You may be getting to a point in the season when you have run out beyond the base you built and need to start the training cycle back over again by having a period of active rest and following with a block of base building and doing other sports, plus developing strength to counteract the imbalances you get from training the same muscles.

Learning to take time off when it's the best thing will make you a faster, fitter and better athlete. Using sports as a replacement compulsion will just lead to injury.

Kristine: I agree. You've been going hard for a long time and you probably need a break. BUT that doesn't mean you have to do nothing.

What about trying some new things? I plan on doing this after Timberman as sort of a re-fresh.

You belong to a gym, right? How about taking a pump class? Yoga, pilates? A spin class (It's fun and different to do with lots of people and music!)

If you replace a run/bike or two with one of these, for a few weeks, it might be just the ticket to refresh yourself and give your body the break it needs.

Heck! I plan on doing NO trainer rides until Jan...I'll ride my bike outside and when it gets cold I am going back to my favorite spin classes for a few months, then in Jan....on the trainer and the serious bike training!

Pain is temporary, so just keep going. You'll know when you are actually injured, you will stop whether you want to or not. Reminds me a little of the Kardong quote 'People running 100 miles a week can eat anything they want because they will soon be injured and on a restricted diet anyway' or something like that.

j/k, see Jroden's post.

You say it is not a fit issue, but are you really sure? Pedal cleat wear or slippage, seat slippage, etc. can cause little annoying things.

Probably best bet is to take it easy and reevaluate as others have said.

Optimal stress with optimal rest.

Ronbo brings up a good point.....get a PT that you love, cuz if you stick with this sport, you will need one. I had to go to my Dr. first, then I told them which PT I wanted to go to....do some research and make sure they are sports minded. My PT does sports training as well and the PT there that I last saw is doing IMLP next year, so she knows all about the training, etc, makes a BIG difference.

I went there first when I had been having some minor knee pain, went more as a preventative thing and they set me up with the correct stretches to do, etc.

Then, when I had the Achilles, went back. Now, if I feel anything coming on, I go straight to them, they do an "injury screening" free of charge.

Having a relationship with a good PT is key.

One of the things I have learned over time is the need to allow for a period of time every year to let your body decondition so you can start the trainin cycle over. If you plan and execute it at the right point in the season, it's better than getting hurt and having happen because of injury.

When I read back on my training logs from the late 1980's, I was just banging away all year round, on the track 10 mos a year, racing twice a week, running hard, hard hard. When I read between the lines during that period, I saw some amazing results mixed in with countelss soft tissue injuries, nearly constant sinus infections, colds and all nature of physical problems that I just tended to bulldoze my way through because I was young. My time window as a good runner was fairly short, maybe 5 years total before it all cauht up. I think my present problems with running all go back to a bone-headed approach to training that stressed logging miles and following a "plan" rather than using my brain and following a large year-long training cycle.

It's hard to just lay out a bunch of miles on the table and say if it's too much or just right, it really depends in part on how your body tolerates the various activities and at what level of intensity and efficiency you are doing them. Some people perform exercises in a grinding, pounding sort of manner, while others do not, that one variable can really have an efffect if you add up all the footfalls and pedal strokes that make up a year.

For example, you can say you have your bike fit properly, which is good, but the choice of gear, how you hold your feet when pedalsing, the ability to keep your knees close to the top tubes, your foot placement when pedalsing and how you climb hills can all contribute to your issues with your knee.

With endurance sports, the little subtle things can tend to add up over time and couse an injury, a worn cleat or running shoe, running on a slanty road--little stuff but it all adds up.

I guess what I was trying to say above is the point of doin this stuff is to develop the fitness and speed required to do well at specific events and then doing the races. The races themselves don't drive the year, your fitness and body is what dictates when and how you race--If you want to train for a half marathon, then you start by taking whatever time is needed for the pain in your knee to subside (do other stuff to stay fit) then setting the cycling and swimming aside to a degree and focus on the 6 mos of running that will be required to reach your potential at a long distance race, then allow some recovery time and start back up with the training required to reach your potential at triathlon, or whatever. You can't reach your potential just stringing together a bunch of junk miles all year round with races thrown in. You now know you have the ability to "finish" even long races, so the next challenge is to become more efficient in the sports, which can actually be a lot more fun and rewarding, you move from the realm of "participant" to more of an athlete in your outlook and approach to the sports.

http://This message has been edited by jroden (edited Aug-16-2007).

What you are experiencing may not sound like an "injury" in a traditional sense, i.e. stress fructure or sprained ankle, however, it seems that an overuse injury is creeping up on you. I hear that majority of overuse injury stems from muslce inbalance. A weak muscle doesn't do a proper job so other muscles have to step in to compensate for it, and as a result, those muscles overwork thus get tight. For the last few years, I have had a hip pain and last year I couldn't even run a mile for a while. I soooo wished it had been a labram tear or something I could put a NAME on it and 'fix' it. I just couldn't come to terms that some weak muscles caused that much pain. I think I finally met a PT who recognized/explained well to me this being caused by my weak/under-utilized quads. (<- and this explains why I was just soooo slow on my bike, too, I think.) With very basic strengthening exercises (which I used to think there would no way to help me, a marathoner!). I haven't had much hip issues for the last few months, plus I can feel I am using more quad for running, and of course biking. It may be a good idea to see an experienced PT and get thorough muscle strength analysis. Small exercises to keep all muslces working the way they should be will save you lots of frustrations and tears, I believe. Good luck.