derailment

Doh! Injury! I've been fighting an injury since my 12 mile run. I suspected it was my IT band based on the symptoms (outer/side part of knee hurting) and talking with my trainer. Everybody kept telling me GET A FOAM ROLLER and I kept putting it off. Finally after a brutal 14 mile run, I ordered one and started using it. You know your IT band is the culprit if you feel giant knots while you roll over the foam roller. I felt them, oh how I felt them. The pain is so...painful. And you are supposed to keep on rolling the parts that are especially tender. But when it's done I can actually walk without horrid pain for a period of time! Stairs were still bad.

So this past saturday was a breezy 7 mile run, or SHOULD have been a breezy 7 miles. At 3.5 my right leg felt like it locked and felt like the 'hinge' (knee) was grinding with no lubrication. It was sharp pain and crippling. I had to walk for about 10 minutes, very poorly, then I finally was able to run/walk/hobble to finish out the 7 miles. Not happy.

I made an appointment with a physical therapy place nearby that came highly recommended. I was hoping they'd give me some simple at-home exercises I can do so I wouldn't have to go there all the time and pay out my ass. I was in luck! Lucky me, I've been so absolutely lazy about stretching and cross training that this injury is mostly all my fault!

The physical therapist said my hamstrings were amazingly, shockingly tight. Like, how have you made it this far tight. The tight hamstring combined with the right IT band problem compounded into mass problems for my right leg. The prescription was pretty simple:

1. Skip the 16 miler this weekend, talk to trainer about getting back up to speed in a few weeks.

2. Continue smaller 30-45 minute runs but don't push it if its feeling bad.

3. Bike this weekend for a long time to keep that endurance cardio going.

4. Do the following stretches 60 seconds per stretch, 2 times in a session, 2-3 sessions a day: hamstring wall stretch and lying iliotibial stretch. Do them both before and after each run.

5. Keep on foam rollin. Also foam roll before and after each run. Wanna see a foam roller in action and learn more about IT bands? Check it out:



I look pretty awesomely stupid doing it.

If its not any better in two weeks I go back to physical therapy.

So there you have it - laziness and procrastination don't pay!

I did the stretching regiment this evening in its entirety and it was ouchie during the stretches but now I'm feeling pretty good.