My IT Band Injury Recovery Progress

As mentioned before on this blog, I came down with a leg injury the week before my participation in January 23's Ocala Marathon. It was insidious; the first sign was a seemingly normal ache around the outer portion of my right knee following my breakthrough first-ever marathon run, accomplished on January 15 around northern Gainesville. The next week saw my training runs marred by some pain in that area after having run a few miles. Still, I felt that there was a good chance that I could make it through the Ocala Marathon, pain or not. Wrong, oh-so wrong. I was hurting so much that I had to walk the final seven miles (although it still counts as my second successful marathon finish). In retrospect, though, I should have skipped this event. Especially after discovering the nature of my injury: inflammation of my right iliotibial band, a long section of tissue that stretches the outer length of the leg and attaches itself at various crucial points, most notably at the knee. IT band injuries, as they are more commonly known, need a lot of rest, not more aggravation! I spent the next two weeks completely avoiding any running, although other forms of exercise like walking, swimming, bicycling, and working on the elliptical cross-training machine at my local gym have not bothered me in the slightest. This may be a good sign after I read that cycling should be avoided during recovery. Perhaps my strain wasn't all that severe (I hope).

Yesterday I ran around the block next to my house (two thirds of a mile). There was no pain, always a good sign. But then again, in my previous runs, it always took me running a few miles before any pain set in. So tomorrow (if it ever stops raining around here) I will attempt a 4.1 mile run. If that goes well, then on Thursday I'll step up the mileage even more.

I think that there is a distinct possibility that new running shoes may have been a contributing factor to my IT band injury, so I'm going back to my old Reeboks. I also plan a visit to a local specialty running store to try to buy a pair of shoes that are the most similar in design to these Reeboks, the particular model of which sadly seems to be out of production.

If all continues to go well, then I might just enter the Gainesville LifeSouth Five Points Half-Marathon for February 23. It would be a great victory for me should I be able to overcome this injury in time for it. But I am also readying myself for the possibility that the road to full recovery may take a while longer.