I am always grateful that I am still able to run 4-5 times a week, for a weekly total of 10 to13 miles. At the age of 47 though I had begun to experience problems with my knees when running outside, but not so often on the treadmill, so I set out to find out why.
My wife and I have had a treadmill in the house for about 9 years or so now, and she was always the one that made better use of it, mostly because she was afraid that my jogging on it would wear it out much quicker. Needless to say, I have never been able to refute such “exacting” logic, so for the most part I stuck to my jumping rope workouts , or jogged outdoors in our neighborhood.
Gradually, though as I have begun to get older, I was beginning to experience some discomfort in my knees to the point of actual aching, without any real big changes to my routine. This was especially troubling since I had been able up to this point to run everyday if I desired, so it did begin to concern me.
As I did a little research, I found some pretty easy steps to take to minimize the stress, and the cushioning of actual impact that my knees were taking with my regimen. At first I chalked it up to age and just tried to go to an every-other-day routine, which was a convenient way of getting out of daily consecutive runs when I didn’ t really feel like it in the first place, but I soon found that it didn’t address the problem with any appreciable results. So, I began to actually implement some of the REAL steps I could take and hopefully they may help you as well.
First, I didn’t realize just how quickly shoes could “wear out”, or lose their cushioning against impact. For the amount of running that I did, inside and out, it is recommended that I get anew pair of actual “running shoes”, not cross-training shoes every year. So, I now have it set up pretty much as an anniversary item on the calendar to go out and get new running shoes. It has become a Christmas present that my wife and I give to each other, which is combined with a nice breakfast, lunch and Christmas shopping day spent together. The nicest part about the whole deal is the fact my indoor running shoes at the end of each year now become my outdoor everyday shoes, with the outdoor shoes becoming my outdoor work shoes. If you followed that line of reasoning, or progression, in my mind, I now have three new pairs of shoes. Hey it works for me, but at the very least, replace your running shoes each year.
Next I found it essential to stretch correctly before and after running, because the 5 minute warm-up, and the even more importantly the 5 minute cool-down period became essential for my aging body to not only agree to run in the first place, but not torture me afterwords for having done so. I have also found that building the muscles around the knees to help cushion against the stress that amounts to about 4 times your weight with each step you take.
The weight training can also help you lose any extra weight that can be attributing to to additional strain on your knees, try implementing that for a month or so, and then try going back to your running regimen, but don’t increase your speed to quickly, as a matter of fact, try starting at apace below where you left off, and gradually return to your original pace in about a month’s time. This will help to ease you back into your normal routine.
Lastly, I have grudgingly found that running inside on the treadmill is much easier on my knees overall than running outside on the concrete road surfaces of our neighborhood. Fortunately for me however, we have the outdoor high school track at our disposal just about a 1/2 mile from our house, along with the community field house that has a cushioned indoor track when weather or the time of year doesn’t cooperate. I find that changing scenery up has also kept me motivated to stick with running.
The bottom line for me is that I am a stubborn, traditional kind of guy. No new-fangled machines for me, I like running period, and if the only thing I have to do to run is make sure my shoes are cushioned, and find a cushioned surface or treadmill to do the running itself, well then by golly I will be sticking with running for the near future, and hopefully beyond.
Hope this helps you combat you aching knees a bit, and even if you already knew these facts, I hope you enjoyed how I told them.
