Yesterday was a kick in the taint. I had been working towards a goal for two years. That goal, was to run a marathon. I was going to try and run one last year, but I just didn't have the distance built up yet. So, I put it off to this year. I again wasn't quite where I wanted to be for mileage, but I was a lot closer. Not wanting to bail on the run for a second time, I went for it.
Needless to say, it didn't go to plan. I managed to get to the 1/2 way point. At which I couldn't even walk. I wasn't even out of breath. It was my left knee. Specifically, my IT Band attachment point along the outside of my left knee was the issue. It was exceptionally painful. There was just no way I could make the full distance. It hurt just as much mentally as physically.
So, the end of this journey will be about 1 year from now. I plan to try again next year. Not sure if I can, since I can't even think about starting to train for it again until I get this injury healed. So, I'm not starting from zero, hence the name of this blog. Even today, walking hasn't been easy. I've been icing on and off since yesterday, and if anyone wants to buy stock in Advil, that's likely a good move.
I don't know when I'll be able to even make a short 1-2 mile run again. For now, its RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation), and Advil. I also ordered one of those foam rollers. I have heard/read lots of good things about using that to help with IT Band issues.
Also, further research has indicated that IT Band pain is the most common running injury. Looks like my ITB was doing too much work as I was getting into the higher mileages in my training. While I had all the cardio fitness I needed, I didn't have the leg strength and stability muscle that I needed. So, the ITB was taking up the slack, but it can't do that work for long. Its not made for that. So, the lower attachment point on the side of my left knee and about 4 inches below is QUITE sore. Even sore to the touch.
One of the most prescribed exercises to build the needed leg strength is single leg squats. It will be a while before I can even think about doing those. But, that should be one of my tickets to getting my legs strong enough to not overwork my ITB. Maybe a month from now I can think about these. We'll see.
These types of injuries are infamous for being very slow to heal. So, that's why I don't know if I can get this healed, get the requisite leg strength I need, as well as retrain for the 26.2 mile distance, all in one years time. But, we'll see. This blog will be my account of this little journey. Hopefully, it will end well and be a great success story. Perhaps it will even be inspirational to someone else out there. For now, this is just me getting out a lot of my frustration, and trying to keep track of things as I give this another shot. This time, starting from -1.
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