hammer the bike and walk the run. enjoy the aid stations and stay out as long as you can.

Good luck with that!

In all honesty, I agree with the above poster. Whatever your goal time or plan was for the run, it's now thrown out the window. You can most likely still finish, it just depends on how miserable you want to make yourself on the run, and whether or not you want to push yourself to the point of potentially really injuring yourself.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Ask about a cortisone shot....I had it done twice when I was suffering from ITBS. Pro matter how much I rolled, iced and rested, I could not get the inflammation down in my bursa sac. Cortisone did the trick....

But it is a band aid and will not solve the issue. Sounds like you are close enough to the race that it will not wear off before then, but you will still need to address the root cause of the ITBS. But it may be able to get you running again.

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

stretch cords + stretching. 3-4x a day. Time off is almost useless without PT. The root cause is tightness in your hips. ITBS has nothing ot do with your knee, where the pain is located...or really the ITB itself. It's about flexibility.

It might clear up enough in 2 weeks to run most of it...maybe. Together with cortisone... even better chance. But resting won't do it. Did virtually nothing for me.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

Stretching, rolling, PT, cortisone, NSAIDs 3x a day
Just never taken 4 weeks off and run a race! Seems crazy but so does throwing in the towel after so much training

Get the shot!

Float, hammer, jog ;)
You are discovering one of the challenges of IM: arriving to the starting line healthy and not injured. It's not as easy as it sounds.

You will be surprised to see the number of people who are barely jogging and walking. Don't assume they are all injured. Do what you can with what you've got on the day. If you manage to walk all the aid station to refuel, and jog in between, you will finish with a smile on your face, and that's the most important thing for a first IM.
Then it will be time to address properly your ITB.
Good luck!

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Francois-Xavier Li @FrancoisLi
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." George Bernard Shaw
http://www.swimrunfrance.fr
http://www.worldofswimrun.com

2013 was my first. IM Lake Placid and had a stress fracture. I got it during a half mary 2 months earlier then went to TTT a couple weeks later and crashed horribly.
When I showed up at LP I was beat up. What a suffer fest. I did finish in 13 hrs but it was ugly. A lesson I learned was dont eat ibuprofen like candy. I through up the whole race and couldnt drink anything on the run. Severely
dehydrated.

Thanks for these stories! I don't want to quit but I have to believe I can run some of the marathon, you guys are helping me to

hammer the bike and walk the run.

Good grief! Why?

Why not forget the race in question, get healthy, and wait till health/injuries are better?

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

You can try one of these. I used it on my first 70.3 when I had ITBS and was able to run the entire 13.1. It will provide support, but if your ITBS is chronic, then it might not work. You could also sit out this race and get healthy first.
http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Tec-Athletics-Iliotibial-Compression-Small-Large/dp/B000G34VV0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430747307&sr=8-1&keywords=it+band+strap

In 2013, I developed a knee injury 8 weeks out (likely stress fracture). I ran a total of 3 miles in those 8 weeks (worst run ever). I got through Coeur d'Alene with a disappointing but OK time compared to my pre-injury goals (~11:30 with a ~5 hr run split). Faced with the same situation, I would have worked on trying to keep my calves strong. I did the elipticor but I am not sure it made a difference. I really felt that my calves did not have the strength & stamina due to the lack of running (despite increased biking--much of which was on hills).

On the up side, the run leg of that race (slow run pace & long walk breaks despite a strong desire to go faster) gave me a different perspective on IM. The people cheering and the support of fellow athletes when you are having the worst time of your athletic life is encouraging in an entirely new way. Of course, I would like to know what it's like to be at the front of the pack at my next IM but running along side the BOPers was not all bad.

Good luck!

its been so much money, energy and time thats why! 5 months of training in a crazy life. i don't know when i'll pull this off again. If i can finish I THINK i wanna do it. my bike and swim times will be the same, just will be hard to go from a probable descent run time to probable bad one. i guess though a million other things could go wrong race day at least i know what my challenge is and if everything else goes ok, my time will be ok. if i never do another one, hopefully i finish. but if i want to do another one i'll have room to improve?

I kind of agree with you. What seems so important right now will seem less so in a month, year, decade... However there are economic and life event realities and you never know if this is the last chance.

I got slightly injured running my first marathon. I decided to just finish and be proud of what I did. I regret that decision and I am not proud of what I did at all.

its been so much money, energy and time thats why! 5 months of training in a crazy life. i don't know when i'll pull this off again. If i can finish I THINK i wanna do it. my bike and swim times will be the same, just will be hard to go from a probable descent run time to probable bad one. i guess though a million other things could go wrong race day at least i know what my challenge is and if everything else goes ok, my time will be ok. if i never do another one, hopefully i finish. but if i want to do another one i'll have room to improve?

Did no one warn you that there were risks involved with this?

Did no one tell you that it would be moderately expensive?

Were you not told that the time taken with the training would be significant?

Was it not suggested to you that, training for an Ironman is a multi-year not multi-month process

Were you not advised that, there are other shorter races, that may fit your situation/life better?

Just curious!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

He has put in the Time and paid the money. I am sure he will have a blast just being there and cheering people on from within the race instead of standing on the sidelines. I think he could still make it a positive experience. Maybe he can get a hold of one of the racing wheelchairs and finish that way?

Fleck
I made it all work and that's why I'm aiming to do it.
My only real question is what it's like to run after 4 weeks no running. I have no idea how hard that will be or not. I have no idea how fast you lose your run.

What have you been doing to rehab your ITBS (stretching, icing, rolling,...) in the past 4 weeks? Is it still inflammed? Get the ITBS strap and start doing frequent short runs to see if works for you. If it doesn't, then you can always just shut it down. I'd do the race just for the experience, even if you had to run/walk the 13.1

Yes been doing all that. And it's 26.2 not 13.1

Just to follow up on motoguy's post above & PT....the biggest help I received was from single leg squats and monster walks with a band around my knees (both straight legged and bent knees).

Most people develop ITBS from a strength imbalance in their hips (often the gluteus medius). Focus your PT efforts there. At this point, I would say you aren't getting much benefit from icing and rolling. There may be some therapeutic benefit, but you aren't solving the problem, just treating the symptoms.

IME, the reason the single legs squats and monster walks are effective is because they really isolate the glutes. With other exercises (clams, side leg lifts, etc), it is very easy to have other muscle groups compensate for the glutes and then you are just wasting your time. If you don't feel a "burn" in the dimple of your ass cheek, you probably aren't getting any benefit form the exercise.

ETA - and get the shot!!

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

I say while you have been training for this race for 5 months you have probably been doing triathlon for several years, if you are doing a full IM you are obviously are fit enough or you wouldn't have ever paid the 700, I wouldn't worry about it, run the best race you can run on that day with the conditions that you have to work with. I'm a believer that people worry about things that are out of their control and most things I worry about never come to be.

Sorry to hear that and it must be frustrating for you but I have been in the same boat...
About twelve weeks out of my Ironman debut I got seriously injured.
Here is the story :

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ing=ynsnits;#4609536

I didn't run at all until 2 weeks out. Instead I biked and swam a lot.
On raceday I managed to finish the marathon after just 4 hours, which surprised me. Apparently my running fitness had not been suffered too much..so hopefully this will give you some confidence!
Anyway...good luck!

was in your boat: developed ITBS around march few years ago - with my first IM coming early june. did not run at all nor did any meaningful therapy, but made it through the IM just fine - the ITBS simply disappeared

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Ditch the carbage - Go keto!

I went into IMLOU with achilles tendonitis in both legs and nerve damage in my shoulder. 3 weeks before the race, I did virtually zero training. On race day, I did the swim with a combination of breast stroke kicking and one armed freestyle. A little over half way through, the achilles tendonitis in my left leg became unbearable, so I was down to only being able to use my right arm and right leg. It was hard to keep my head above water. At one point I stopped swimming and looked for a rescue boat, but I decided I could save time by just completing the swim than sit in a rescue boat waiting for the 2:20 cutoff. On the bike, every pedal stroke felt like fire...for 7 hours. For the run, I obviously couldn't run. I couldn't walk either because the stride length pulled on both achilles tendons too much. The only way to move forward was to trot while keeping very small strides. There were some bystanders that made fun of me. I finished though around 11:30pm. That day built more mental strength for me than anything else I've ever done. You can do it.