IT Band you suck!!

My IT Band troubles continue ... and I'm getting really frustrated. Yesterday I got on the treadmill and was having a great run, 25minutes into the run I felt like I could go forever. I can't remember the last time I had such a great run... and then at the 30min mark I could feel the twitch starting. Within 3mins I was in PAIN, sharp Pain the kind you can't run with. 
I'm at wits end. 
Today will be my 5week with my Physical Therapist. 
I've used the Foam Roller everyday, for the past 5weeks. Yesterday after my run I actually felt NO PAIN while using it... well a lot less pain then usual. 
I've been stretching everyday. 
I've been strengthening my hip abductors (everyday) on my right leg where I have the IT Band problem
I've been strengthening my lower abs everyday.
I switched running shoes, which have been working out really well for me. 
I've been running on straight surfaces. 
I run every other day pushing it as far as I can go without pain.
I was really hoping that by now I would be doing much better, but I'm still only able to run for 30min pain free. 
My next 5k race is only 12 days away, I was really looking forward to improving my race time of 34:17min, but right now I don't think that's going to happen. 
I'm really lost... Do I focus on being able to finish the race running intervals of maybe 10/1 or do I try to run as much as I can and then once the IT Band pain is too much to handle I walk the rest? 


Do you have any suggestions for me?

Sporting Life 10km Race Recap

Rain, rain go away come back some other day ... Mother nature must have heard me and decided to hold off the rain until after the race. 

It was a prefect race day morning nice and cool, the temperature was 18C and NO rain in sight. 

For my 1st 10k Race I picked the Sporting Life 10k. It takes place in Toronto and runs down Canada's most famous street - Yonge Street with the finish line just outside of Fort York.

The race is mostly downhill with a small uphill at the 3k mark. It is considered one of the fastest Downhill 10k's and a great place to set PR. 

I spend most of my Saturday running around trying to find Coconut Water, apparently there is a shortage... some sort of problem with the supplier not being able to meet demand. DARN, I was really counting on that to keep me hydrated during the race. 

I also had to run out and buy a hat after so many of you suggested that this was a MUST have for a rainy run. 

HOW could I not have a hat?? 

You SEE I'm not a athlete or I should that say I was never and athlete and really never saw a need for a baseball/running hat. 

Funny story... my hubby actually gave me a baseball hat as a Birthday present YEARS ago and I was actually MAD at him as to why he would think I would ever wear one. I took that sucker back and got myself a nice Sun Hat. 

I also laid out my various running outfits, since I wasn't sure what the weather was going to be like I had: running tights, Long sleeve running shirt, running skirt, running tank top, windbreaker... You can see I was VERY confused by what to wear.

More confused was I by how to attach the timing chip, I was worried it was going to fall off during the race... but I finally figured it out and the chip never moved once during the race.

I'm excited that we get to keep the timing chip as a souvenir!! AND certainly this was much better then the ankle bracelet I had to wear at Harry's Spring Run-Off.

I started my morning bright and early ... 5:30am, and actually managed to get a good 7hrs sleep. 

I tried to keep Breakfast simple as with my last race since it worked out so well.

 

A bowl of Oatmeal with 1/2 Banana and a cup of Green Tea, and since I couldn't find Coconut water I took the easy road and had some Gatorade before the race. I don't think I will be doing that again, I'm not a Gatorade drinker and I just don't find it did anything for me.

I made sure that I had my Oatmeal before 6am, that way I would have plenty of time to digest and it would not affect my run. This works perfect for me.

Since the Family was not going to be able to join me at the race, due to Hubby's injury  they did the next best thing and watched the Race Online

How great is that!! The Kids absolutely loved it and didn't feel left out at all. 

I decided to go with my favorite Running outfit; 

what else but a running skirt. Seriously if you haven't run in a skirt yet you need to try it, I'm sure you will love it as much as I do.

Once at the Race site I could NOT believe the Sea of people as far as my eyes could see. It was just AMAZING to see all these runners lined up all the way down Yonge St.. They were expecting over 14,000 runners and it certainly felt like it.

All Race picture were taken with my Blackberry, hence it being blurry

I was in the Purple Corral which had an estimate time of 1:15hr for the 10k, I felt comfortable with this time. I positioned myself in the middle of running pack and anxiously awaited the sound of the horn. 

Our Corral was 'released' at 8:21am and off we went without a hitch. Most of the runners around me seemed to be running at my pace, which when I checked Dennis (aka Garmin) was WAY faster then I usually run. I felt good and didn't think that I need to adjust my pace at this point so I continued. 

The km's where just flying buy and next thing I knew I was at the half way mark and I was ONLY 28min into the race. 

I'm not quite sure what happened, but it seems that as soon as I hit the 5k I started to have a twitch on the outside of my knee and a pain that ran all the way down the side of my leg that was getting worse with every step I took. (Now I know that this is called IT Band Syndrome, on Sunday at the race I just knew that it was a nuisance and I wanted it GONE)  At that point I took a minute walking break to see if I could walk it off, but when that didn't help I stopped and stretched my leg and massaged the area, nothing seemed to help the situation. 

I was NOT going to let that get to me, so what if I wouldn't finish with my estimated time. What mattered was that I was there and that I was running. That I had the courage to take this on even when it seemed impossible. 

So the rest of the way I ran when I could and walked when running was too painful. 

I was so happy to see that finish line!!

I manged to run across it with my arms held up high, stopped Dennis and saw the time was 1:10:16!!

HURRAY ME!!

  Thank you to the nice Girl at the finish line that offered to take a picture of me with my Blackberry!! 

Look at my BIG Smile! Injured and still came in below my estimated time!! 

YOU bet I'm Happy and I will be back next year to beat that time and come in under the 1hr mark FOR SURE!!

Results:

Chip time: 1:10:16.1

Overall: 10225/11918
Females: 5339/6691
F35-39: 795/961

Everyone received a Tech short sleeved Shirt and Medal. Overall it was an Amazing experience and I can't wait to do it again next year and set a new PR for this race as well as receive a medal without any spelling mistakes

 I really didn't run DOWNTOEN

Although 10k seems like impossible distance to run, I am prove that NOTHING is impossible and everything is achievable with a bit of training. Just believe in yourself.
Even when I was hobbling down to the finish line I was thinking that I would be back next year and what possible race I could do next, could I even do a 1/2 marathon in September?
I certainly did catch the running bug and I like how it makes me feel like I can do anything. 


Thanks for all your emails, tweets and comments on the blog they have been overwhelming!!


Now an update on Hubby, he went into surgery on Monday due to his separated Shoulder. The Surgery took way too long due to him having some complications with his heart. 
He is now on blood pressure medication and we are going to see a Cardiologist sometime this week when he feels better from the surgery. We are hoping that this was just from the sever pain he was in during surgery which quite common.
I'm playing nurse (minus the outfit) for the next couple of days.
Can't wait to be back out running.

I just got myself another Child

You know when your phone rings at 11:43pm that nothing good can come of it, even more so if Hubby is playing soccer and that phone rings. 
Well my phone rang last night and it was J Hubby's Best Friend letting me know that Hubby was being taken to the Emergency and they thought he had broken his Collar Bone playing soccer. 
Honestly at that time I was furious, I was so mad at him. I could not believe that I had to go out at that time in that weather, to pick up the car at the Sports Centre and then drive all the way to the hospital to pick him up. 
Mad, I was Mad, Mad, Mad!! 
Buy the time I got to the hospital I wasn't as mad anymore and felt really bad for him. 
Long story short, Hubby has Acromioclavicular Joint Separation Type III and is scheduled for surgery next Monday. 
His arm is in a sling and he is pretty much depended on me for everything. 
Rehabilitation can take up to 3months. 
GREAT I really need another child! 
Sorry, I get really crabby when I don't get my 7-8hrs sleep and right now I'm going on 2hrs of sleep.
Today was supposed to be a run day but it's almost 7pm and with they way I've been eating today and my lack of sleep I don't think running would be a good idea. 
The race is ONLY 4 days away and I still have to get two runs in before Sunday.  
I'm running out of time here.


SO ... my confession for today, when I'm super tired and cranky I like to eat crappy food... I almost feel like I do it to punish myself, to make me feel even worse and more crappier... strange but that's me. 
My first attempt to eat crappy was a FAIL... 

I was really looking forward to having this FULL FAT YUMMY Pasta ... BUT no such luck, when we got home and I dug into it, it was SOOOO spicy it cleared my sinus, even Hubby could not eat it. I was NOT happy.
This is the second time this happens to me at this place and I specifically asked them if the pasta was spicy and was told NO it was NOT. 
Anyway, a big container of this amazing looking Spicy pasta is sitting in my fridge, I might take it to work and feed it to my spicy loving co-workers.


My second attempt:

A "Bola de Berlim", it's a Portuguese version of a Jelly filled Donut. In German it would a Berliner

It has a Lemon/Vanilla cream filling and was VERY YUMMY... but I'm ashamed to say I didn't finish it all, half of it is still sitting waiting for me, I think I can hear it calling my name.

I better go get some rest... I now have 3 children to take care off, a full time job and a 10k to finish training for. 

one day at a time..

So there has been no running, no walking, no biking, no yoga, no stretching, nothing since Saturday. I decided to rest and give my leg a chance to heal. 
Monday it was time to head in to see the Dr. and take advantage of the great free Health care Canada Provides. 
The shin pain was still there and my calf was hurting too and not getting better. It hurt to walk up and down stairs and nothing seemed to make the pain better, you know it's time to see your Dr. if after a week you still have the same issue. 
My Dr. was convinced that this is simply a case of shin splints and the pain in my calf is my leg compensating for the pain in my shin. She recommended one week of NO RUNNING and R.I.C.E (Rest, ICE, Compression & Elevate), she also perscribed an anti-inflamatory to use for the next two days/twice a day. 
She did however feel like it would be a good idea to send me for an Ultrasound to rule out a Blood clot, due to the fact that I am on Birth Control. I didn't have any of the symptoms, but you never know in these cases. 
So Tuesday I went for my Ultrasound and was very confident that indeed it was NOT a blood clot. 
HOWEVER today I got a call for my Dr. and she wanted to see me to go over the results... I hate that!! It's never good when they ask you to go in to go over test results.
Good News not a blood clot.
Bad News they found a Popliteal Cyst aka a Baker's Cyst. It is fairly small, only 2.5cm and from examining my leg you would not be able to tell it's there and it's NOT what's causing the pain... I guess we just lucked out finding it. 
What is a Popliteal cyst you may ask, it is a cyst that forms when the joint lining produces too much fluid in the knee. The extra fluid builds up and pushes through the back part of the joint capsule which in turn forms a cyst .
The symptoms are knee pain, which funny I haven't had during running ... I mean the usual aches and pains, after a long run especially when I first started running. But nothing that would make go to the Dr. I had more knee pain when I was 25lbs heavier, so really it's nothing.  These cyst can also suddenly burst which causes pain and swelling in the calf.  
Treatment it all depends on how big and painful the cyst is. They can drain the cyst or in some cases remove it. Rest and elevating the leg for several days also helps. 
But the key is find the reason why the cyst got there in the first place as they do tend to come back, most common reasons are osteoarthritis, injury to the knee (cartilage tears)  or other knee problems.  
So where do I go from here ... well next week I go for a Knee ultrasound and  x-ray to see if we can find the cause of the cyst. 
The Dr. wants me to rest for another week, this means no running. At the end of next week I can run on the treadmill IF my shin and calf feel better. Once we get the results back then we will decide the game plan. 
I guess this probably means I wont be running the Harry's Spring Run Off on April 3rd and not sure what will happen with my 10k race on May 2nd. 
I still have 3 wks left on my running program and with having to ease back into running I'm not sure how long it will take me to be up to 'speed' again.
I'm not happy about this little set back, but I'm taking it one day at a time and it's all part of the experience. 


How did you deal with injury and not being able to run and how did you ease back into running? 

...no running

I have been resting my leg. 
So there has been no running since Thursday's 10minute attempt to run. 
My shin still hurts especially going down stairs.
My calf is still sore. 
Ice is my friend.
It sucks and I'm upset about it. 
Yesterday I tried to sprint out of the rain and just couldn't, I felt a sharp pain on my shin and had to stop and hobbled the rest of the way. 
Honestly I wanted to cry, not from the pain but from not being able to run. 
I've come so far and now this... I know, I know it comes with the territory.
I'm doing so well on my training and in the 3 months since taking on running I've lost 15lbs, I feel great and  love how my body is changing and becoming stronger.
Just the thought of having to stop running, makes me worried/scared.
It really didn't help that everywhere I looked I saw runners out, running in the rain and all I could think about is how badly I wanted to be them. 
The plan for Monday is to see the Doctor just to make sure it's nothing serious and hopefully I can run after work. 


Please check out Robin @ Running Circles Around the Turtles she wrote a great post on Disclosure and being aware of how much information you share on your blog/twitter about yourself and your running routes and running alone on trails. 


I'm off to ice my shin... hope to have good news tomorrow.