Aching & burning knee

Question
Hi Nick.  I've been training for a marathon (been running marathons for several years now).  For the past 3 weeks I've been experiencing achiness above and below my knee including under my kneecap.  I've taken several days off and ibuprofen with little relief.  I'm finding that my knee aches when it is straight and while bending.  As lf today, I now have a burning sensation.  I feel confident that I can get thru my next marathon in 2 weeks but am concerned that I will really hurt afterwards.  Do my my symptoms warrant a trip to the doctor or will rest after the race take care of it?  Thank you!
Lori

Answer
This is definitely something you want to try to work on because something is imbalanced.  If my exercise prescription doesn't ease the pain then you'll need to see a physical therapy doctor so they can do some diagnostic tests.  I'm going to give you the same exercises I gave someone else with a similar problem with a few variations.  

1) Lying glute medius exercise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ6_xqKkpx0 is a video of it.  Hold it for 5 seconds at the top and do 2 sets of 15 on each leg.

2) 1 leg squats: Stand on one leg and squat down about 4 inches and don't let your knee fall in. (I'm guessing your knee will naturally want to fall in, but don't let it!) Do 6 sets of 3 each leg.

3) Calf raises: Balance on one leg (don't hold on to anything) and raise up onto the balls of your feet.  Do 4 sets of 8 each leg.  (This is a slow exercise.)

4) Jog barefoot on carpet or on grass at a slow pace for 6 minutes using the technique found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE (Basically it's like jogging in place, but you're actually going somewhere.)

If you do the above 4 days a week for the next two weeks and pain isn't any better then schedule an appointment with a physical therapy doctor.  Hopefully these exercises fix it.  Often knee pain the way you're describing can be fixed with hip and foot strengthening exercises.