ITB, Hills and Doubles

I'm beginning to realise just what the D33 took out of me. Barely ran at all last week with my left knee giving me some gip. 100% sure it is ITB with a sharp pain below the knee but on the outside of the 'top' of the lower leg bone [if that makes sense]. Like all injured runners I've been doing my research on this and have turned again to the mighty tome that is "The Lore of Running" by Tim Noakes MD. He feels this is a injury that strikes stiff footed runners [tick], often strike when the hip abductors are fatigued [tick - after 20m in the D33] and is caused by a lack of shock absorbtion in the leg. This is interesting as for ages now I've puzzled about the way my feet behave, when viewed from above, when I'm running. The left foot always seems to run straight and directly ahead landing midfoot and bolt upright, but the right seems to land on the outside edge and roll inwards. I have thought that the right foot was 'wrong', but I've re-assesed this and am now of the opinion that the right foot is behaving 'correctly' landing supinated and rolling inward to absorb the footstrike and the left foot is a rigid 'clunk' foot. Hence if there was one side going to be prone to things like ITB it would be the left side.

As another side issue, that has become suddenly relevant is my shoes. Since I took up running a few years ago I've run in Saucony Triumphs. The first pair I had [triumph 5s] were brilliantly cushioned and did me really well for a year. The next pair were triumph 6s and my current pair are triumph 7s. With each new model I've had the impression that they were not as cushioned as the first pair, but was inclined to think of that as some sort of memory distortion from nostalgia. I am sure they are actually stiffer now having dug my beloved first pair out and compared them both closely. The reason this has become relevant is that Tim Noakes advice is that ITB often comes from too stiff shoes and what is often required is a change to softer shoes for the 'clunk' footed runner along with stretching of the ITB and hip abductor strengthening.

So since my current pair have around 350miles on them, it is almost time for a change so I popped into Run4It in Aberdeen and tried on a few pairs with the help of a really helpfull Kiwi guy. As it turned out the pair of ASICs I might try were not available in my size, but I bought a pair of sorbothane inserts to help cushion my existing shoes some more. So did this work?

Last week and on monday I ran around the beach at Stonehaven. At exactly the same point the pain arrived some 2.1miles into the loop. On tuesday, after getting the insoles, I headed out to Banchory and the trails around Scolty hill. Never been here before, but a tip from a pal at work about places to run off tarmac pointed me towards this spot. Scolty is a quite prominent hill on the southside of the Dee with a tall tower at it's summit. I headed off on the forest track, and while not exactly lost followed my nose this way and that around the base of the hill before heading almost vertically up through scrub along a mountain bike 'down' track, before the final semi run-able push to the top.

What a great view. The path down from there was very steep,and since the knee is not brilliant downhill at the moment, this was walked down. No matter. When I got to the bottom it was time to run again and off around the base of the hill again I went. I even found myself running fast [for me] in the last mile or so with my Garmin recording sub 8min/mi pace which is almost unheard of. All in that was a 4.5mile run in a beautiful place with only very mild discomfort on the knee which is a huge improvement on what had been possible just the night before.

One other thing Noake's book says is that running can continue but only up to the point of discomfort at which point it must stop. To try and keep the fitness up I have decided to try doing 'doubles' or two runs a day on some days. The idea is to split each run i would normally do into 2 parts, neither of which goes past the point of discomfort. One minor problem. I have never been able to get up early to exercise. I can get up at 5am for work or travel but have never, even when I was sailing Finns seriously internationally could I get up and train. This morning the plan was to get up at 6:30 and get out for a run. Of course that failed, but at 7am guilt got the better of me and out I went. Just 2.5miles round the beach, but do you know what - I really enjoyed it! Tonight was the other half and I headed out along the cliffs to Dunottar and beyond. When i reached the bottom of the Bervie Braes I ran into the middle of a pack of a dozen other local runners as they came round the corner and headed up the hill. I have to say they did look a bit confused at where I had come from and who I was, but after pegging slowly behind them for a bit decided to blank them out and run at my own speed up the hill, which was a tad faster than they were going. Lovely run out to Dunottar, taking care to walk the steep downhills, but running the flats and uphills seems to cause little problem right now. Absolutely cracking sun in the spring sunshine and a nice 5miles to finish the day off. Definitely going to 'do doubles' again. It's a great feeling to have run twice in one day, even if it was only 7 and a bit miles in total.

I have noticed that I do seem to cruise a tad faster and easier than prior to the D33, but that my strength in my legs seems to have been sapped. I knew that the D33 would take it out of me, but here I am two weeks later still feeling the effects. Hopefully by next weekend I'll be fit enough to be able to run in the Fling relay if that comes together. It would be a shame to miss it and my first venture onto the WHW route.

One last important milestone though - my belly has reduced enough to allow me to wear my Harriers 25th anniversary running top for the first time. It's only a year since I got it but my gut used to stick out of the bottom and 'flap in the breeze' so I've never worn it before. How good [and bad] is that!