Doing IMFL as my first full, have completed a half, olympic, and a few sprints. Have been plagued with IT issues so do I bust a hard bike knowing my knee will flare up at some point to save as much time as I can or do I stay within myself on the bike and try to muster through the run on fresher legs?? A few things… 1- my definition of busting a hard bike is 20-20.5 mph (try and hold the chuckles back) while scaling back is in the 18.5-19mph range. 2- I have been running about 30 mpw. Flare ups happen around the 10-12 mile mark. 3- I’m not a fast runner (trying for a 10 min mile). Any suggestions would be appreciated.
With 8 weeks left, you still have time to try and correct yournIT issues. What have you been doing to deal with it until now?
If you have not already…See a physical therapist!
ART, glute strengthening, really trying to shorten my stride. I have been running with a metronome to help my cadence. The last couple of weeks I have increased my running days and lowered my miles/run. I certainly feel more efficient doing so. Just scared to pack on those long runs.
Like others said, you have time to fix this.
Foam roller, PT and massage!
I had a ITBS flare-up 5 weeks out from my first IM. Could not walk properly for 3 days. Did a few sessions of physio, some ultrasound on the area. Did some glute strengthening stuff, lots of rolling, lots of icing. I think I should have been more aggressive with the icing at first, as I did it sporadically with this gel pack that really wasn’t cold enough. From what I understand you need to get the affected area cold enough so that it is numb to the touch. Ice 3 times a day. Shorter runs are good, if you have gotten some good long runs in previously I think you are on the right track by running shorter more frequently. Do not let the area get aggravated more, stop running well before it becomes painful. I did some deep water running in the pool which is incredibly boring, but at least you feel like you are doing something to preserve running specific strength. I tried kinesio tape with what seemed like little effect. The day before the race there was a sports med/ physio booth in the expo so I talked to a guy there. He checked out my leg, and he felt that the root cause was something weird going on at the top of my calf. He taped it a much different way. On race day I popped two tylenol muscle/body ache tabs heading out onto the run and had no pain whatsoever. Despite a huge reduction of running volume for 5 weeks leading up to the race (most runs less than 2 miles, less than 8 mpw) I had no measurable loss of run fitness either as I negative split the marathon and came in 2 minutes under my goal for the run.
Do not bust a hard bike, saving 20-30 minutes (probably less in reality) will not make up for the damage you will do to your run. I ran with one of those IT band straps that you put on over the knee in my pocket as a ‘hail-mary’ kinda last ditch effort but never used it. Might be worthwhile to carry or at least put in special needs. You have time, do what you can to identify and start to work on the root cause of your issues. Resist the urge to throw a last-minute long run in the 2 weeks before the race to ‘test’ it. Run what you can, hope for the best. Adrenaline is powerful, I have had several aches and pains leading into races that mysteriously disappear for race day only to reappear days later. Its your first IM, enjoy it, if you have to walk more than you planned it will be that much easier to PB on your second!
Good post… I drive a lot and it seems when I’m in the car for extended periods it really causes havoc.
Strengthen your hip flexors. Use an exercise band and do monster walks. Just google it and you’ll get several hits with suggestions for exercises.
I too struggled with IT band for months before my first full (IMFL last year). I worked on the bike,swim and ran only when I could do so without pain. I did do some water running, elliptical, uphill treadmill walking . I iced daily- used a knee brace/wrap with a bag of ice let me walk around/drive (do stuff) until the area was good and numb. Rolled, stretched, strengthened core/glutes (planks, band walking, swiss ball glute/hamstring curls etc…)- it all helps. I thought KT tape helped some. Lots of good advice there already… I wanted to suggest something for the race. Shockingly for me I did not get IT band for the race (it was my first marathon and all previous long runs I got pain). I think the key for me was walking the aid stations- somehow it seemed to give me a “reset” each mile. I ran everywhere else, but I would slow down eat/drink/ice walk through the aid station (maybe 1 minute or less). Maybe the adrenaline, maybe the brief walk every mile but the IT band did not hamper my day.
I agree with others- I would not overdue the bike- definitely not. Pace the bike, you may surprise yourself on the run.
Good luck.
So true on the walk/run. The last 12 mile run it started to flare at mile 8. I stretched my glute real good, walked about 100 yds then ran 2 more. Did that for two sets and it seemed to work. I’m gonna take this as 26, 1 mile runs while walking thru the aid stations.
Good plan, when I wrote earlier I forgot to mention that from mile 4 to mile 22 I walked about 10-15 seconds each aid station. Don’t know if it helped, but it sure didn’t hurt.
Your going to be faster running 12 miles than walking 26… but you have some time left don’t need to panic yet. Have you explored medical interventions? Its cortisone time baby. But seriously talk to your doc about your options. As a ITB suffer myelf and an a Sports Med guy I would suggest the following.
- Find a good and over aggressive manual therapist make that week a down week… could be a massage therapist, PT, ATC, Chiro, ART someone who is gonna break up this damaged tissue you got going on. ITB is more of a compression syndrome vs a friction syndrome but I wont bore you with the research you need to get some slack in the system. All the stretching rolling in the world is not going to elongate your ITB. For me a massage therapist finally got it…She crushed the lateral aspect of my knee broke up the adhesions… I swelled huge… couldn’t walk went with a swim week and was back after suffering for 6months pain free like nothing happend.
- Start self mobilzing tissue… see Mobility Wod by Kelley Starrett DPT he has a blog called Mobility WOD start with page 85 and find anything that has to do with your lower half.
- Get the glutes firing properly… Hip Hikes, Cross over step ups, lateral band walks. 4 way hip straight leg raise series, multi directional lunges, Monster walks,
- Ice for pain numb and done…medicate for inflammation ( I did not respond to topical compounds, cortisone, or orals) careful with NSAIDS at IM distance if you go the OTC route. Talk to your doc now.
If your doc thinks the inflammation is in the bursa sac, definitely look into a cortisone shot, but get it inside if 6 weeks to go, ideally on a big taper week since you can’t run for a week after the shot.
For some, the bursa sac will never recover w/o the shot…it is buried too dep for ice or massage to help. Some have had no success with PT because of this, but once they get a shot, they improve dramatically. The key is to keep doingyournexrcies even though youndon’t feel like you need to. Otherwise, you’ll be back in the same situation in 6-8 weeks.
If in 8 weeks, you don’t see an improvement with your IT issues… on race day, bike less conservatively so you have more time on the run, in case you have to walk some of it.