I.T. Came From the Deep

With less than two weeks until race day, we are slowing winding down the TNT calendar. Yesterday's 12 miler should have been cake, butter, or anything else considered wonderful. But I've developed a nagging IT band problem in my knee that sees to be nagging at my mind as well.


With longer intervals (8-1s), I've found the outside of my right knee tighting up to the point of pain. It's a dull but growning twist that has me wincing toward the end of runs. The solution? Assault my quad with Stick massages, ice the knee, and take it easy for the next two weeks. Cardio-ly speaking I can do a 4 hour marathon. I can keep a 9:10 pace throughout. But my knee will be the determining factor when it comes time to prove that. I'm not latching all of my hopes onto my time. Mostly, I'm just excited to see Alaska in a way that few people ever have. There are only 5000 people in this race! But I want to do so pain-free. I'm hoping to convince myself that during this taper period, I can slow it down and just rest and bike. Most likely, I'll go for a 30 min run today followed by copious amounts of stretching, icing and massaging. I'll bike most of the week (save some gas money too) and see how next week shapes up. Nothing I can do now will really matter on race day. These next two weeks are meant to keep us sane - slow runs, short bursts of exercise and lots of sleep and race. Oh, and eating. I sure have that covered.



image courtesy of digitaltutors.com