I have been running a long time, and I should know better. I should warm up better and stretch better but I don’t. Then I do something stupid like irritate my IT band and things have to slow down. This past Sunday I said to the wife, hey let’s go to the supermarket and five below (honestly who doesn’t LOVE 5 below?), then I will come home and go for my run. Easy right?
While walking I felt a nagging pain in my back, then I noticed this weird clicking coming from my knee. I still hadn’t processed what was happening. The pain got worse and worse and I said to the wife “I may have to skip my run, which most people won’t think is a big deal but we have had a lot of icy weather and it was also my long run for the week. So, I skip my run, Monday comes along and I get ready for a 4 miler. Everything is great till about mile 2.5, then I get a bit gimpy…
I did the four miles, to be fair I was over 2 miles from home, so my choices were to get home or call the wife. I come home, do my foam roller and get ready for work and the pain gets worse. Flashback: my first ever half marathon I hurt my IT band. Iliotibial band syndrome ly prevalent in runners. The Doctor then told me I had to take 6 weeks off. Six weeks off running for someone who real running to stave off mental ruin is a big deal.
I can’t take 6 weeks off, so I went down the rabbit hole of what elite runners and professional athletes do in this case. DISCLAIMER!!! I AM NOT A DOCTOR GO SEEK MEDICAL ADVICE. Now that’s out of the way. If this is so prevalent in runners what do professionals do? I spent a couple of hours researching. I spent time watching YouTube videos from hospitals and PTS to see what they do. One expert said he recommends taking 5 days off, (I can do that I don’t want to but I can), I found the Tens unit placement for the IT band, which I did last night, it was painful but helped, I also ordered a Cyro cup which is just an ice mold, I won’t include a link till I try it, cause if it sucks, I don’t need you losing money.
So today will be PT stretches I downloaded from NYC presbyterian hospital, fun fact that was where I was born, redo my strength routine to include more glute exercises, ice, Advil, and the Tens unit. I also have to look up some cross-training, I may try the spin bike. All the while I will try to remind myself I am only human, and hopefully this time I will learn my lesson.
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