help ! thigh pain stopping marathon training

hi all , any helpfull suggestions please... i am training to run the brighton and london marathon and i have put a good base behind me of six 16-17 mile long sunday runs but 2 weeks ago my plan was 18 miles at about 13 miles i developed a pain in my left knee i slowed the pace a bit and after a few minutes i seemed to run it off but it came back at 16 miles and stayed the same until i stopped at 18 miles i applied the rice method and although the knee seems fine i noticed a pain in the back of my thigh a few days later which 2 weeks later i still have despite no training apart from swimming.

the back of my thigh feels a bit tight compared to the right thigh, any ideas what i can do apart from rice to help the pain and tightness and could this have been the cause of the painfull knee ?

 i am worried that having missed 2 long runs now i might recover in time for the marathons ! the annoying thing is despite the pain at the end of the 18 mile run i felt great and had a few miles left in me.

this is the first time in 7 years of marathon training i have hit a injury that has kept me away from running for what seems like forever and its only been 2 weeks !! to make it worse i keep seeing other runners on the way to work and would give my right leg to be out there running ( a bit silly really as i'm should i would be slower with only 1 leg )

 any advice would be very nice, many thanks mark.

hi , couldnt get to a fizz cos work hectic last week have finished early today and am all booked in for 3pm !!!

stretching is painfull ?? i have looked on various injury website and i think you are right ... hamstring

some say it takes weeks or months to repair depending on how bad, fingers crossed the news will be good later as its only been 2 weeks and im bouncing off the walls just to get out and run again

thanks mark.

I've had hamstring issues before, was able to cycle and swim though so maintain a level of fitness so once it healed I wasn't so far behind in my mara training i just doubled what i would run on the bike (Hour run = 2 on the bike). I had to rest for about 5 weeks...........

thanks for the advice... i went physio last night and i have pulled my hamstring and have a few tiny tears ! it seems i have been throwing my hip out when i have been running which has lend to the pull in the hamstring.

ive been told a few more deep massages will help the tears and ive been given some excercises to strenghten the hammy, i can resume light training and i can run but stop if any pain i should be doing the leith hill half on sunday so that should be a test !! ( 12 miles up 1 mile down )

i will stick with your advice for the rest of the week , bike and swim and will try a few easy sessions on the x trainer.

take care and all the best , mark.