The Running Returns

My IT (ilio-tibial) band on my right leg is super tight. I've known this for a while, and I had been keeping up on running for just that reason until this last fall. I'm going to go ahead and place the blame for my getting injured while running squarely on that, but in a roundabout way. See, over the weekend, I did a lot of rubbing and massaging and pounding on my IT band. And while taking a therapeutically hot shower, I did a little hip twist. I typically do this kind of twist, but I happened to notice this time that I wasn't doing the exact same motion when twisting to my right.

So I focused on the motion I was getting to the left and then focused hard on emulating it to the right. When I finally got it, I could feel that the motion was being impeded by nothing other than my IT band. And I could feel the pain going all the way from my knee to my lower back at the edge of the range of motion.

I'd been having stiffness in my lower back on the right side for a few months, but until that moment in the shower, I hadn't realized that it was connected to the IT band that has given me trouble for years.

So now I know that I really shouldn't take long breaks from running. Ever.

It might not cause gait issues, as it has in the past, but it can and will cause other issues. I need to be a runner, even if I'll never be a fast runner or a high volume runner.

I did manage to get myself into a position to complete the April running challenge by doing a few days of very slow runs, and also by working at this IT band. I'm back to being able to do a mile under 11 minutes, and I'm hopeful that I might be able to hit one under 10 before the end of the month. My plan is to finish on Sunday with a set of two. I found last Saturday that running one mile and then taking a break, makes the second mile quite a bit faster. So that's how I'll set up to try and run my fastest mile of the month.

And next off-season, I'm just going to have to keep up with the running instead of letting things slide. I know my excuse this past winter was the lack of good footwear, but I really can't let that stop me from taking proper care with the known issue of the tight IT band.

Ran into a Problem

Well, I haven't run a single mile in the past week. I managed to pull a groin area muscle last week after a heavy deadlift workout. I started out too fast, started to hurt and finished really slow (maybe I shouldn't have finished...).

So that completely derailed me from running.

I did try a slow jog on Sunday during the workout, but I ended up exacerbating the hurt and switched over to ski erg instead. If I want to get 20 1 mile runs in April, then I need to do one per day starting today. So I will try today, and see if I can run a slow mile and get my body back into the running thick of things. But I'm not going to push to complete the April challenge, because I'd rather not keep injuring myself.

If I need to go every other day for a while, or just take some breaks, then I'll do that, because I want to be Spartan ready by the end of June.

I finished 20 weeks of my Spartan training plan last Sunday (luckily my training plan workouts don't include running). I'm pretty happy with where I'm at strength-wise, though I'd like to be a bit lighter so it's easier to haul my own body weight around. Still, I'm back to getting a full 20 seconds hanging from my right hand, and nearly that on the left. Going on toes for the rest of the tabata, but 20 seconds of one arm hanging is still pretty spiffy (as I was reminded of by Coach Maria the other day when she told she can't do that).

I've spent the last week incessantly rubbing and massaging and doing anything I could think of to ease my groin strain. I actually spent some time at Crossfit with a foam roller just stuck between my legs - squeezing it there did feel pretty good on the pain, but it looked pretty awkward I think. It's mostly not painful now, but I know that if I try to run fast, it's going to get painful pretty quick. That's kind of what happened on Sunday, because I started getting comfortable, speeding up, and wham - the pain returneth.

So time to start some slow and steady, and get these legs Spartan ready.

Getting Back into Running

I stopped running on a regular basis last year. The main reason was that my favorite shoes were worn out, so I had to get new shoes. But my favorite shoes, the ones that I'd been wearing until they were worn out and then re-purchasing, were no longer being manufactured (I miss you Merrell Pace Gloves!). Those shoes had a very stretchy mesh toe box, and they allowed my toes to spread in comfort. I've been measured before at shoe stores and told that I don't have wide feet. Which is HILARIOUS, because when I put on shoes that are not wide enough, I can feel my toes pressing uncomfortably into the sides of the material, which seems like I must have wide feet.

Okay, not hilarious, just weird. And frustrating.

At any rate, my replacement shoes were some Reeboks that I found at Costco for cheap that are okay, and a pair of Reebok Nanos that I absolutely must wear thin socks with and my toes still rub against the sides a bit. With those shoes, I was reluctant to keep on running, outside of the occasional jog for a CrossFit workout.

But it is spring now, and I've got several factors pushing me back into running, despite the discomfort of imperfect shoes. Most importantly, backpacking season is coming. I know from experience that if I'm not running regularly, then I have to loosen up my ilio-tibial band the hard way, while backpacking. I can do it that way, but I'd much rather not. I also have a Spartan race coming up in June and while I don't intend to be running the whole time, I want to have a good baseline of running in addition to the obstacle training that I've been doing. Lastly, my CrossFit box has a running challenge going on this month, and it's at a level that I actually feel comfortable achieving - 1 mile per day for 20 days in April. I'm competing only against myself, so I think I can win.

I've already kind of won - I've improved on my first time by nearly 2 minutes. Which may just mean that I was really going slowly on that first mile... But I do know I need to ease myself back into running, and one mile is a nice distance. I will have to run longer to loosen up for backpacking, but this lets my body get used to the pounding and the breathing and the pain.

I'd like to get a mile under 10 minutes by the end of the month. My first mile this month was 12:33, and on Monday I got one at 10:37 by running along with a much faster runner. And then 10:43 on my own yesterday. So below 10 minutes is probably not out of reach - especially if I keep doing run-alongs with those faster runners that I know through CrossFit. A whole bunch of them are currently training for the Robie Creek Half Marathon, so running with me is a nice, slow recovery jog.

OCR Improvements

I didn't get to the OCR class when I had originally planned to go in March because I wasn't feeling the best that month. But I wanted to get there at least once, so, even though I could feel myself coming down with something, I went last Saturday.

The interesting thing about the class was that it was listed as having a substitute instructor. So, it wouldn't be the same guy that I'd seen the last few times I went. I hoped that wouldn't mean it was harder, since I wasn't feeling one hundred percent.

The class felt pretty large, though there were only about 16 of us. It felt bigger, in part because there were other people in the gym and they kind of jumped in and out of doing the obstacles. The warm up let me know that I was definitely coming down with something, because running around the gym, doing small sets of burpees and squats, should not have made me feel so achey and tired.

We started with rope climbs, though the instructor allowed a small group to start on the monkey bars instead. I thought about going with the small group since I'm pretty comfortable with rope climbs by now, but then I decided to stick with the ropes. I shared a rope with two others, including one girl whose name I don't remember - I do know that she's been at the other OCR classes I've been to though. We took turns going up the rope. I started out pretty shaky, but managed to get several three-pulls once I warmed up.

Then the group as a whole went over to the monkey bars, and I made my way across the "normal" bars without too much trouble. I couldn't go very fast, or hand over hand as I had last time. But I made it. And I tried to coax a nervous girl into giving the bars a try. She did eventually try, and dropped almost immediately. But the cool part was that she did (after more coaxing) try again, making it to the second bar. Even cooler, when she tried one last time, she made it through about five.

I was nervous to try the large multi-level bars, but I did it anyway. And, even though I was feeling ill and nervous, I made it across. I am getting stronger in my grip and with my body control. I did try the multi-level bars a second time, but I did the exact same thing I did in the Spartan race last year - I reached out for the higher bar, missed it and swung back. Well, it wasn't exactly the same, because I managed to recover and hold onto the first bar - but I dropped rather than try again.

I think I'll be okay for the Spartan Race this year - as long as I don't come down with something the weekend of!