Making Progress on ITB Recovery

As all of my non-readers know, I've been dogged by iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome in recent weeks.  February and March were particularly dark for me, because I was increasingly concerned that I might not ever be a "runner" again.

So while I've been hunting for recovery techniques, I've noticed that by keeping my runs at 5k max, things have gotten better.

(We interrupt things right here to answer the question that all the teeming millions of none of you are certainly asking:  Todd, why don't you just see a doctor about this?  The answer is simple.  There's an ethical issue involved.  The pain only occurs when I run, and so the doctor could well say to me:  Don't run.  And in truth, that would eliminate my pain entirely.  But because I have insurance, I could press for a series of expensive tests, which may or may not help me, but for which undoubtedly someone would have to pick up the tab.  It wouldn't be me.  So, I see this as something I can fix on my own.)

Back to the show.  What I've noticed is that when the ITB problems really came on strong several weeks ago, my fitness routine was totally unlike last summer, when I was running fine and working my way up into the 5 mile range.  Back then, I would alternate biking and running, and I'd walk about 2-3 miles each day.  In the early winter, however, the weather prevented much biking or walking, but I was determined to run.  Thus, I suspect, that led quickly to over-use.

So I'm doing a lot more cross-training, pigeon poses, hip/butt strengthening with the Theraband, and a moderate amount of foam rolling.  It all seems to help.

Yesterday I was able to run 4 miles with only minor twinges.  It was the longest, fastest run in months.  I was incredibly happy.  Wow.  This is how my week looked:

A run last Sunday

So I had a good run on Sunday morning.  Three miles.  Not huge, but when ITB daggers have been starting at 1 mile for the past 6 weeks, this is huge for me.

To be clear, let me explain the difference between "daggers" and "twinges," at least for me.  "Twinges" don't affect gait.  You can feel something going on in your knee, and you know that twinges in various parts of your body can come and go on a run.  Some twinges become painful; others you quickly forget.  ITB twinges, for me, can make me rethink how I'm going to land my foot on the ripple in the asphalt ahead, but they don't really slow me down.

When I get ITB daggers, it's like landing and having a knife shoot up and into the side of the knee, like shucking an oyster, making me feel like my leg will collapse.  There is no running after that point.  And it's not a question of whether it's a pain-threshold issue; it's a matter of will my body go crashing to the pavement because the leg is going to give out.

Back to my run.  (It's here at Run My Route.)  This time the first mile is great, and right as my Garmin beeps the first mile, I get the twinges.

Part of me thinks this is psychosomatic (now called psycho-physiological or something like that).  In truth, some of this is in my head.  It's the brain that generates the pain, and I've noticed that if I can take my mind off my left knee, the running is better.  Sometimes, I try to "will" the pain to the right knee to see if that does anything.  In the run before this, when twinges turned to daggers, I walked for about three minutes and resumed running.

This time, I continued running past the mile mark.  Twinges continued, but no outright pain.  At three miles, the longest I've run without interruption in more than a month, I decided to quit when I was ahead.

So the ITB mystery grows.  I've stopped the foam rolling of the IT band.  And yet I haven't done the hip abductor exercises I mentioned in a previous post.  I can't account for why the twinges didn't turn into daggers on this run.

I did go for a bike ride (18 miles) the previous day.  In general, bike riding doesn't inflame my IT band.  Looking at my logs, I recall a recent run the day after a bike ride that also went well.

{Sigh} So you see the various factors at play.  Ugh.  Where to start?

Detour into My ITBS Journal

So, originally I intended this blog to be about ruminations I have during running--endorphin insights.  Some of that alleged wisdom seems profound when you're on Mile 5, and less so by the time you get home and showered off.  It's like that late night scrawl you made on a scrap of paper just before passing out. In the cold light of the next morning, you're trying to link together Jacques Derrida, gymboree, and "hotdgggs."

Anyway, I have a bunch of these stored up insights that will eventually be released upon the world, for better or for worse, but in the meantime, in recent months I've come down with a bad case of the ITBs -- Iliotibial Band Syndrome.  This limits my running to one pain-free mile and then as much as I can take before the daggers at the knee do me in, usually after two more miles.

So for now, this blog is swerving into "My ITB Journal."  I've spared all of my non-readers with what I've discovered by playing Dr. Internet to date.  (Some guidance says rest; some says run as long as it doesn't affect the gait.)  In recent weeks, I've done foam rolling of the IT Band, the pigeon pose (love her accent on this video), and other stretches.

Now, I'm told -- and I've been seeing this more and more -- that foam rolling the IT band is wasting time.  It won't stretch...it's like rolling a rubber band.  Now I need to work on hip abductors.  Off to research that.  Starting points:

Here and here. Source of links:  Mark J. Pitcher.

But above it all, the frustrating thing is whatever effort you put into it, the payoff won't come for several weeks, and in the meantime, it's a lot of work, and sometimes pain, with a hefty pile of uncertainty in the balance.

Photo credit:  MOMSteam.com

PS.  Just went to that site looking for a photo, but it seems they have good resources on this topic too.  I'm off! 

A Runner's Approach to Mitigating Risk

You're running in the street along the edge.  There are a few cars out.  Just steps ahead you see a stone the size of a fist in your path.

The mental calculation is instant.  You swerve into the traffic lane.

In your mind, being sideswiped by a car or taking a bad landing on that rock have the same outcome:  You can't run for months.

On Waving and Smiling

I love the Shut Up and Run blog and am tremendously impressed with the author.  I take issue with one of her recently posted 7 Deadly Sins of Running, namely #3, "Not waving to other runners."

So my response is not directed to the author but to the general public.

If I'm out running or cycling, and if someone wants to wave and smile at me, I may well wave and smile back.  Or I may not.  I might be dragging from a long run/ride while the smiley person is just starting out all fresh and happy.  I might not see the person waving.  I might be in my own world; that's why I run in the first place.

We all have an obligation to be polite to one another as we go about our business in the world.  We can still do that without demanding other people's attention.

I don't mean this to sound harsh, but when I'm running, I'm out there for me.  I'm not the grand marshal in a parade that was organized for anyone else's benefit.  There's no marching band to herald my arrival, I don't have obligation to smile and wave at everyone I see along the route.

People who have that expectation of me are simply going to be disappointed.  Don't set yourself up for that.  Don't ask the person taking her first tentative run after recovering from chemo or surgery or whatever to be all smiles for you and make your day.  Don't hate on her and call her a sinner for not busting out a high-five, You-Go-Girl wave.

We all run for different reasons.  If you need attention when you run, please seek it in your running clubs and races.  That's all about glory and showing off your achievements.  I mean that sincerely and not sarcastically.

But for the rest of us just doing honest schlepping out on our own, on roads, trails, and sidewalks, please let us be, and don't judge.