I would always er on the side of caution, I know 5.5 weeks out is close but you can take 4-7 days off now and hopefully shake something that could persist well beyond this one race.

If it were me, I'd take a round of Ibuprofen (perhaps Voltaren) over the next week, cross train in the pool for 4 days with a pool buoy. As soon as possible, if not this afternoon I'd be in for a quad/hammy massage to help release stuff. Then I'd be into the foam roller with 3 sets of long holds on the side of the leg (along the ITB) 2-4 inches about the knee morning and night. After 4 complete days off the legs bring back the run slowly, 30 mins of 1 walk 1 jog on day one to see if it is okay, then progress to jogs and bring length up. You can build quickly if all is good but wait to get back to current load to bring in intensity. Persist in the pool with harder short efforts to give you the cardio adaption you'll miss doing easy jogs from days 4-10 or so.

Given you caught it early, treat it hard, rest it harder and don't test it daily, just give it 4. Better to be slightly underdone in 5.5 weeks rather than fit as anything and on the side.

My 2 cents. Best of luck.

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Ryan Waddington
Professional Triathlete
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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I think you have received some good advice above. In addition to massage and foam rolling, I found rolling my glutes on a lacross ball provided great relief and seemed to release the stronger glute muscles that were pulling my leg out of alignment when running.

I would add that when you start back up you should try doing some hip openers before you run. The hip openers get your hips and glutes firing properly and should minimize the rubbing of your ITB - at least it does for me.

Once the initial inflammation has gone away, start back up easy and add 5’ every day to your run duration. If you feel irritation then drop back 5’ on duration. Your ITB will rub. The idea is to minimize imbalances that cause it to rub more than normal and build back up a tolerance to the rubbing such that no inflammation results. I hope this makes sense, I’m not in the medical industry - just a guy that likes to exercise and for years struggled with ITB (but no issues for 2+ years now).

You caught it early so you should be good. If biking doesn’t bug you then I would supplement with some biking too.

Omg. This is EXACTLY what I’m going through right now. Was training for IM Louisville and on August 5th I had literally the exact symptoms you had 15 miles into a 16 miler. I don’t want to be a downer cuz everyone is different but 9 weeks later I still can’t run. I’m having to eat the cost of IM Louisville. I’ve done everything from local steroid injection to dry needling to rolling and everything in between. Unfortunately my injury is going to require several weeks or more to heal so that’s what I’m currently doing. I tried just swimming for 10-15 days. Didn’t go away. I’m tired of being hurt so I’m shutting things down for the off season. I really hope yours is less severe than mine. I just wanted to prepare you for the possibilities.

**PS- everyone will tell you to foam roll but there’s actually a lot of evidence out there suggesting that’s not helpful and can be counter productive**

thanks guys, i really appreciate the help.

I had this in college x-country, and fortunately had the availability of the trainers.

One thing they pointed out was that my shoes were pretty far gone down the wearability trail, that might be something to look at if you haven't rotated your shoes out recently.

John

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Go see a massage therapist. I had a tight IT band where I couldnt run more than 6 miles before I had to stop because it was so tight. Went to a massage therapist, told her the issue, she did trigger point massage therapy on the IT band and she 'released' it. I was able to start running a day or two later. I was about 5 weeks out from IM Choo as well. I also started wearing this https://www.amazon.com/...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

didnt have any issues after the therapist and band.

Ordered the strap last night, should be here tomorrow. Going to wait until next Tuesday to try to run again.

IT band pain is the result of a combination of weakness and tightness, typically stemming from an imbalance of the hips. I've found for myself and many others that I've recommended to that yoga actually does a very good job of addressing both of these issues by simultaneously strengthening and loosening the hips and everything around them

Standard disclaimer: I am not a doctor.

I just got over a bout with this. I did everything listed here: massage, ice, light stretching, Voltaren, ibuprofen, rest from running for 5-6 weeks. The thing that finally did it was a cortisone shot. I wouldn't resort to that right away, but I'm finally running short distances again without pain after about 2 months total.

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Coach at TriForce Triathlon Team: https://www.triforceteam.com