On the mend

The ITbands are healing. In the past week I've been able to do the following:

Tuesday: 2 miles with pain

Thursday: 3 miles with less pain. Nearly got killed on the highway... details to follow this post.

Saturday: 5 miles (hills) with some pain. The pain did not get worse throughout the run which is a good sign. I did not have my knee taped so was surprised I could go that far. We were visiting my brother in Casper, WY. I got to run with the antelope or should I say, "the antelope whizzed past". Sure was wishing I could be an antelope.... what a fast fast animal!- Average pace (8:17)

Monday, August 17th- 5 miles again with very little pain. I'm keeping the KT tape on for a while longer. My average pace (8:16) was quite a bit faster than before I took 2 1/2 weeks off. Either the pool running made me stronger or it just feels so good to be back at running that I'm pushing it a lot harder.

Now, the question is how fast can I increase my mileage after taking time off?

Recovery

For the past week I have followed my chiro's orders and I have NOT been running. No pool running, no biking... nothing! My IT bands are full of scar tissue, both of them.

I had my followup visit yesterday and he suggested I try running again today.

The first mile was exhilarating and then BAM... more annoying knee pain! I will continue treatments, ART and Graston until we get this worked out. I will continue icing and wishful thinking. Lets be honest here... I will be PRAYING for a quick recovery because time is running out. The marathon is less than two months away.

Super_Not

My running the past 10 days has pretty much been non-existent. After my 16 miler I went out for an easy 2 miler only to discover my ITBS problem is back. I attempted speed work a few days later in which the planned 7 miles turned into 4.

Determined to run my scheduled 18 miler the following Saturday, I ran through 10 miles of PAIN for a total of 11 miles. Yes, only the 1st mile was without pain. I thought I could just run through the pain but apparently it isn't so. By the time I got to 11 miles, I was barely walking.

The past 10 days I've taken to pool running. I purchased the Speedo jog belt where I've hit the deep end to continue with some kind of non-impact training. It's been kind of fun training in the water but not road running pain free is real depressing.

My Chiro has been using the Graston technique on my IT Bands. Yes, both of them are hurting now. Last week I came home with giant bruises along the band of tissue on each leg. Now that the bruises are mostly healed I am going back. Is that crazy or what?

I took a trial run this morning and was pain free for nearly 2 miles. This is good news! I am healing but with my scheduled 1/2 marathon this Saturday there is just no way to be 100% better. Today I will find out if a cortisone shot is an option.

To top it off, last week when I went to donate blood I found out my hematocrit was low. Likely, my iron level is down and I'm feeling it. Whatever happened to being invincible?