And We're Back!

OK...so a lot happened over the past week and I have been a bad blogger so here's a recap:

- I continued to run early last week with some luck, leg was feeling a bit stronger but not great, total mileage was pretty low. With urging from my boyfriend Jon, I decided that I had to go see somebody about it so I could stop worrying and get better one way or another.

- I called Michael over at Florida Hospital Sports Medicine on Friday morning and thankfully he said come on by at lunch time. Back story... I e-mailed the "ask the expert" e-mail address at the Florida Hospital Sports Medicine website last week, http://www.fhsportsmed.org/askexpert.asp, and received a response from Mike right away. He gave me some advice and said give him a call if it didn't get better. I was pretty nervous about this...mainly because I was afraid he would tell me that I'd have to stop for a while and maybe sit the race out...

- Mike couldn't have been more helpful. He gave me a thorough exam, stretching out my legs to determine my range of motion and flexibility, and also to sense where the tightness was coming from. Sure enough, he confirmed that it was Illitobial Band Syndrome...but I didn't necessarily get it the way that I thought. Turns out, my inner quad and butt muscles (like my technical terms? :) ) are not as strong as they should be, therefore its causing an imbalance that is forcing my knee's to move more to one side when I run, instead of being balanced in the center. Since the IT Band is directly linked to the knee, it all works together. So my prognosis was not race-threatening, in fact, it was not as bad as I thought at all. Here was his advice:

1. Continue taking two doses of ibuprofen everyday for the next two weeks.
2. Every other day do a series of strengthening exercises that target the quads and the butt
3. Stretch after every activity, and target the IT Band (he gave me a few great ones, if you are having a similar problem let me know and I can detail them for you)
4. Massage the IT Band using a foam log
5. Once stretching is done, apply ice for 10 minutes
6. Active Rest! This is the best part, I don't have to sit around, but in fact get out there and do the best I can.

So I took his advice, and on Saturday morning I was up at 5:45 am excited as ever to get out to the West Orange trail and join my team for a long run. After a stop at the 7-11 for a cup of coffee and a power bar, I was on my way. I was definitely nervous about the run, my team was running 16 miles, i didn't know how far I could make it. The start was a bit rough around the edges, but i was in a grove around mile 2 and the rest was history. I made it through the winding trails and hills and back again, totalling 13 miles. I know I could have kept going, but airing on the side of caution I cut it short and plan to make it up next week.

I did my stretches and strength training yesterday, lots of ice, and today I feel pretty good. So I am very thankful I saw the doc because now I know how to manage the injury, and hopefully, it will work itself out soon. My mood has been so much better and I am determined to be ready for this race...only 6 weeks away!!!