Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Time to get my stretch on

I've been getting lots of advice on the left knee issue I reported over the weekend. Truth is, I am not entirely certain if it's the runner's knee or IT band friction syndrome, but I am leaning toward the IT band at this point.

I liked what Andrew had written saying that injury may be part of the program. At a minimum, it is teaching me about my training and my body's response.

I've never been a good stretcher. In fact, I may be a candidate for the most inflexible human being on earth. I damn near crack in half when I try to touch my toes. Nevertheless, I'm going to start gettin' my stretch on. It seems inevitable if I want to lick this knee problem.

I went out yesterday morning for recovery 4-miler. I wore a knee band that I bought at Walmart for some additional support. The knee felt OK, but I was glad to be done. I could still feel some discomfort.

Good news for today: No knee pain whatsoever. Oh wait, that' s because I didn't run. Damn. But I did go to the gym to test the knee a little bit on the elliptical, the bike and some easy strength training. All went well. Felt perfect.

I'm saving up for tomorrow morning's run. I hope to do a solid 7.

My immediate focus is to try to run the Vegas Half injury-free 11 days from now. I'm skeptical on a PR given my state, but I won't write it off altogther either. Can't believe I need to start Boston training right afterward.

4 comments:

Theoutofshapeguy said...

Ryan,
What you have been going through with your knee is what I went through during training. IT band friction syndrome was what I was diagnosed with. Get a foam roller. I used mine all the time and it really helped. If you get a roller use the stretches on the botton of page 3 on this link: http://www.smiweb.org/massage_clinic/pdf/roller_guide.pdf.

Biofreeze spray and kinesiotaping also do wonders. Also if you can, have Active Release Technique (ART) can be used.

KY said...

Ryan,
If you need a stretching routine, I can forward one to you. It has helped me out tremendously!

MNFirefly said...

Stretching works wonders and makes running feel like a dream...along with a good ice bath too. :D

A said...

I'm just getting into stretching -- a necessary bore. My old knees, old calves, old back: they all need to be coaxed and wooed. Nice to see that faster runners need to as well.

Anthony Trendl
Runner's Dilemma: Training Again After 22 Years