Today was a big day in my recovery and in my training overall. As I mentioned before, I was planning on hitting the road for a short - mid distance run. I guess before I should get into the run, I should talk a little bit more of the 'retail therapy' that took place earlier in the week. I know I wrote about the shoes that I bought over the weekend since I was desperate for anything that might make a difference and help me out. Well, Monday night I decided to order my own foam roller. Not sure if I described what a foam roller is, but its a big round cylinder/tube of foam that you use to "roll" your IT band. The goal of the roller is to try to stretch out / lengthen your IT band with the hope that loosening it up will help alleviate or improve the symptoms. Since I was pretty desperate this past week after my miserable run last Thursday, I decided to order this as well hoping it would help. While I was on the amazon page for the foam roller they had a section that said "Most of the people who viewed this product also bought this IT Band brace". Up until this point I had never heard of an IT band brace, but I figured for $14 it was worth a try. Remember ... its crunch time and I am starting to get pretty desperate! Well, both of these items actually came in yesterday which was perfect timing since I was able to use the brace on my run.
I got home from work today around 3:30. Despite being pretty tired (since we got last minute tickets to the Celtics game last night) I knew I had to man up and get this workout in. The weather was kind of lousy today ... temperatures in the 40's, really cloudy / overcast and a moderate wind of 10-15 mph. I actually decided to make the run today in shorts and an under armor shirt with a light windbreaker. In addition to the usual stuff, I also strapped on the new IT band brace that I had recently bought. Like I said above, I had never heard of an IT band brace and wasn't sure if it would have any benefit at all ... but I was desperate and figured it couldn't hurt to try.
Once I was geared up, I headed out to the road ... unsure of how the run was going to go. I started running and actually felt good. I headed down East 1st towards Castle Island and before I knew it I was half a mile into my run ... and for the first time in a while didn't have any pain in the knee! My pace was good, actually, it was faster than I expected at 9:20 min / mile. I headed down East 1st and before I knew it I was at Castle Island. With the lousy weather, there weren't many other people out there. The distance kept piling up and I felt great. After 2 miles, my cardio was in tune and my knee felt great. I actually finished my first two miles in under 19 minutes which is a great pace for me. When I made the turn to head back home my pace picked up even more. I am not sure if I was just on an adrenaline rush from being on my first good run in a while or whether it was the fact that for once I actually had the wind at my back, but my pace picked up to 8:40 min / mile.
It wasn't until about 3.25 miles that I felt the first twinge in my knee. The pain in my knee was different this time. I think the brace may have actually worked because the discomfort was much more mild and much more localized than previously. I kept pushing through ran straight to my physical therapy office. The final stats when the run was completed were ... 4.25 miles in 38 minutes! The most important part of the run was that the knee barely hurt at all!!!! Again, I am not sure what made the difference but I didn't care. Was it the physical therapy finally kicking in? Did the new shoes I bought actually make a difference because they had a firmer sole that prevented pronation of my foot? Could a $14 dollar cloth IT Band brace really make a difference and have this type of effect? Like I said, I really have no clue what it was and I really don't care. I am just hoping that my next few runs are as good as this one.
The plan for now is going to be some pretty heavy icing / stretching for the next 12 hours. I am going to try to get to the gym in the morning for a little elliptical work since I won't have time afterward with our big fundraiser tomorrow night. Then, the sights are set on this long run on Sunday. That will be the real test ... fingers crossed.
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