Ugh, things are crazy lately so I haven't had time to write. Or maybe I've just been avoiding the task b/c I hate talking about my injury. Who knows...but anyways...
I called the therapy place at 7:00 a.m. on Monday (the exact time they opened) and got in at noon on the same day. I took a half sick day from work, which was useful for two reasons because I have felt awful all week (congested, coughing, runny nose, etc.). Anyways, I go in for my appointment at 12 and the PT checks me out. Basically he comes to the conclusion that it is my IT band acting up, and it is being caused by a number of factors: my hips are not as strong as they should be, I am not as flexible as I should be, and my left leg looks like it never properly healed after breaking it back in 1999. All of these factors are working together to throw off my movement, which in turns causes my IT band to yell out in pain.
So here's my treatment plan: I have to go back on Friday, and also on Monday. Until Friday, I am not allowed to run but I can cross train (and should do so). I have to do some specific stretches for my hips 2-3 times per day. I also have some strength exercises to do for my hips once a day (for now). My left IT band gets an ice massage 2 times per day. Finally (and the worst part), I had to go buy a foam roller and I have to roll out my IT bands for 1.5 minutes each leg. This is awful. It's almost too painful to complete. But I do it because I have to run this marathon. For now I'm only doing it once a day. Probably by tomorrow I should start doing it twice a day. Yippee (insert sarcasm)!
Hopefully when I go back on Friday I will get cleared to do a little running. The PT said I will start off with about 3-4 miles of running and we'll see how that goes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I expressed my concern about not being able to run the marathon and he said I should be fine by then. I may have to deal with some soreness and pain, but I should be able to complete it. I will complete the thing if I have to crawl! (Although I'd like to be able to run it.) I'm going to stick to my recovery plan and follow it to a "T" and I'll just keep my fingers crossed! That's basically all I can do. I'm in injury limbo.
Yesterday I rode the bike for 40 minutes. My knee was slightly sore following that, but I recovered. Today I'm going to try out the elliptical and do 20 minutes on that and 20 minutes on the bike. I'm interested to see how my knee feels after the elliptical since it is more like running.
3.5 more weeks. It's crunch time!
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