Nothing special about these days - just another 3 to 3.2 miles or so for each before feeling the IT band discomfort.
Due to my schedule, I'll be taking a couple of forced days off before the Olympic tri this weekend.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
IT band rehab - 8/24
This week I'm in Indiana for work, but fortunately I've been here a couple times before, and am familiar with a short stretch of road behind the hotel that is perfect for what I'm looking to do this week. It is only a mile long, but it is flat (as if there is any elevation change anywhere in this part of the country) and there is little to no traffic.
Total distance for today was 3.2 miles before I started distinctly feeling the IT band becoming sore. It occured to me that the best way for me to gauge improvement on this is not by distance (because pace can change) - but rather time, assuming I'm keeping a consistant cadence. While I haven't been concentrating on cadence - I know I'm around 85-90 per foot per minute. Regardless - when I first started having this issue, I would feeling it after about 5 minutes. After a week or so off, that time extended to around 10-12 minutes. After another week or so off (only a few days ago), that hadn't really changed too much, as I was still around 10-12 minutes. The fact that I'm now well beyond that - at 3.2 miles, with my pace probably around the 8:30 mark - I know I'm in the range of 24 minutes or so, even if I don't know the exact numbers. So it is either sheer coincidence that I'm doubling the time in a span of four days, or the new approach is speeding up recovery.
Total distance for today was 3.2 miles before I started distinctly feeling the IT band becoming sore. It occured to me that the best way for me to gauge improvement on this is not by distance (because pace can change) - but rather time, assuming I'm keeping a consistant cadence. While I haven't been concentrating on cadence - I know I'm around 85-90 per foot per minute. Regardless - when I first started having this issue, I would feeling it after about 5 minutes. After a week or so off, that time extended to around 10-12 minutes. After another week or so off (only a few days ago), that hadn't really changed too much, as I was still around 10-12 minutes. The fact that I'm now well beyond that - at 3.2 miles, with my pace probably around the 8:30 mark - I know I'm in the range of 24 minutes or so, even if I don't know the exact numbers. So it is either sheer coincidence that I'm doubling the time in a span of four days, or the new approach is speeding up recovery.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
IT band rehab - 8/23
Today's run seemed like a bit of a set back. After running the full 1.8 miles yesterday with no issues, today I started feeling the IT band around the 1.6 mile mark again.
However, there are a few considerations that give me puase to consider it a full set back. First, yesterdays run was around 10:30 pm, and todays was around 1:30 pm - so there was barely more than 12 hours between the two. This is as opposed to the almost 24 hours usually provided between runs. Second, it followed an hour and a half of mowing the lawn (about 3-4 miles worth of walking) as well as another hour and a half or so of walking the dog (another 3 miles or so). So when considering those factors, the fact that it took until 1.8 miles to feel anything is actually a good thing.
Shoes used today were the ones purchased in 10/08.
However, there are a few considerations that give me puase to consider it a full set back. First, yesterdays run was around 10:30 pm, and todays was around 1:30 pm - so there was barely more than 12 hours between the two. This is as opposed to the almost 24 hours usually provided between runs. Second, it followed an hour and a half of mowing the lawn (about 3-4 miles worth of walking) as well as another hour and a half or so of walking the dog (another 3 miles or so). So when considering those factors, the fact that it took until 1.8 miles to feel anything is actually a good thing.
Shoes used today were the ones purchased in 10/08.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
IT band rehab - 8/22
Once again, I did the 1.8 mile loop around the neighborhood. Yesterday, I started feeling the IT band around the 1.2 mile mark (sporadic), and by 1.6 miles or so, it was a consistent presence.
Today, I completed the entire loop without any issues whatsoever. The entire 1.8 miles without even feeling a hint of complaining from the IT band. I was tempted to keep going a bit, but decided to hold back.
Tomorrow I'm planning on doing my 3 mile loop, where I'll hopefully be able to see a definate difference in how far I can go before feeling anything.
(shoes used today were the ones purchased in 10/08 with about 280 miles on them.)
Today, I completed the entire loop without any issues whatsoever. The entire 1.8 miles without even feeling a hint of complaining from the IT band. I was tempted to keep going a bit, but decided to hold back.
Tomorrow I'm planning on doing my 3 mile loop, where I'll hopefully be able to see a definate difference in how far I can go before feeling anything.
(shoes used today were the ones purchased in 10/08 with about 280 miles on them.)
Friday, August 21, 2009
IT band rehab - 8/21
After the run last night, I decided to take a different approach to the IT band rehab. Instead of waiting by idly (which is starting to drive me a little batty, as it is frustrating), I'd try running a short distance (1-2 miles) daily - basically going until I felt mild discomfort. There are a couple thoughts behind this - one, soft tissue damage often heals more quickly when used to a degree due to the increased blood flow; two, while it certainly wont improve my fitness level, and may not even keep it at the status quo, it will at least slow down any loss of performance; three, I am curious as to whether the discomfort will come about more quickly after a few days of this.
So I just did a 1.8 mile loop in the neighborhood that includes a good size uphill as well as the subsequent downhill. I started feeling the IT band around 1.25 miles, but it was a little sporadic - I'd feel it for a few steps, and then it'd go away. It wasn't until around 1.6 miles or so that it was constant. The last 0.2 miles were with that little bit of discomfort. Shoes worn were shoes purchased in 2/09, with about 186 miles on them.
So all in all, it came on at right around the same time as yesterday.
So I just did a 1.8 mile loop in the neighborhood that includes a good size uphill as well as the subsequent downhill. I started feeling the IT band around 1.25 miles, but it was a little sporadic - I'd feel it for a few steps, and then it'd go away. It wasn't until around 1.6 miles or so that it was constant. The last 0.2 miles were with that little bit of discomfort. Shoes worn were shoes purchased in 2/09, with about 186 miles on them.
So all in all, it came on at right around the same time as yesterday.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
IT Band rehab - 8/20
As it has been nearly 3 weeks of resting and hoping the IT band will recover, today I decided to give a shot at a 3 mile run to see how things felt. The other week I had done something similar, and at around 1/2 to 3/4 mile, I started to notice it. By the time I got to 2 miles, it was definately trending in a direction I didn't like. It wasn't painful, but it also wasn't going away. That run was done after about 3-4 days worth of stretching and minor strengthening exercises.
Ever since then, I've been pretty good about stretching the band on a daily basis. The stretching I've been doing has been a combination of the typical IT band stretches (similar to #2 and #3 here), as well as the foam roller stretch here (except I dont have a foam roller - only a 4" piece of PVC). In addition, I've been doing side leg lifts, and Walt Reynolds IT special for stretching and strengthening.
So, with a good solid number of stretching/strengthening days, I figured I'd test the waters.
This time, I started feeling it after about 1.25-1.5 miles - about 10 to 12 minutes. Thats an improvement, but still somewhat disappointing. I was able to finish the 3 miles, experiencing only minor discomfort, by stopping a couple times for a walk break. Interestingly enough, after starting up, the IT band would be sore for a few steps before going away for a couple minutes and then reappearing.
Just for the sake of getting all pieces of data on the table, I ran with my shoes purchased in 10/08 - they have about 280 miles on them.
Ever since then, I've been pretty good about stretching the band on a daily basis. The stretching I've been doing has been a combination of the typical IT band stretches (similar to #2 and #3 here), as well as the foam roller stretch here (except I dont have a foam roller - only a 4" piece of PVC). In addition, I've been doing side leg lifts, and Walt Reynolds IT special for stretching and strengthening.
So, with a good solid number of stretching/strengthening days, I figured I'd test the waters.
This time, I started feeling it after about 1.25-1.5 miles - about 10 to 12 minutes. Thats an improvement, but still somewhat disappointing. I was able to finish the 3 miles, experiencing only minor discomfort, by stopping a couple times for a walk break. Interestingly enough, after starting up, the IT band would be sore for a few steps before going away for a couple minutes and then reappearing.
Just for the sake of getting all pieces of data on the table, I ran with my shoes purchased in 10/08 - they have about 280 miles on them.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
1.3 mile swim - 8/15
Still taking time off from running due to the IT band irritation (which is resulting in a secondary irritation, as it is incredibly frustrating to be missing this much training time!), I decided I mine as well keep active by a long swim. The other reason for doing a long swim is the upcoming olympic distance triathlon on August 30, where the swim portion is an entire mile.
Previously, the longest swim I had done in one continuous session was a few weeks ago, when I did the 0.8 miles in the lake. Today I returned to the lake, and did a full up and back lap. With a single lap distance of 0.65 miles, the shortest distance was 1.3 miles. However, I am not very good at sighting while swimming, so I tended to veer off course a bit. Quite a bit, actually. I wouldn't be surprised if I added a full tenth of a mile to the overall distance.
The primary goal of this swim was to engrain the two beat kick into muscle memory and get it so that it felt natural, and to get my old kicking style to feel unnatural. In this goal, I was largely successful.
A secondary goal was to start becoming more familiar with breathing from the opposite side. Last time in the lake, I started out with bilateral breathing, but ended up giving up quickly, and did all my breathing from the same side. This time, I went with a slightly different strategy - instead of doing full bilateral breathing, I'd breath for a few strokes on one side, and then switch to the other side. This allowed me to work on breathing from the opposite side without needing the extra aerobic capacity to last three strokes instead of two. It also allowed me to return to my comfortable side to give myself a breather, of sorrts. Finally, I was hoping that my alternating sides, my swimming would be straighter because I'd be more balanced. This result didn't come to fruition because, as it turns out, my mechanics are vastly different on one side than on the other - and that results in not swimming straight.
Finally, the last goal was overall form with the total immersion system. Having more time to become familiar and feel more natural with the highlights - pressing the bouy (which I didn't do to well at this time), keeping the head down (which I did a reasonable job of), and using the roll and catch to generate power (which I did an OK job of).
Lap 1: 25:20 (avg HR 170/end HR 168)
Lap 2: 4:23 (break)
Lap 3: 30:04 (avg HR 169/end HR 177)
Overall, considering it was, by far, the longest continuous swim I've ever done, I felt pretty good at the end. My arms, while tired, were not as fatigued as they've been in the past when swimming - a testament to the fact that I'm cutting through the water more efficiently as well as not using my shoulder muscles to generate as much of the power required to move through the water. My time for a 50 yd distance may actually be slower at the moment, but I'm swimming more efficiently - and at the moment, that is what I care about most.
However, the fact that my arms were fatigued is also an indication that I'm still not as efficient as I should be, and thus I am still needing to generate power from my arms to some degree. While I started feeling more comfortable with the two beat kick - I knew from the beginning that my method to doing so was not going to be as low drag as it should be. Instead of performing the kick and returning the legs to a neutral position (feet together) in preparation for the next kick, I actually kept the feet apart until the opposite kick stroke. The reason for this is that I wanted to make sure I performed the kick with the proper leg at the proper time. While this results in a two-step learning process, I wanted to make sure I had the overall rhythm of the two beat kick, if nothing else.
The other major problem was sighting. The first lap I was zigzaging quite a bit - everytime I looked up, I was off course. I was much better the second time around. But a large part of why I was going off course was because the balance of power generated when breathing from one side is quite different than when breathing from the other. In other words, my mechanics for the opposite side breathing are not nearly as efficient.
Previously, the longest swim I had done in one continuous session was a few weeks ago, when I did the 0.8 miles in the lake. Today I returned to the lake, and did a full up and back lap. With a single lap distance of 0.65 miles, the shortest distance was 1.3 miles. However, I am not very good at sighting while swimming, so I tended to veer off course a bit. Quite a bit, actually. I wouldn't be surprised if I added a full tenth of a mile to the overall distance.
The primary goal of this swim was to engrain the two beat kick into muscle memory and get it so that it felt natural, and to get my old kicking style to feel unnatural. In this goal, I was largely successful.
A secondary goal was to start becoming more familiar with breathing from the opposite side. Last time in the lake, I started out with bilateral breathing, but ended up giving up quickly, and did all my breathing from the same side. This time, I went with a slightly different strategy - instead of doing full bilateral breathing, I'd breath for a few strokes on one side, and then switch to the other side. This allowed me to work on breathing from the opposite side without needing the extra aerobic capacity to last three strokes instead of two. It also allowed me to return to my comfortable side to give myself a breather, of sorrts. Finally, I was hoping that my alternating sides, my swimming would be straighter because I'd be more balanced. This result didn't come to fruition because, as it turns out, my mechanics are vastly different on one side than on the other - and that results in not swimming straight.
Finally, the last goal was overall form with the total immersion system. Having more time to become familiar and feel more natural with the highlights - pressing the bouy (which I didn't do to well at this time), keeping the head down (which I did a reasonable job of), and using the roll and catch to generate power (which I did an OK job of).
Lap 1: 25:20 (avg HR 170/end HR 168)
Lap 2: 4:23 (break)
Lap 3: 30:04 (avg HR 169/end HR 177)
Overall, considering it was, by far, the longest continuous swim I've ever done, I felt pretty good at the end. My arms, while tired, were not as fatigued as they've been in the past when swimming - a testament to the fact that I'm cutting through the water more efficiently as well as not using my shoulder muscles to generate as much of the power required to move through the water. My time for a 50 yd distance may actually be slower at the moment, but I'm swimming more efficiently - and at the moment, that is what I care about most.
However, the fact that my arms were fatigued is also an indication that I'm still not as efficient as I should be, and thus I am still needing to generate power from my arms to some degree. While I started feeling more comfortable with the two beat kick - I knew from the beginning that my method to doing so was not going to be as low drag as it should be. Instead of performing the kick and returning the legs to a neutral position (feet together) in preparation for the next kick, I actually kept the feet apart until the opposite kick stroke. The reason for this is that I wanted to make sure I performed the kick with the proper leg at the proper time. While this results in a two-step learning process, I wanted to make sure I had the overall rhythm of the two beat kick, if nothing else.
The other major problem was sighting. The first lap I was zigzaging quite a bit - everytime I looked up, I was off course. I was much better the second time around. But a large part of why I was going off course was because the balance of power generated when breathing from one side is quite different than when breathing from the other. In other words, my mechanics for the opposite side breathing are not nearly as efficient.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
IT band rest, cycling balance, and two beat kicking
Ever since the IT band soreness from last Saturday, I've decided that I'm going to take this week completely off from running. The IT band soreness has been on and off for a couple weeks, and at this point (still more than 2 months away from the marathon), I'd rather just take the time now to get it healed rather than push it further.
In the mean time, I think the primary reason for it is the typical 'running on the same side of the road'. When you run against traffic, the left foot often has to stretch farther than the right due to the crown in the road surface. When this occurs foot strike after foot strike for long distances, it stretches the IT band. I also think that secondarily - just plain old overuse is a factor. I have to face it - the past couple months have seen much more mileage than I've ever run before. After running 20 miles on one day, I followed it up with 5 mile run and a 6 mile run after that, followed by the 8 x 1 mile repeat session the following week. So within 8 days, I had done nearly 40 miles. That is far more miles that I've done in such a short period of time before.
After Monday, I have not felt anything in my IT band - even when going up stairs. I suppose that I'm lucky in that things were not so bad to totally debilitate me. However, I have to be careful - because it was that false sense of being healed that I think played a major hand in continuing to train when I maybe should have taken time off a couple weeks ago.
In the mean time, I've been doing the IT band stretches and strengthening exercises.
As for the bicycle, I've actually continued to work on balance on the rollers. I'm not yet at the point where I'd feel comfortable with the clipless pedals, as I'm still working on balance. But in an attempt to hasten the balance skill development, I've been doing something a little unorthodox - trying to maintain balance while peddling slowly. When peddling quickly, the rotation of the tires creates enough centrifugal force to keep the bike upright relatively easily. But I want to develop balance above and beyond that - so by peddling slowly, I'm trying to further enhance my balance.
Finally, for swimming - I've really started concentrating on developing a two beat kick. It took a couple sessions in the endless pool to get a hang for the rhythm - I've been using the old rhythm for so many years that switching felt like trying to throw a ball with your weak arm. Just didn't feel coordinated at all.
Towards the end of the first session, there were a few moments when I felt the kick coming together.. and WOW - what a difference. It was fleeting, but I definately felt like I was surging forward in the water when I kicked. I'm not a naturally strong kicker, as my ankles are not very flexible - so I believe much of that power I was feeling was simply the legs (and all their weight and momentum) helping to snap the roll that much more quickly during the stroke. I've since done a couple more sessions in the endless pool to tighten up the form, and while more work still needs to be done - it has improved quite a bit already.
So thats the story with this week. This weekend is scheduled to be a 10 x 1 mile repeat workout. I'm not sure whether that will happen - I may just do a shorter run (5-6 miles) and see how the IT band feels, and punt on the speed work until the following weekend. Or, I may start with the repeats and go until I start feeling even minor discomfort, and call it a day. Or, I might do something real short like 3 miles on Friday night, and if all goes well, see how many repeats I can do on Saturday.
In the mean time, I think the primary reason for it is the typical 'running on the same side of the road'. When you run against traffic, the left foot often has to stretch farther than the right due to the crown in the road surface. When this occurs foot strike after foot strike for long distances, it stretches the IT band. I also think that secondarily - just plain old overuse is a factor. I have to face it - the past couple months have seen much more mileage than I've ever run before. After running 20 miles on one day, I followed it up with 5 mile run and a 6 mile run after that, followed by the 8 x 1 mile repeat session the following week. So within 8 days, I had done nearly 40 miles. That is far more miles that I've done in such a short period of time before.
After Monday, I have not felt anything in my IT band - even when going up stairs. I suppose that I'm lucky in that things were not so bad to totally debilitate me. However, I have to be careful - because it was that false sense of being healed that I think played a major hand in continuing to train when I maybe should have taken time off a couple weeks ago.
In the mean time, I've been doing the IT band stretches and strengthening exercises.
As for the bicycle, I've actually continued to work on balance on the rollers. I'm not yet at the point where I'd feel comfortable with the clipless pedals, as I'm still working on balance. But in an attempt to hasten the balance skill development, I've been doing something a little unorthodox - trying to maintain balance while peddling slowly. When peddling quickly, the rotation of the tires creates enough centrifugal force to keep the bike upright relatively easily. But I want to develop balance above and beyond that - so by peddling slowly, I'm trying to further enhance my balance.
Finally, for swimming - I've really started concentrating on developing a two beat kick. It took a couple sessions in the endless pool to get a hang for the rhythm - I've been using the old rhythm for so many years that switching felt like trying to throw a ball with your weak arm. Just didn't feel coordinated at all.
Towards the end of the first session, there were a few moments when I felt the kick coming together.. and WOW - what a difference. It was fleeting, but I definately felt like I was surging forward in the water when I kicked. I'm not a naturally strong kicker, as my ankles are not very flexible - so I believe much of that power I was feeling was simply the legs (and all their weight and momentum) helping to snap the roll that much more quickly during the stroke. I've since done a couple more sessions in the endless pool to tighten up the form, and while more work still needs to be done - it has improved quite a bit already.
So thats the story with this week. This weekend is scheduled to be a 10 x 1 mile repeat workout. I'm not sure whether that will happen - I may just do a shorter run (5-6 miles) and see how the IT band feels, and punt on the speed work until the following weekend. Or, I may start with the repeats and go until I start feeling even minor discomfort, and call it a day. Or, I might do something real short like 3 miles on Friday night, and if all goes well, see how many repeats I can do on Saturday.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
23 mile run - 8/1
When I ran the 20 miles a few weeks ago, I did so in the middle of the day. As it turned out, that day was one of the few sunny (but still humid, of course) days this year. I ended up not drinking enough fluids, and around mile 16, I had to walk for about 10 minutes to allow some nausea to subside. During that last 3.5-4 miles, I had to stop and walk quite a few times - the lactic acid and muscle soreness/tightness that built up during that 10 minute walk really hindered my ability to run continuously throughout those last few miles.
This time around, I finally got smart and decided to get up early and get the run over with during the cooler part of the day. So at 5 am, I woke up, and I was out of the house by 5:20. The weather was showing to be in the 60's - and although it was humid, it was FAR more comfortable. This time I also did a little bit more preparation - I had my fuel belt filled with gatorade, I had recently found little pill containers (similar to the containers here - minus the tube) that held just enough gatorade mix for 8 oz (the size of the Fuel Belt flasks) - so I was able to bring additional easily-dispensable mix, and I had gone out the night before to stash bottles of water along the route. I also brought a Clif Builders bar with me - if the Accelerade is a good long run supplement because of the protein, I figured this would be a good way to accomplish much the same thing.
The other major difference in this run was that I returned to the run-walk-run strategy - except this time instead of running for 1 mile and walking for 1 minute (as I did with the 13 and 15 mile runs previously), I ran for 4 minutes and walked for 30 seconds. This is closer to the ratios given by Galloway when looking for a 8-9 min/mile pace during a marathon. I reverted to the run-walk-run mostly because the outside of my left knee was still exhibiting soreness after a couple miles during my runs over the past week. I've since determined that it is likely an overuse injury on the IT band - but fortunately somewhat mild. I had been taking it easy during the week because I wanted to give that a chance to heal as much as possible - and I figured that if I took the walk breaks I could minimize pain and extend the run.
For the most part, it worked. I started feeling the IT band around mile 4-5 or so, but it was very minor discomfort so I was able to continue running. It started getting more aggravating over the next couple miles, but at mile 8 I took what ended up being a 5 minute break to refill my flasks at the first water stop. That break was enough to keep the aggravation away for a few miles, and allow me to continue to the second refill spot at mile 15 where I took another break to refill the flasks. After that break, I was able to continue for another 4 miles where the IT band just became too painful to continue on without concern of doing real damage. I ended up walking a large portion of those last 4 miles, as I was only able to run for a few minutes at a time, in between 5-7 minute walk breaks. I had thought about calling for a pick up - but since I was able to walk with no issue - I really wanted to get the 23 miles in under my own power.
The bummer about the whole thing is that everything else - hips, knees, muscles, energy levels, etc - all felt absolutely fine. In fact, had it not been for the IT band, I probably would have looked to run the last 6 miles or so continuously at an increased pace.
Throughout the rest of the day, I iced the IT band a few times, did some stretching and strengthening exercises (to try and speed recovery and prevent it from happening again), and before bed took some Advil to help get the inflammation down.
At this point, the most important thing is getting it healed up. I'll likely skip any running this week and continue with icing, stretching and strengthening. If I really need to, I can adjust my training schedule to skip the next long run and/or the next mile repeat session - as the mile repeats a couple weeks ago are when I really started feeling the IT band become aggravated more. I'd rather not skip either of those types of workouts - but if I need to, thats what I'll have to do.
Total Distance: 23.07 miles
Total Time: 4:18:16
Avg HR: 143
Mile by mile breakdown (time/avg HR)
(mile marks are +/- 200 yds of true mile marks - I lost my printout at around mile 5 and had to go by memory of landmarks)
Mile 1: 9:42/129
Mile 2: 9:40/140
Mile 3: 8:58/144
Mile 4: 9:53/146
Mile 5: 9:44/146
Mile 6: 9:28/150
Mile 7: 9:29/147
Mile 8: 10:27/149
Break: 5:05
Mile 9: 9:43/144
Mile 10: 9:45/149
Mile 11: 9:30/151
Mile 12: 9:36/149
Mile 13: 9:17/150
Mile 14: 10:36/153
Mile 15: 9:00/154
Break: 6:02
Mile 16: 10:08/150
Mile 17: 10:20/153
Mile 18: 9:13/153
Mile 19: 9:27/153
Mile 20: 17:19/133 (walk)
Mile 21: 13:13/136 (walk)
Mile 22: 16:48/129 (walk)
Mile 23: 15:33/132 (walk)
The main thing that I noticed was that throughout the entire running portion (excluding those last 4 miles where I had to walk a lot) - the pace was amazingly consistent around 9:45 min/mile. There were some variances due to terrain or my hitting the lap button within a couple hundred yards of the true mile spot. The 4 minutes of running with 30 seconds of walking really seemed to help with keeping a consistant pace as well as keeping the HR in check - often times below 150.
Also - the trend continues where I am generally able to run fairly comfortably through the distance of my last long run (in this case 20 miles). The IT band issue and its effects being excluded - my level of exertion through 20 miles (as dictated by HR) was kept well in check without sacrificing pace. Running during the early morning and out of the direct mid-day sun helped with that, I'm sure.
This time around, I finally got smart and decided to get up early and get the run over with during the cooler part of the day. So at 5 am, I woke up, and I was out of the house by 5:20. The weather was showing to be in the 60's - and although it was humid, it was FAR more comfortable. This time I also did a little bit more preparation - I had my fuel belt filled with gatorade, I had recently found little pill containers (similar to the containers here - minus the tube) that held just enough gatorade mix for 8 oz (the size of the Fuel Belt flasks) - so I was able to bring additional easily-dispensable mix, and I had gone out the night before to stash bottles of water along the route. I also brought a Clif Builders bar with me - if the Accelerade is a good long run supplement because of the protein, I figured this would be a good way to accomplish much the same thing.
The other major difference in this run was that I returned to the run-walk-run strategy - except this time instead of running for 1 mile and walking for 1 minute (as I did with the 13 and 15 mile runs previously), I ran for 4 minutes and walked for 30 seconds. This is closer to the ratios given by Galloway when looking for a 8-9 min/mile pace during a marathon. I reverted to the run-walk-run mostly because the outside of my left knee was still exhibiting soreness after a couple miles during my runs over the past week. I've since determined that it is likely an overuse injury on the IT band - but fortunately somewhat mild. I had been taking it easy during the week because I wanted to give that a chance to heal as much as possible - and I figured that if I took the walk breaks I could minimize pain and extend the run.
For the most part, it worked. I started feeling the IT band around mile 4-5 or so, but it was very minor discomfort so I was able to continue running. It started getting more aggravating over the next couple miles, but at mile 8 I took what ended up being a 5 minute break to refill my flasks at the first water stop. That break was enough to keep the aggravation away for a few miles, and allow me to continue to the second refill spot at mile 15 where I took another break to refill the flasks. After that break, I was able to continue for another 4 miles where the IT band just became too painful to continue on without concern of doing real damage. I ended up walking a large portion of those last 4 miles, as I was only able to run for a few minutes at a time, in between 5-7 minute walk breaks. I had thought about calling for a pick up - but since I was able to walk with no issue - I really wanted to get the 23 miles in under my own power.
The bummer about the whole thing is that everything else - hips, knees, muscles, energy levels, etc - all felt absolutely fine. In fact, had it not been for the IT band, I probably would have looked to run the last 6 miles or so continuously at an increased pace.
Throughout the rest of the day, I iced the IT band a few times, did some stretching and strengthening exercises (to try and speed recovery and prevent it from happening again), and before bed took some Advil to help get the inflammation down.
At this point, the most important thing is getting it healed up. I'll likely skip any running this week and continue with icing, stretching and strengthening. If I really need to, I can adjust my training schedule to skip the next long run and/or the next mile repeat session - as the mile repeats a couple weeks ago are when I really started feeling the IT band become aggravated more. I'd rather not skip either of those types of workouts - but if I need to, thats what I'll have to do.
Total Distance: 23.07 miles
Total Time: 4:18:16
Avg HR: 143
Mile by mile breakdown (time/avg HR)
(mile marks are +/- 200 yds of true mile marks - I lost my printout at around mile 5 and had to go by memory of landmarks)
Mile 1: 9:42/129
Mile 2: 9:40/140
Mile 3: 8:58/144
Mile 4: 9:53/146
Mile 5: 9:44/146
Mile 6: 9:28/150
Mile 7: 9:29/147
Mile 8: 10:27/149
Break: 5:05
Mile 9: 9:43/144
Mile 10: 9:45/149
Mile 11: 9:30/151
Mile 12: 9:36/149
Mile 13: 9:17/150
Mile 14: 10:36/153
Mile 15: 9:00/154
Break: 6:02
Mile 16: 10:08/150
Mile 17: 10:20/153
Mile 18: 9:13/153
Mile 19: 9:27/153
Mile 20: 17:19/133 (walk)
Mile 21: 13:13/136 (walk)
Mile 22: 16:48/129 (walk)
Mile 23: 15:33/132 (walk)
The main thing that I noticed was that throughout the entire running portion (excluding those last 4 miles where I had to walk a lot) - the pace was amazingly consistent around 9:45 min/mile. There were some variances due to terrain or my hitting the lap button within a couple hundred yards of the true mile spot. The 4 minutes of running with 30 seconds of walking really seemed to help with keeping a consistant pace as well as keeping the HR in check - often times below 150.
Also - the trend continues where I am generally able to run fairly comfortably through the distance of my last long run (in this case 20 miles). The IT band issue and its effects being excluded - my level of exertion through 20 miles (as dictated by HR) was kept well in check without sacrificing pace. Running during the early morning and out of the direct mid-day sun helped with that, I'm sure.
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