The Hurt Locker

It doesn’t have to be said that everyone has its own way to tolerate and overcome pain. Some can easily endure giving birth, while others cry when bumping the foot into the wall – that is my case by the way if you are wondering :-)

As mentioned in previous posts, I felt a lot of pain on my first trainings. The day after each run it felt like I had fallen from the top of a building and a cement truck passed over my body as an extra. Do you know that sensation you have during a cold when your body feels heavy like a bag of potatoes? Yes, that one! 

Anyway, it was bearable and I knew that it was the result of a very intense and exhausting exercise. I was pushing a lazy and sedentary body to limits until then unknown to him. However, what was worrying me was not the post-workout soreness, it was the pain on my knees.

I began to feel a discomfort on my right knee at the beginning of each run. It was not a horrible ache, but it was big enough to start making me feel concerned. After all, if I ended up injuring myself I would never be able to run Milton Keynes in May.

I started researching. Analyzing. Reading. I wanted to know until which point it was ok to feel some discomfort, after all, when you accept in your mind that you are training for half marathon you know you will have to endure some pain. But until what point?

So I used the power of Google to try to answer this question. I know if you have something serious you need to look for professional’s help, but deep inside I knew it was probably just something I was doing wrong.

After reading blogs, more blogs and specialized portals (Livestrong is a bless! I love this website, recommend to everyone!) I tried a couple of recipes. I don’t know which one was more effective (or the combination of many), but what makes me confident is that it is actually helping. I ran my 3 miles on Tuesday faster than I usually do, 5 miles on Wednesday - the horrible weather day - and 3 miles yesterday and I still can go up and down the stairs like a normal person!

Anyway, I will stop with this gibberish and jump to what I have been doing to improve my knee’s care. First, I found this sketch that differentiates pain zones on the knee. The soreness I feel is exactly on the outside and extends from the knee itself to up and down the lateral of my leg. Bang! It is ITB, or Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITB), that according to Runner’s World (another one of my website saviour’s), is one of the most common overuse injuries among runners. It occurs when the iliotibial band, the ligament that runs down the outside of the thigh from the hip to the shin, is tight or inflamed.

And why does it happen? Many many many factors. The ones I think were relevant to my case were the use of not appropriated shoes when I started training, lack of strength on my hips/legs and, not surprisingly, running TOO SLOW.

The wrong-shoes factor I solved a couple of weeks ago (expensive, irght). The lack of strength I am working on with squats and calf exercises 2 or 3 times a week depending on the load of assignments from school (and patience). Finally, the speed part. That is the hardest one. According to The Thriathlete website, speeding up your cadence to closer to 180 steps per minute, you are more likely to strike under your center of mass and decrease the impact of the exercise on your body.

It is not easy, not at all, increasing my speed. I thought I was already doing my maximum by running the amount of miles I was doing. “OMG, I am a runner now”. Nop, not enough. I have to run FASTER.

Accordingly, I am slowly slowly increasing my speed both on outdoor and treadmill trainnings, and it is actually working. Not only I am shortening my times but I am also feeling less pain. Some days, no pain at all. I was afraid of running faster and injury myself when actually improving my cadence was all I need to decrease my pain. How I was suppose to know??? Living and learning after all.

And the cherry of the cake on my “Super Care Knee Intervention” was the acquisition of a foam roller (Runner’s World was really effective brainwashing me). So beyond the regular stretches I do in the end of every run, a couple of times a week I save a few minutes to massage the most affected areas with the foam roller. It hurts like hell. It hurts to the point you want to cry. Seriously. I am not joking. The videos you see on YouTube when people are doing the roller’s routines with a smile on their faces are all big lies, because if you actually are in need of the exercises is because your muscles are full of knots after the training and to loose them prepare your breath, because it is very painful.

Uft. This post was massive, sorry. But knee pain is a pain in the ass, and being actually able to relief it a little bit is making me a very happy person indeed. If you have it, don’t give up. You will sure find your recipe as well :-)

My new BFF.

Summarizing my ITB attack step-by-step:

1) Do the usual boring stretches you learnt at school;

2) Use right supportive shoes;

3) Run in a minimum of 180 steps per minute cadence (more here);

4) Strength training to stop bobbling my lower body (more here); 

5) FOAM ROLLER TORTURE ROUTINE (more here and here). 

Enjoy :-)