Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Let the healing begin

Upon reflection, I may have been a bit overzealous about my schedule and running through my injury. Maybe I have been in denial?

I ran on Monday morning. I did 8 out of the 9 miles. There was supposed to be some LT work in there, but, wow, it was tough. It was very cold at 6 AM, the wind was blowing, I had many clothes on, my knee was bothering me, and I was out there thinking "why I am doing this?"

I did 8 miles on Monday AM at 6:10 AM at an average pace of 7:47. Mile 3 was at 7:07 and Mile 4 was at 7:17. I quickly cooled it after that insanity and ran just sub-8's.

My P.T. eval was Monday night. My therapist, Stacey, quickly pointed out a very glaring weakness in my gluteus medius (side ass muscle). This connects to the ITB and she claims this could have contributed to my knee pain. There is no hard evidence, but I am going to trust her that I need to rest, stretch and strengthen.

She didn't tell me to stop running (although it was clear that was what her advice was without saying it), since she knew that wasn't an idea that would be well-received. So, she cautiously advised me to rest as much as I can.

I reflected since Monday night as I went into my first "real" session with Stacey tonight. "I don't want to keep running like this worrying about this knee" my mind told me. And, "if there's any time to take a minor break, why not mid-January when the winds here in Chicago are wicked and it's freezing cold?".

SO... I have decided I will not run until... (drum roll please) ... Saturday, Jan 20th, and MAYBE Monday, Jan 22nd. This will give me precisely 12 weeks to Boston. There's a great Hal Higdon 12-weeker to Boston that I will likely follow (see his site).

In the interim, I will do stretch and strengthen exercises that Stacey gave me two times per day - along with foam rolling the IT band. This will be 12 solid days of no running with therapy.

To sum it up, this sucks. It is psychologically challenging... But I need to do it. I can't limp along like this all year. I want to run Boston pain-free and rock Chicago in October.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

It's tough not to run, but 12 solid weeks of training are much better than training and remaining in pain. Good luck.

Triseverance said...

Smart choice Ryan, really smart choice. My vote is Monday the 22nd. I think with ITB's from what I understand yes you need to find the root cause, but you also need to let them settle down and they are not easy to "run through" Rest, PT, Ice and Advil or RICE or whatever. Good luck

Banking Miles said...

Stacey noted your side ass muscle. Nice! Keep us updated on how the rest and recovery goes. Somehow I think that you will return much stronger. It may suck now but when you are rocking Chicago in October - you will look back at this fondly as a good step forward.

LeahC said...

great decision. I know it's hard to make calls like that, but in the end i think you'll be strong for training for Boston. Plus you don't want Boston to be a miserable experience because you are injured or worse yet...not make it to the starting line. Enjoy your time off!

MNFirefly said...

Awesome decision, Ryan. You will be stronger that way. You still have a great base.

yumke said...

Rest up, run smart and remember getting to Boston was the amazing feat.. you should run it with pride, not with pain!

Anonymous said...

Live in Boston, am running Boston this year, follow a 12 week program. Hang in there.