Sunday, January 22, 2012

No One Wants to Be an (Sh) IT Girl

So officially my 'injury' is my IT band (left side).

Definitely an over-training injury, and thankfully its not too bad.  If I am not careful though, it could get much worse obviously.  After consulting with a few of the know it alls at the store, an over-whelming majority of them were shocked at what shoe I had been training in this whole time.

I've been running in the Ravenna's for some time now, but apparently due to increase in strength, turn over, and the number of miles I have put out since May..etc., etc., etc., its just 'too much shoe'.

I tried several shoes of different brands, Brooks, Asics and Saucony and settled in on the DS Trainer by Asics as it felt the best as I was working at the store yesterday.  I loved the Saucony Cortana (or is it Cordana?), either way, but it just felt like not enough shoe, i.e. to go from the Ravenna to that, just didnt seem smart to me.

Not for long distances anyway.  And since I had just bought my last pair of Ravenna back on 1-2, I just exchanged them and ended up with a credit since the DS Trainer was marked down to $49, as the newer colors etc., are due out soon.

I ran on Friday, just 4 miles and I could still feel the IT band, and can feel it now actually.  Its more like a knot at the upper calf now (rolling seems to be helping as well).  When I got up yesterday morning and got dressed to go run 6, I walked to the gate.  It was hot/humid and sprinkling rain and then I realized I didn't have to run if I darn well didn't feel like it.  I could wait until this morning, which is exactly what I did.  I had brought the DST's home and laced them up this morning and it did indeed make a huge difference.

An easy 6 miles in the hot/humid weather at a 10:12 pace was just what I needed.

While the pain isn't as bad as it was during the marathon, or in the few days afterwards, I am still very aware that I have what I guess is an injury, but its not a debilitating one.

I worked a full 8 hours yesterday on my feet and another 5 hours today, so that certainly doesn't help it much, but I am pleased with how my 6 miles went this morning.  I rolled it several times at the store today, and am now icing off and on hoping that helps too.

I know plenty of folks, IRL and in blogland that have had severe IT band issues, but I am wondering if any of you have and if so, how bad was it, how did you treat it and how long until it was 'better'?

2 comments:

TX Runner Mom said...

I had ITB issues during and after my 1st marathon. I was out for a couple of months, but probably only because I didn't seek medical attention and was too new to the sport to know what to do (i.e. proper stretches, foam rolling,etc.). I had issues off and on training for marathon #2, but found that wearing a band-thingy above my knee helped a lot. Hope it heals quickly!

Junie B said...

I was wondering about those bands. I totally should have picked one up at LL yesterday while working! Its just really tender to the touch and it makes me angry! :)