About the Running

The short version: I'm running again.

The long version: I'm running again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of visits to the PT over the last 3 weeks confirmed that my dedicated hours of strengthening have been effective and my IT band is loose, flexible and healthy. I think I mentioned that last week? Yeah. But that outer knee was still giving me fits on every run throughout the first weeks of January. Thankfully, my PT is one who leaves no stone unturned. We went back to the drawing board and he started all over with evaluating my strength, stability, stance, running form, flexibility. Dr. C. spends 1.5 to 2 hours with me during those evaluations! Turns out I am like, really strong right now. Stronger than I've ever been in glutes, hips and core. My form and stance has improved and my flexibility is great. In short, I should not be having this issue at all!

I should be running better, faster, and healthier than ever, says Dr. C. But, hmmm… I wasn't, now was I?

During a couple of my stance and stability tests, Dr. C. picked up on the fact that I slightly hyper-extend my right knee when I'm in a standing, straight-leg position. It's almost imperceptible, but I could see it when he pointed it out. I then told him that my ITB issues always got way worse after long bouts of standing or having my knee locked, and he was all excited. PTs are weird like that, when they land on What Might Be Causing It. Apparently, in this hyper-extended position, the IT band has a more arduous journey to climb up over the lateral epicondyle. Meaning that when it finally does snap over the bone, it will irritate the bone. Lately, that's been happening; irritation at the lateral epicondyle in the outer knee, but seemingly not stemming from the IT band itself.

Right away, Dr. C. took the strengthening stuff in some new directions, specifically, calf and hamstrings. On top of my current hips, core and TFL regimen. Geez, pretty soon I'll have to be strengthening my butt cheeks in order to run decently. Oh, wait. I'm already doing that. I was really surprised when I saw the one exercise I have to do for a short period a couple of times a week: Jump-rope! Supposedly this is an effective calf and hamstring strengthening exercise. Hey, whatever it takes. I'm also working on hammy specific leg stuff at the gym.

We've been hitting the ART and massage aggressively. Dr. C, knowing I can't afford the full-blown office visit price every week ($55-$75, and my insurance doesn't cover it), tailored a quick, 30 minute ART and massage session that I can drop in and do every week, for $25. For February, at least, and then in March I'll go to bi-weekly if the running keeps on improving.

I also started running in Hokas… now, I know they're not a magic cure, because I first ran in them several weeks ago and my IT band hurt as much as ever afterward. But they do provide cushion and they force you forward a bit more, on your midfoot/forefoot. Which is what I need. The downside is that my PT dislikes maximalist shoes, so I am not telling him about the Hokas. Sometimes a little marching to your own drum doesn't hurt. Though this marching hurts my dignity a little. The Hokas are so weird looking! And though they feel good while running, they feel awful to walk in. I put them on just before getting on the TM, and remove them immediately after the run. I am not walking through my gym in those things. 

So, after nearly a month off from running (or at least nothing over 2-3 miles), I headed to the gym. My leg was taped up in a fashion so as to keep my knee from collapsing back, and Dr. C. instructed me to gear my form toward short strides, knee slightly bent, and running on the forefoot.

I ran 3 miles. It didn't start twinging at 2 miles, like it sometimes does. It didn't even kick in by 2.5 miles, like it always does. I went 3 miles. Then 3.25. Because I was too scared to push farther, I stopped. No pain. Walking around afterward = no pain. Holy moly!

Okay, I know I've run distances of 3, 4, even once a 5 miler, since this whole ITBS debacle. But never completely without pain. Even on the best of days, when I would ice the IT band before running, take ibuprofen before, and do a boatload of stretching, I would always get those tell-tale twinges at about 2.5 miles and thereafter. They would get worse, and I'd usually shut it down by 3-3.5 miles. If I proceeded to 4 miles. I was in bad shape. And afterward… oh my. It would really hurt. Especially going down stairs or on any kind of descent. I was running, but I knew I wasn't better, since I had to baby the injury just to coax a couple of miles out. I knew it was still there.

This time, I didn't ice or take ibuprofen. I didn't feel pain, Not during, not after. Not going upstairs or downstairs…. “Not in a box, not with a fox, not in a house, not with a mou---” oh, right. Back on point.

Maybe it was just a fluke? Yeah, probably. I vacillated between hope and despair… I'd been here so many times only to have my hopes dashed on subsequent, longer runs. Still, I wasn't feeling a thing in that outer knee!

I skipped a day. 48 hours after the first run, I ran 4 miles on the TM. No pain.

Tonight, I ran 3.5 miles. No pain. In fact, I feel incredibly strong. My hips and glutes and all of that central, pivoting stuff feels more stable, more rigid, more.. I don't know... run-happy. The legs, of course, are a little rusty by way of joints and tendons, etc. but that doesn't bother me. Consistent running will take care of that. I just want to stay injury-free! 

I don't know if it's the calf stuff, the change in stride, the shoes or the ART and massage that my PT has been doing 3-4 times a month (I can drop in anytime for a half-hour ART/massage for $25)? Or maybe that epicondyle has just had enough time to heal that my now-flexible, healthy IT band slipping over it isn't a problem? Maybe some kind of core or hip weakness that I had has now corrected with the strength-training? Whatever it is, I take away two things: 1) Keep doing all of the above. 2) Pray that this is finally the end of the road for me.

Thank you, Jesus. And I say that literally, fervently, without a hint of profanity. I am most grateful. May it continue. May this BE THE YEAR.