IT Band Problems and Triathlon Training **UPDATED**

1/13/2011

It has been a few months since my IT Band issues surfaced and I'm glad to report I think I'm on the better side of things now. I have been visiting the chiropractor once a week and doing more stretching than I thought was humanly possible. I have been back to running for the past 8 weeks, though at distances that range from only 2-5 miles at this point. I have been running 4-6 days a week at a more conservative pace and it has helped me greatly with my running form.

I now have a new 5K PR of 20:31 (not that it's that fast, but an improvement) and feel that in the next couple races, I will break the 20 min. mark. I am amazed that training at a slower pace but training every day has been so beneficial to me. It has greatly improved my form and I do most of my runs off the bike so I am getting more and more confident in my run for triathlon season. I have a couple olympic races that I have planned with St. Anthony's being the biggest. The other is a local race here in Daytona Beach, the Daytona Frogman. Frogman is 2 weeks before St. Anthony's so it will give me a good idea of what to expect at St. Anthony's.

I will update more often as my training progresses through the spring.


10/22/2010

Well I finally got my Plantar Fasciitis problems in check and now I'm having a minor (so far) problem with It Band on the other side. I was planning on my first full marathon next month and was up to 17 miles for my long run. I made the mistake of doing a hard speed workout with just one recovery day and I felt the pain near the end of the intervals. It was very slight so I actually forgot about it and tried to do an easy run the next day. Two miles into it and the pain was very noticeable. I walked home and iced it right away.

I went to see the chiropractor on Tuesday and she did some stretching and Graston and found some painful trigger points in my piriformis. I had a feeling it was something originating in my hip area because it had been a bit tender the last couple weeks. I have been stretching 2-3 times a day and icing as well. In the evenings, I do 30 minutes of yoga to really stretch things out. I have scrapped the full marathon as this week would be my 20 mile run and I am not willing to risk a worse injury that would put me out of my tri training for next season.

I will probably do the half marathon though, as I feel fit enough to cut my mileage back a bit before then and still be able to PR (I hope). I will try an easy run this weekend and probably get back on the bike. I want to start building my bike base back up as I have been focused purely on my run the last couple months.

I'm starting to plan out my race season next year. St. Anthony's will be on the list again. I have raced, if you can call it that, the last two years and two horrific races. I WILL redeem myself this year. I have a local olympic distance two weeks before St. Anthony's so I should have a good gauge at where I stand. I am focusing on St. Anthony's as my main early season race. The summer will be full of sprints so I plan to have a busy season.

I have to improve my swim this year. I slack every year and every year it costs me placings. When I'm racing my friends that are even on the bike and run but get a couple minutes on me during the swim,I have to hear it from them for the rest of the year. Friends suck sometimes. I'll keep things updated as I progress through the next few weeks.