Happy New Year!
I was blogging on a weekly basis how my training for my furst Ultra in March was going and even i was getting bored of it! So i took a couple of weeks off from updates in the hope that there would be more to say and that it might be more interesting! We'll see i guess...
2013 was, on reflection, a good year. I started the year still as a cyclist (in the loosest sense of the word, more as someone that rides a bike) until i had cartilage surgery in March. That was a significant turning point for me.
I was back cycling post op after a couple of weeks and took my furst running steps in April covering a whopping 3.43 miles in the month. In May i was up to 43 miles for the month and from then pushed on nice and steady. By the end of 2013 i had run 1,086 miles with a longest run of 21 miles and a longest day of just short of 26 miles. Running twice daily as my commute has been incredible and probably had the single biggest impact on a return towards form.
In terms of my structured training towards the March ultra i have been slightly ahead of schedule in terms of mileage until very recently.
I seem to have developed a bit of ITBS, i think there are two main culprits. I was in London over Christmas and keen to try out my new Hoka Stinson Tarmac trainers i forgot my orthotics were in my other shoes (Brooks ghost) undeterred i did two runs of 8 miles each over 3 days. The lack of arch support, i think, caused my knee to bend in creating the issue. That's not the whole story though and while that may (or may not) have been the ultimate cause my lack of stretching regime is the real culprit.
On feeling the IT Band irrirate (and man did it hurt!) i immediately looked on Youtube for stretches and dug out the foam roller. You cannot roll too much or enough and i have been testing that theory. I also, on further research found that there will be issues re the glutes.
and
Turns out my left glute is in shocking condition unless of course it is meant to be like a stair rod. The first few stretches were awful, so painful. Persisting with this and introducing some hip strengthening and stretching has started to work. When i got home on Friday, having run, i was in real pain but this week i have been able to run and while it hurts its nothing like it was even last week. My plan is therefore to run commute whch will total 4.5 miles daily.To take this very slow and to continue with the stretching.
I do this first thing in the morning and a couple of times through the evening too.
So looking forward the plan is to get shot of this ITB issue ASAP and while doing that to continue to run albeit very slow and relatively short. I know i can ramp up afterwards so am not too concerned about that. It does need to go within 2-3 weeks though - is that even feasible?
So here's to more running and getting back to healthy running.
