I.T. Band Fun

During the last two years, I have been combatting sore knees during training, which I correctly diagnosed later as IT Band Syndrome. With a little research online, I found a few stretches that have limited the frequency of the soreness, but it does come back from time to time and usually affects the mobility in my knees. Here is a little info concerning this "wonderful" condition that affects runners frequently.

IT Band Syndrome (ITBS) is one of the leading causes of lateral knee pain in runners. The iliotibial tract is a superficial thickening of tissue on the outside of the thigh, extending from the outside of the pelvis, over the hip and knee, and inserting just below the knee. The band is crucial to stabilizing the knee during running, moving from behind the femur to the front while walking. The continual rubbing of the band over the lateral femoral epicondyle, combined with the repeated flexing and extension of the knee during running may cause the area to become inflamed.

Below is a good video on some stretches to help out IT Band issues. And an article here detailing some other stretches. A must-buy for runners is a foam roller - amazing tool that aids in stretching and working out soreness/stiffness in your leg muscles. I bought one last fall, and has helped substantially with muscle soreness. It completely beats you up, but totally worth it!!!



Tuesday, got home really quick and dragged Crystal out for a quick 6 - another easy day, as both our legs were still pretty sore from the heavy running weekend and in major recovery mode. Weather was pretty gloomy - cool but humid, and we were racing a pretty heavy rainfall according to weather.com. Did an out and back flat, tried to keep pace somewhat easy. Nothing major to report, felt like a 100 year old man at the beginning, and definitely took a little bit to feel comfortable. Run went by pretty fast (I LOVE easy days), and last mile we picked it up a bit when the rain drops started to fall. Hit the last quarter at 6:20 pace, felt pretty decent. Total mileage: 6 - splits were: 8:19, 8:22, 8:25, 8:19, 8:18, 7:39.

Wednesday, ITBS was rearing its ugly head, and was noticeably hobbling around work. Didn't get home until pretty late due to late meeting with dinner with Stacy and on top of it, started RAINING (will it ever stop?!) so opted for a night's rest and stretching. Thursday, more ominous clouds in the air, so wanted to get the workout in pretty quick. Left knee was still pretty sore, but could run ok. My right knee was starting to bug me as well, so am starting to get concerned if this is from lack of support from my new shoes or just crappy stretching by me. Another possibility is general soreness from the hard mileage from Saturday to Tuesday (~32 miles, including race and long run). Anyways, wanted to get in a tempo run quickly - weather was cool and windy, probably in the low 70's. Out and back towards the trail, pretty hilly route at the beginning but flattens out. Didn't feel particularly good starting out, and felt myself definitely working a bit. 2nd mile, felt better but had the comforts of the trail and the trees to block out a lot of the wind, albeit downwind. After the 2nd mile, the trail opens up from the woods (I ran a little more out, just so I could adequately cooldown coming in instead of running further out later) so a quarter mile into it, turned around, ran straight into a swirling winds. My God, my legs pretty much were zapped after the 3rd mile, then completely gutted out the last mile. I have never wanted a run to end so badly. Total Mileage: ~5 (with warmup and cooldown) - splits were: 6:30, 6:33, 6:27, 6:23.

Felt pretty awful, in fact, worse than when I raced over the weekend. Pretty discouraged that workouts I did easily in March are so difficult now but with the actual marathon training segment coming up, I guess I should just concentrate more on being efficient in training and taking care of my body until I transition to endurance training. Legs feel ok today - left knee better, right knee sore but not too bad. This weekend, long run scheduled for Saturday, and pace run on Sunday. Nothing too crazy, just want to rest up and get my legs back into good working order!