I am now convinced that my knee pain is actually an IT band issue. Not a big problem, but a serious annoyance as I get back into the old rhythms.
Everyone seems to sing the praises of foam rollers, but I have yet to try one. I would say it is because running should be simple and good mechanics & stretching will solve most problems… but the truth is, I’m just cheap (just ask Stacy).
This might finally be enough to get me to part with enough cash to get a decent foam roller from Dave’s Running this weekend. It doesn’t hurt that Stacy got a coupon for a foam roller as part of the 5k training group. Ease the pain in my wallet, I suppose.
Today was cross-training, and with the IT band issues I’m having it was assuredly a no-impact day.
As such, today was 30 minutes on the bike at the local YMCA, listening to the Rocky Balboa soundtrack. Normally, I would watch Sportscenter on the attached mini-TV, but the unit on the bike I could get is broken. So I scrolled through the trusty iPod and found Rocky. Score.
It was nice to be able to have a cross-training day today. Working on the bike and then taking 10 minutes to stretch well seems to have alleviated most of the pain in my left knee/IT band, but the right one is being stubborn. Icy Hot and more stretching tonight is the current self-prescription.
For all the injuries I’ve had in my running career, IT problems have never counted among them until very recently. It is not alarming, but it is, again, an annoyance. Better than the Achilles tendon problems I had in the Army, that’s for damn sure.
Tomorrow I shift from the recovery week on the schedule to the full training week that I missed last week (technically, today.. but cross-training comes every Monday). Being sick was yet another annoyance, but it is far enough out from Glass City that I don’t think it will impact me too badly.
