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| Mountain Goats! |
My leg was beginning to feel dead after only 7 miles, almost as if someone had thumped me in the thigh. Suddenly I felt a sharp wincing pain on the outside of my right knee which stopped me in my tracks. This was the second time this had happened in as many sessions during my warm weather training camp (or family holiday as my wife, mother and parents-in-law called it) in Lanzarote. The trip just happened to coincide with 7 weeks to go before the MDS and my wife's mid-term break from school. Unfortunately for me, it also coincided with another overuse injury resulting from the Clonakilty Back2Back Marathons - IT Band Syndrome - where my IT Band had taken over from my tired leg muscles and strained itself.
If you know me, you'll know that I do not take the refusal of my body to follow orders well. At this point in Lanzarote, I had two options. First was to accept it, turn around and gingerly walk back the 7 miles to home and begin some form of rehabilitation. The second option was to lose it there and then on that quiet trail under the midday sun.
I chose the latter and proceeded with a hissy fit to end all hissy fits. First I flung my pack to the ground and kicked it, knocking the water bladder out. This was followed by punting a Power Bar over the side of a cliff (ROG eat your heart out) and ripping the cap off my head and stamping on it. Third was to roar in frustration as I pondered another year waiting to do the MDS. I then sat there like a child who was not allowed to put what I wanted in the trolley at the supermarket, head down, moaning.
After a few minutes of this sulking, I reluctantly picked up my cap and bag and turned around. Around a twenty-strong herd of wild mountain goats were sitting above the trail staring at me in silence. I stared at them and they just sat there staring back. I wondered how long they had been there and whether or not they had witnessed my hissy fit or if the hissy fit attracted them over. I was fairly sure they weren't there as I rounded the corner so I concluded I must have attracted them with my antics. Useful information should I ever go hunting for wild mountain goat in Lanzarote!
The rest of my holiday was spent stretching under the tutelage of the mother - handy to have brought a physio on holiday with me. On my return, Sarah in Performance Physio confirmed that it was IT Band Syndrome and we began to rehabilitate it with foam rolling, dry needling, friction treatment and stretching. IT Band Syndrome for most runners allows them to run short distances before any pain is felt and it is generally felt outside the knee where the IT Band connects to the lower leg. It is a common running injury apparently. Meanwhile I got back in the pool and began preparing my equipment - I was not waiting another year, whatever state I was in, I was getting on that plane to Morocco.
After a few minutes of this sulking, I reluctantly picked up my cap and bag and turned around. Around a twenty-strong herd of wild mountain goats were sitting above the trail staring at me in silence. I stared at them and they just sat there staring back. I wondered how long they had been there and whether or not they had witnessed my hissy fit or if the hissy fit attracted them over. I was fairly sure they weren't there as I rounded the corner so I concluded I must have attracted them with my antics. Useful information should I ever go hunting for wild mountain goat in Lanzarote!
The rest of my holiday was spent stretching under the tutelage of the mother - handy to have brought a physio on holiday with me. On my return, Sarah in Performance Physio confirmed that it was IT Band Syndrome and we began to rehabilitate it with foam rolling, dry needling, friction treatment and stretching. IT Band Syndrome for most runners allows them to run short distances before any pain is felt and it is generally felt outside the knee where the IT Band connects to the lower leg. It is a common running injury apparently. Meanwhile I got back in the pool and began preparing my equipment - I was not waiting another year, whatever state I was in, I was getting on that plane to Morocco.
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| ITB Syndrome |
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