Hello I am a 51 year old male who has been running for 8 years mostly 5 and 10k races with my longest run being a half marathon. I get pain in one or both of my knees after runs of 8 miles or more. The pain is located in the front near the knee cap. It goes away in a few hours after some rest however. Any ideas?
Reply - Janet
Are you consistent with your strength and flexibility exercises?  If not - perhaps a bit of attention to tight calves and hamstings and quads or perhaps some strength work for your hips and lower back would be a good starting point.  Also - are your shoes old? You've been running a long time so I would expect that you've been pretty good about replacing them regularly but I thought it worth a mention.  Another thought - are you running your long run at the appropriate pace? If you run it at a pace that's a bit fast, perhaps that's pushing your limits a bit.  You might try ice on the knee - perhaps an ice pack for 10 minutes or so after you're done running will take the edge off?  Hope this is food for thought.  Janet Hamilton, MA, RCEP, CSCS, RRCA coaching instructor

I am a beginning runner, training since June for a marathon. We are up to 11 miles on a Saturday run. This past week was our step-back week and we ran only 7 miles. I was fine when I ran and also for a day afterwards. I woke up this morning and an inch above the right interior ankle is very very sore. I'm walking with a limp. What happened? I don't recall bumping my ankle.
Reply - Janet
Its impossible to know without seeing you in person but the diagnosis I'd want to rule out would be a stress fracture.  Is the pain highly localized? Does it hurt at rest as well as when you're walking on it?  If the answer to either of those is "yes" then I'd be concerned that you've sustained a stress fracture.  Depending on how many miles per week you were running before starting this training program in June, and how long you've been running - a stress fracture would be possible.  If you had a good solid base of at least a year of running and started the program at a base mileage of 25 miles a week or more - the stress fracture diagnosis would be much less likely.  Either way - you need to get to an orthopedist who can do some diagnostic imaging to figure out what's going on. A simple x-ray won't show a stress fracture at this point (they don't show up on x-ray until healing is well underway).  You'll need something like either a bone scan or an MRI to reveal it.  Get to a doc sooner rather than later - you don't want to mess around with this one.  Best of luck to you - Janet Hamilton, MA, RCEP, CSCS, RRCA coaching instructor

Janet, Every training plan I see calls for a weekly long run at a "slow" or "conversational" pace. Should I slow down, even if I'm comfortable running at a faster pace? It seems that the training would be more effective if I'm pushing myself a little. What is the benefit of running slow, and/or the risk of running a little faster (7:30-8:00 min pace)? Thanks, Maggie
Reply - Janet
Maggie the pace you run on any given run is determined by your current "fitness" level and the relative distance of the training run.  In other words you don't want to go out and run all your training runs at race pace because there's a big increase in the risk of injury when you do that. In addition the easy pace that's appropriate for a short 6 mile training run may be a good bit faster than the "easy pace" you do for a training run of 16 miles. Paces are relative to distance (you can't race a half marathon at the same pace you race a 5K).  The general goal of the base building phase of a training cycle is to build your endurance to a level that's consistent with the event you're training for - and doing that at easy paces will stimulate your body to make the appropriate adaptations to running in an aerobic environment.  It's not that you NEVER push yourself - that's reserved for a later phase of training that coaches call the "sharpening" phase.  The volume of sharpening work that you can do is based on the total weekly mileage you've built yourself up to - so if you're runninng low mileage, you can't really give yourself an adequate dose of speedwork to get your race times to their best.  Hope this help a bit.  I can give you more specific guidance if I know more about you. If you're interested in that, send me an e-mail (janet at runningstrong dot com).  Janet Hamilton, MA, RCEP, CSCS, RRCA coaching instructor

I've developed callouses along with some mild irritation while running on the outside of my left foot along the big toe and the ball of my foot.I've experimented with shoes and found Nike Vomero's stopped the pain for the last couple years, now the callouses are still there and the pain returned though now mostly along the outside of the big toe.My shoes are still faily new I change the every 300 miles or so. I've tried bandaids and moleskin but it doesn't help the pain.
Reply - Janet
Tom have you ever had a gait analysis done?  If not that might be a good place to start.  It may be that the Vomero's just aren't appropriate for your gait pattern now?  Are you pretty diligent about keeping your calves flexible?  If not - try doing some calf stretches on a regular basis.  You may want to check in with a good orthopedic foot/ankle specialist or perhaps a good sports podiatrist.  It may be that using a custom molded insert would provide a bit of relief? Best of luck to you - if you try the stretches or an insert and it helps - make sure to stop back by and post a report!  Janet Hamilton, MA, RCEP, CSCS, RRCA coaching instructor

On July 1st 09, I fell and broke proximal humerus in my right arm while oin holiday in Italy. (excellent care in ER and aftercare- not interested in my private insurance,just wanted to see E11 card!) Back home, now out of body strap (clean break, no surgery required). I usually run bet 30 - 40 miles pwe week, and want to start some kind of exercise. What do you recommend? Have begun physio. V little indep movement. Im 45 yrs,5'7", 9 stone, bored!! Any advice would help. Thanks
Reply - Janet
Thank goodness it was a clean break and you've begun the rehab process.  Hopefully the physio will have you back in good shape with full range and strength before too long but be patient - the closer the break is to a joint the longer it take to rehabilitate.  Are you comfortable with your arm swinging naturally at your side as you walk?  If so - walking is a great form of cross training for running.  It really works your hips well.  Ask your PT about doing some deep water running - for this you'll need a pool and some sort of flotation vest (there's a good one - brand name Aqua jogger and another named "Wet vest").  The flotation vest keeps you vertical in the water and you simply go through the motions of running in the resistant medium of the water. The faster you try to move, the more the water resists.  If you don't have a pool, you may be able to utilize an elliptical trainer but you may need to locate one that you can use that has a stable rather than moving hand-grip position.  Make sure to clear any new exercise with your physio and/or orthopedic doctor as you don't want to slow your healing and rehab process!  You'll be back on your running soon.... best of luck!  Janet Hamilton, MA, RCEP, CSCS, RRCA coaching instructor.

i have pretty flat feet and i have yet to find a shoe that is comfortable- inserts havent worked - would it be ok to run on racing flats or something similar and just tape my arches ?
Reply - Janet
It all depends on whether your "flat feet" are flexibile or rigid.  Most people with low arch contours have fairly flexibile feet and benefit from a shoe with a bit of support.  If on the other hand your feet are low-arched and not very flexible, then moveing to a shoe with less support might be the right choice.  You have to look at more than just arch height.  You also have to look into joint flexibility in the mid-foot region as well as muscle flexibility in the calf since each of these plays into the end-result.  Have you seen a foot specialist? Perhaps an evaluation by a good orthopedic foot/ankle specialist or sports minded podiatrist or pedorthist would help?  At the very least, you might consider a video-based gait analysis.  Taping your arches might work occasionally, but your skin will eventually become less tolerant of the tape and breakdown becomes a problem.  You're better off to keep searching for a shoe that works or a shoe/orthotic (probably custom made) combination that works.  Keep in mind that muscle flexibility in your calves is crucial so if you've not been good about your stretching... you might consider being a little more consistent in that regard.  Hope this helps - Janet Hamilton, MA, RCEP, CSCS, RRCA coaching instructor

I've been training for a Marathon in October using Jeff Galloway's program. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the dates and won't be on mileage target for the Marathon. However, week 26 of the program has you running 26 miles, so here is my question. Should I stay on the program and do my marathon on week 26, stay on the program and run a different marathon that coincides with week 30, or change to an 18 week program like Hal Higdon's novice marathon training program? I don't want to risk an injury, and I have an overtraining left hip injury that I've been able to keep at bay this time around.
Reply - Janet
Chad you pose a really good question!  The programs you've cited (Galloway and Higdon) are quite different not only in the number of weeks to your marathon (18 vs. 30) but also in their weekly mileage.  Galloway only has you running 3 days per week - two very short runs of only 30 minutes each and one long one - which gradually progresses to the full marathon distance.  Higdon recommends 4 days per week - and one of those is a medium-long distance.  Generally my guidelines to beginning marathoners is - start the training program with at least 3 full months of solid injury-free mileage behind you (20 miles per week is a good target).  Give yourself plenty of time to gradually build your mileage from 20 miles per week to 40-50 miles per week minimum.  I like at least a 26 week time frame for that because it gives you a little wiggle room if life or an injury interrupts your training.  And finally - don't cheat on the mid-week mileage... that's where a lot of the stimulus for building stronger tissues (muscles, tendons, bones) takes place.  With that in mind, each of the two programs you've cited has their strong points - Higdon gets you the mid-week mileage, but Galloway gives you longer to adapt.   Why not "merge" the concepts into something more specific for YOU?  Perhaps you could continue the run/walk approach favored by Galloway, but instead of only running two very short runs during the week you could incorporate a medium distance run like Higdon does?  I'll also tell you that it would be good for you to allow yourself a taper period before your race.  I generally do not take my beginning marathoners up to the full marathon distance in training - they do just fine getting up to a distance of 20 or at most 22 miles in training.  So look backwards from your target race... taper would look perhaps like this:  three weeks before - 20 mile long run, two weeks before - 16 mile long run, one week before - 8-10 mile long run.  Then count back how many weeks you have between now and your taper and build your program specific to you!    If you want some help with this... you could always hire a coach to fine tune not only your weekly mileage but also your paces and strength exercises to keep that hip injury at bay.  if this intrigues you - drop me an e-mail and I'll be happy to fill in the details or you can surf over to the services page of this website for more information on individualized coaching guidance.  e-mail is janet at runningstrong dot com.  Best of luck on your first marathon - enjoy the journey!  Janet Hamilton, MA, RCEP, CSCS, RRCA coaching instructor