Monday, January 19, 2009

Uh oh!

Not the best of starts to my training plan, 10 miles into a 16 mile run and my ITB decides to rear it’s ugly head! As an improvisation I knotted off an arm warmer to try and immobilize it which worked to a point, sorta kinda! It worked enough at least for me to finish off the remaining 6 miles. I have no idea why this has sprung from, there has been no hint of it for months in fact almost a year, but now I have to deal with it, fortunately that’s something I do know how to do; foam roller, stretching and a liberally smacking of the offending tissue with the Stick. This morning at least it had eased off sufficiently to let me put in another 5 miles. That being said Sunday's run was not quite the route I had planned but conditions were perfect, I altered my plans and managed a circuit through Cheeseboro Canyon up along the Ridge Trail to close the loop and then a simple out and back along the canyon floor.

My next long run, 18 miles, is in two weeks time, for the first eight weeks I am alternating long runs and long rides, I have not been on my bike in any real seriousness since October; this has probably contributed to the ITB issue! So next weekend I’ll be in the saddle for a nice canyon ride through to the coast and back for a round trip of 50 miles or so.

I also picked a tweak in my calf swimming on Saturday afternoon, I am not counting this as training as Saturday is my rest day and I am not swimming non stop as it's a lesson so there is some instruction in between laps, of which I am guessing I bluffed my way through 20 or so. Actually I am pretty pleased as I actually managed a whole length freestyle; I have never been taught freestyle, ever and apparently my breast stroke is pretty good...go figure!

There are some photos here, blogger is loading them all sideways(?!?) and here is the MotionBased data from Sunday:

11 comments:

  1. IT and me was my middle name for a long time..It can really knock one back on mileage. Have you tried getting a deep tissue massage?
    Every week for the last 5 years I schedule a half hour of leg work after the weekend to keep things loose. No more IT pain..That and my friends tell me to stretch more...

    Good Luck..Tony

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  2. Very ingenious of you to think of using your arm warmer is such a way!!

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  3. oh no! Take care of that IT band... enjoy the ride.

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  4. Funny, my ITB started aching after I started riding my bike, probably due to my body's adjusting to the fit. Go figure. Hope yours doesn't hold ya back!

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  5. Hope you feel better soon! You sound a little banged up! :( Gosh swimming lessons. That's pretty legit! :)

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  6. On no! Hang in there!!! Hope you feel better...

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  7. Sorry to hear that your IT is giving you trouble again. Massage is a good idea. That helped me with IT issues a few years ago.

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  8. Nuts! Sorry to hear about the ITB. Do you ever sit/lie on a tennis ball? I do that when my ITB starts to flare up and it really helps.

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  9. AHH stupid ITB! good thing you know what to do to make it go away :)

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  10. Looks awesome. Ultra... Hardcore!

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  11. Smart move on the alternating Long Run with Long Ride.
    I will be following your lead on this as well when it thaws out here.

    All of my cross training will pay off in the end regardless of how many miles I run. At least I won't be injured.

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