My body is falling apart...

I think you're probably right about making the knee sore from some sort of compensation for the foot. Try icing the knee a couple-three times a day for a bit, and personally, I probably wouldn't run on it right now. How's everything feel on the bike? Or maybe more swimming right now? If one of the three SBR seems to be aggravating an injury, I try to focus on the other two for a bit until I heal up. Then, ease back into whichever activity was causing the issues. As long as you keep going with some forms of workout you should be fine long term. Good luck with it all!

If you wanna keep running you can try aquajogging. There might be some strength and/or flexibility in the muscles above your knee that you might wanna look into. Do you think you have runner's knee?

Roland

I don't think it's runners knee. It's a dull pain below the knee cap almost as if it's behind the patella.

I'm only 31... So im over reacting but consistency is nice and I'd like to pick a new goal event to keep the intensity but I can't do that with uncertainty around my training.

It seems I always have a mild pain creep in every once and a while. I give small things attention not because I'm a hypochondriac but because I'm paranoid of an injury putting me out for weeks.

My procedure is to research some on each individual issue and speculate what might cause them. I tend to tinker a lot and focus on every muscle and every little pain. Some of these come with experience, but I often adjust stuff and see how I respond. Foot placement, running style, swim stroke etc. I've even found some pains go away by increasing intensity. Go figure.

So I first tinker, while adding more stretching throughout the day, then moderately test different intensities, if the pain gets worse I take time off. I have had injuries in the past. Some of these took years for the aches to go away, but I'm convinced training through these dull aches increased my strength and helped me heal. My doc even suspects I am developing arthritis in a shoulder and it seems the more I train the less it hurts. I have never had your foot problem so can't speak on that, but if stuff doesn't go away I usually see the doc.

Isn't that where runner's knee is supposed to be? I'd take a few days off running to see if it resolves itself; try the usual--rest, ice, maybe some advil or a topical anti-inflammatory. At your age, if it lasts less than a few weeks, and it's not a sharp pain, it will probably resolve by itself without further treatment. Often it is due to building mileage too fast, especially on hard surfaces, or poor upper leg strength. If it doesn't go away in a few weeks, may be time to seek advice from a sports-oriented PT. Could also be due to something you're doing other than running--for example, I will sometimes get similar discomfort if I spend too much time kneeling or squatting on the floor while working with kids (elementary teacher).

I've oddly had the opposite experience with injury--had more issues when I was younger. Maybe from doing too much mileage/intensity when not physically mature. (Not entirely on purpose--I stopped growing at 12 and thought I was done, then grew again at 17. So I probably did more than I (or my coaches) would have done had we known I was less "full grown" than we thought.) I think over time the body just adapts and develops more efficient ways of moving. 47 now and most things are either random accidents, or minor niggles that come out of nowhere, persist for periods of a few minutes to a couple of years without really doing anything other than making some runs less comfortable, then just go away, often my without doing anything or perhaps despite what I do. I do try to keep on top of flexibility and strength work, and am really religious about getting in a good warmup and cooldown. I've basically told my coach, unless we are doing some kind of swim race simulation, nothing is going to happen until I have at least 20 minutes of warmup.

I've learned the hard way that the only way I can train without injury is to do additional "maintenance" exercise. I took up pilates to help the weaker muscles which has really helped the knee. I've also learned the value of running very slowly to allow for focus on form.

Agree. I am in a training group now where the coach advocates regular (almost daily) foam rolling, as well as some very short but effective daily strength workouts (less than 5 minutes each) during training. Plus a great warmup before running which helps to keep the ankles flexible and wake up the glutes. It really helps.