Well it’s official; I am a runner now that I have my first running injury. About a week before the Dam to Dam I developed Iliotibial band syndrome. It’s very common among runners and I did not know what it was at the time. I did not want to tell my coach as I did not want to miss the Dam to Dam. Once I got it the pain just kept getting worse with every run. I finally had to stop running as the pain was unbearable. So the week of Dam to Dam I rested on running except for an Intervals workout on Wednesday night. With this injury you feel like someone is sticking an ice pick into the outside of your knee every time you take a step with that leg. I had hoped to rest it and run the Dam to Dam recovered. No such luck. The morning of Dam to Dam I felt the injury pop up after the first half mile. Then it proceeded to get worse the farther I ran. By mile ten my leg was on fire and now instead of an ice pick it felt like a hot iron was being forced into the side of my knee. As I crossed the finish line I could barely walk. I was helped over to the side by a worker. Later that day I could not walk at all from the pain of the other leg that tried to compensate for my bad knee. I finally consulted my coach and he confirmed what was wrong and now we are working on a plan to correct the problem. Luckily it does not affect swimming and biking so we will be working on those sports until the IT Band gets fixed and my knee is back to normal. My coach explained it was probably from overtraining and not stretching properly before and after each run. I guess I should have hired my coach sooner to avoid these things.
See you at the Finish Line!
Dave
