Some Improvement

I received the Reebok Foam Roller I'd ordere on Tuesday. I got straight to work on it, doing a variety of strecthes, but making sure I paid plenty of attention to my ITB. 'Foam' Roller makes it sound as though it's a soft squishy little sponge. It's not. It is 1 metre long and it is about 6 inches in diameter, and it's hard foam.

You lie on top of the roller and work your way down over your various muscle groups. When you feel a tender spot, you stop and hold it there for 30-45 seconds until the muscle releases. It can really hurt, just like a sports massage. I used it several times Tuesday and on Wednesday morning before my physio appointment.

Mike, the Physio, commented that my muslces appeared to be much looser than normal! Also when he was deep tissue massaging my knee and ITB it hurt far less, hardly at all this week. The only area which still caused me a lot of pain (as he digs his elblow in) was my hip. That is still very tender.

Later on Wednesday I went out for a run. I wanted to try and push further than 4 miles. I didn't wear my GPS as the batteries had run down. I set out on a unplanned route and justmade it up as I went along. I had to guess my pace of course too. I picked a challenging undulating route as you can see. Probably a little tougher and steeper than I should really have attemted.



I put a strip of Leukotape 3 inches above my kneecap again, to ease pressure on my ITB. Seemed to do the trick as I felt no pain at all, and completed what turned out to be 5.5 miles. I averaged 8:05 minute miles. Not bad for such a tough course. Plenty of that route was offroad, and some parts are wooded with some treacherous footing.

I stretched out and used the foam roller to cool down.

I have continued to do 3 sets of the strengthening exercises and stretches each day.

The routine I follow now is: (repeated for each leg where applicable)

Use foam roller to warm up and strectch - Hamstring, Quads, Calfs, ITB, Back, Gluts
Then:
20 x short squat
20 x sitting. Point toes away, pull toes towards
20 x sitting. foot turned outwards leg raises
4 x 30 secs. lying, Bend knees, raise bum to form line from knees to shoulder
10 x 10 secs. Same as above, but straighten one leg in air, all weight on one leg
20 x lying on side leg raises
2 x 20 secs classic ITB stretch
20 x Walt Reynolds ITB special

This is quite a punishing routine to put myself through 3 times a day and takes over half an hour each time.

I'm happy with my progress and the way it appears to be recovering. I'm far from being out of the woods yet, but I feel as though I may make the start line reasonably pain free. I doubt i'll stay like that for 26 miles, but i'll do what I can.