Well, this past week has been a lesson on keeping positive during a tough situation.
After my appointment with the Athletic Therapist (AT) last week I decided to get a second opinion last Friday regarding my knee/IT band pain. Not that I don't trust my AT's opinion/advice but I like to exhaust all avenues. Saw a Physio at my old clinic up in the north end of the city. He pretty much confirmed what my AT already told me - IT band is chronically tight and that I have to back off of running for a week. He also ultra-sounded the knee area where the IT band crosses and performed IMS from my hip all the way down. IMS is where they basically jab needles into a tight muscle, and wiggle it to get it to release. Finally he gave me a couple of additional stretches to perform.
Been biking/swimming lots since then but now the pain is starting to cross over from running into cycling. I'm not sure what to do now...I have been icing it, applying heat, stretching, foam roller, applying the STICK, tennis balls...you name it and I have been doing it 2-3 times per day. Each time it takes me roughly an hour to run through the gamut of exercises. I have been eating ibuprofen like candy to help with the inflammation as well which is something I never do.
I am not sure what do else at this point. My AT and Physio both sent me off and said there is nothing else they can do. My benefits don't cover massage so that is out at the moment. I think I am going to back off some of the stretches b/c they seem to irritate the knee area...Friday I am suppose to start running again but I'm afraid I'm screwed in that dept.
Really I need about 3 weeks of solid rest but unfortunately I am racing in a month...lol. I am going to have to suck it up even more over the next little while and try push through it. I can't even begin to think about the worst case scenerio...I can't even let that thought in.
Anyways, thats it...my current struggle is not with the workouts, with eating, motivation...it is my body saying it needs a break.
Happy Hump Day
2 comments:
My high school math teacher used to call Wednesday, "Peak Performance Day." Lol -- yup, he had a good sense of humour.
Sorry to hear about your knee issues. I think its a good idea to stop doing stretches that irritate your knee, what else can you do, eh?
Good luck with healing, Shannon!
Here I am, a total non-coach, giving coach advice. Here are your options as I see them.
1) Damn the torpedos, training full speed ahead. Which results in you probably not getting to the start line, let alone the finish line. To say nothing about screwing up your legs for the rest of your life.
2) Do nothing on the training front except to continue the various therapies somewhere on the scale between firmly and aggressively. Rest your legs. This will give them some time to recover, and hopefully relax. Meaning you get to the start line in great shape, ready to go. You can maintain your overall fitness through swimming. With any luck you'll be rested up in time for some tweaking and tuning workouts in the week before the race.
3) Something in between, hoping to recover enough to get to the start line ready to race. With every workout you'll be wondering if this is the one that pushes your system from injured to broken.
Myself, I'd tend toward #2, but then it's well known I'm a wimp that doesn't like pain, and is still working on the HTFU process.
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