So the good news is that I think my knee pain is an IT Band issue. I was reading through the causes of IT Band Syndrome (wow that sounds like an STD), and there are several causes. Two stood out to me, running downhill aggressively, and running on a slanted surface, like the side of the road.
Two Sundays ago I ran downhill for 1.5 miles with a 300 foot drop in elevation. As I ran I noticed that the road was very tilted towards my left and I could feel the pressure difference in my leg. I was also trying to negative split the run so I was pushing the pace quite a bit down the hill to try to make up some time.
Put all of those things together and you get a really angry IT Band. So the remedy is RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation). Looks like I was already on the right track. I’m looking for some knee braces to support me when I start running again next week. I’m hoping that things come together for me again in the next couple of weeks. I’m going to keep things light for a while and hopefully that will take care of business.