Despite the rainy weather this weekend, my running mate and I decided to tough it out and run our longest run before the half in two weeks. Since the half is 13.1 miles, our goal was to do 12 this weekend, then 8-10 next weekend, and then rest until the race. Unfortunately, at about mile 7 my knee started acting up, and by mile 9 I could hardly even walk on it, so we only made it to 10. This is a little disconcerting considering we only made it 10 miles, and it was so painful I am now really nervous about the last 3 that I will have to grit out during the real thing.
I went to the orthopedist a few weeks ago, and he had diagnosed me with ITBS (Ileotibial band syndrome) which is pretty much labeled "Runner's Knee" for the exact reason I have it now. The IT Band runs from your hip to your knee, and is like a piece of leather that doesn't stretch very well. The problem comes when that band gets repeatedly stretched to its max, and the friction against the bones in your knee causes it to start this kind of horrible pain. You can't really tell exactly where it's coming from, but if you touch the bony part of the outside of your knee and then move toward your thigh about an inch or so, you can push and make the pain. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot you can do for it except ice it, rest it, stretch it, and take NSAIDs (which I'm on) daily to try and combat the pain. Further down the road there is the possibility of injections in the bursa of your knee if it becomes inflamed, but that is more of a last minute type of resort.
I had been doing well with it the last couple of runs, even our 9 mile long run last week, but this week wasn't so lucky. AND of course, my orthopedist is on vacation this week! I'm hoping I can just take these two weeks to rest WELL, run a few short runs (3-4 miles) and hopefully it will rally for the race on April 7th.
Dreaming of a happy knee...
Love,
Brittanie
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