What's the best way I can protect my knees?
I run on concrete– there’s not much I can do to change that. I take glucosamine tablets. What more can I be doing? I’ve had problems with my knees in the past. Training for my first marathon last year really wore them out. I’m gearing up to start training again. Any and all suggestions are welcome!
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Tagged with: concrete • first marathon • glucosamine • knees
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The best thing you can do is stop running and do something with less impact. But since I’m sure you don’t want to do that, I would weight train. Building up the muscles around your knees (quads, hamstrings) will overall strengthen your knees.
I have the same problem iv changed many things but nothing worked when i went to my sports doctor he told me to try wearing asic running shoes. From then on iv had less pain.
I would recommend this to you
I’m also training for a marathon. It’ll be my first. I never have had any pain at all, I found it interesting that the 1st answer reccommended Asics. I have those, Cummulus Gel. I ran 14.5 miles Saturday and the only thing that bothered me after was my calfs. I take yoga too, which has helped me with gentle stretching before I run.
Good luck on your marathon!!!
Drink plenty of water and cross train. Your knees need a break after pounding the concrete everyday. Stretching also helps. http://www.runnersworld.com has good knee strength-building exercises.
I’ve had problems with my knees as well. As a precaution I wear knee braces while a run. They are really great as far as keeping you from twisting your knees, and I feel like they lessen the impact that running has on your joints as well. Also, it has been my experience that when I consistently train hard, with days off being infrequent, my knees will bother me more. For a few months, I only took a day off if the weather prevented me from running, and I was consistently doing 35 to 40 miles a week. I am still guilty of racking up a lot of miles, but I now try to run longer distances, maybe 7 to 9 miles as opposed to 5 or 6, and therefore get the same mileage in while running fewer days. I chart my mileage on the calender, and thus far through the 29th of January I have run 150 miles while taking 8 days off. And if my knees or feet are really bothering me, I will take several consecutive days off. Always listen to your body. You may be able to run through the pain, but if it’s kind of out of the ordinary, give yourself a few days off. Our bodies are very resilent and have the ability to heal themselves if given the opportunity. In addition as I’m sure you are aware, get a quality running shoe. I’ve been running in the Nike Airmax 180 shoes for a while and really like them. Best of luck to you!