus and it is from that shell that a famous weight training system takes its name. The importance of this sequence and having some knowledge of how nature works is that you cannot go far wrong by following nature's rules. Exceed them and you will likely suffer. Stay within them and you will develop.  Although you may develop slower than you would like, the development will be rock solid, Ground hard won through good training has staying power and is not easily lost.

Here is a Long Distance 7 day training sequence based upon the above sequence. It is a very hard sequence to maintain and nearly impossible to continue if you are not ready at the point where you start. But it wastes no time and, with good nutrition, rest and some luck you can become a serious marathoner within two years. Whenever you need a rest badly, or the weather or personal matters get in the way, you wait a day and then get right back to the sequence with the run that you should have run. It doesn't matter if you take longer (and wise if you do so before you suffer injury or staleness). Also, if Thursday's workout at the higher mileage is too hard, just repeat Wednesday's distance. But do not add a mile for next week....you have to repeat the sequence for a week again anytime you have bailed out of the sequence, and that is OK to do, and it is recommended that you follow your body's instincts.

Sun 3 miles, Mon 2 miles, Tue 5 miles, Wed 3 miles, Thu 5 miles, Fri 2 miles, Sat 8 miles   3,2,5,3,5,2,8 =28 mi.

The 2 mile days are where we were, the 3 mile days are where we are, the 5 mile days are where we are training to get to, and the very long, very easy, walk-run 8 mile day is to stimulate our body in a safe way to prepare for the work yet to come and to get us used to being on our feet for a long time.

You increase your mileage by just 1 mile each week. You take 17 weeks to reach 45 miles, and then another 28 weeks (7 months!) to reach 73 miles, and then 45 weeks (10.5 months) to reach 118 miles. You don't need to work on speed...you'll become naturally faster due to sheer muscle size, fitness level and weight loss. Sharpening training is not done unless there is a specific event you wish to compete in.

5,3,8,5,8,3,13 = 45   8,5,13,8,13,5,21 = 73   13,8,21,13,21,8,34 = 118   It is difficult to do the 73 mile sequence while working full time. The 118 mile sequence requires a full time dedication. Many runners break up the longer days into two runs a day around 70+ miles a week or when the run exceeds 2 hours in length.

Don't know what your goals are, but I took a chance.

Also, easy walking is a great recovery tool and bicycling works the legs and upper body very well without pounding your feet, knees and hips. It will also make you faster. I suggest you learn to run so that your feet lightly kiss the ground. It will save your shoes, feet, ankles, knees, and hips, but your back, arms and neck will feel a different effort from bicycling and get sore at first. Bicycling is a great sport too!