Monday, August 24, 2009

A bump in the road...

Metaphorically, of course. Otherwise, in Illinois, we'd call it a hill. Here's the deal: some time between Rock & Roll and the 14 miler, my right knee started bothering me. At first it wasn't much, so I decided to largely ignore it and hope it would go away, as aches and pains often do. It got worse. So much so, in fact, that what I didn't say in my last post is that after the 14-miler, I went home and soaked in a tub of the coldest water my house could produce. I actually carried a bucket of ice to the bath tub with me before deciding that the water was cold enough on its own. It hurt through an otherwise fabulous 3.4 mile run with Meg last week (area we don't usually run! beautiful weather! good venting!). It hurt enough for this past Saturday's long run (scheduled for 9 miles) that I ran-walked 6.6 miles and called it a day. I ran 3.9 miles tonight, came home to a bag of ice, and it still hurts 2+ hours later. The IT band across my right knee is furious.

I am seeking help. I have a marathon to run in less than 2 months and I really, really want it to happen. I'm going to a highly-recommended therapist on Wednesday, and plan to see my doctor on campus, hoping for a referral to the sports medicine clinic on campus. I will be icing regularly, and may look into getting a foam roller. If anyone out there has successfully emerged from IT band issues, please advise me! This sucks.

On the bright side, the weather here recently has been really something to write home about. Summer only got hot for portions of two weeks this year. It's starting to feel like fall. My officemate said today that he's a bit miffed at nature for not coming through on delivering summertime, but I think it's been great. The beginning of fall makes me want to bust out good fall clothes, for both running and work. It makes me crazy for Penn State football. It makes me want to bake until I run out of flour and sugar. We have some warm days left, but fall is giving us notice.

251.8 + 5.3 + 2.0 + 3.4 + 6.6 + 3.9 = 273.0 miles

2 comments:

MJ said...

I hope you find relief for your knee!

Unknown said...

Stretch, stretch and stretch. Also I have read that a weak ass can do it. :) Build the glutes.