Go! Run Fast!

After work yesterday, I went in to The Bicycle Place to get my bike fitted and bring it home. They did an amazing job swapping out parts and adjusting it.

Today I took it out. As everyone assured me, I did indeed fall once as I acclimated myself to the clipless pedals. I went to a parking lot to practice, as suggested, and once I felt like I’d mastered it, I headed out for my ride. When trying to leave the parking lot, I stopped and promptly fell as I got started again. Oh well.

The ride itself went quite well. I felt pretty fast and relatively in control. This bike is obviously much easier to ride than my grocery shopping bike (basket, fenders) - not that I would ever take this grocery shopping. It was even better once I figured out how to shift the back gear properly.

In the fitting, they replaced the default saddle with a women’s specific one. That one is MUCH more comfortable than what it came with, but I’m still not happy with it. It seems to me that bike seats were designed without respect to human anatomy. This is not a beginner whining about it not fitting right. They measured me properly and my “sit bones” did just fine on it. I anticipated a little discomfort there, but it was totally ok. However, there are other discomforts that I find completely unacceptable even with my squishy bike shorts and everything.

Thus, I’ve ordered this saddle - the Terry’s Butterfly Titanium Women’s saddle. Fortunately, these nicer saddles have guarantees so if I don’t like them, I can return them after trying them out. It’s nice to be able to experiment a bit. Hopefully, this will take care of things for me.

I also swam again today. It’s usually uncrowded on the weekends, which is nice. I’ve been working my way through the Total Immersion swim DVD. I did more drills today and finished watching the lessons tonight. The drills are coming along pretty well and hopefully tomorrow I’ll see if the whole progression will have helped at all with the regular swimming.

A true multisport day today!

Yesterday, I was all like “Yeah, I don’t need these lame TI drills and they won’t help me, but I’ll do them just to say I put in the effort.”

Off to the pool I went this afternoon to give it a try. I figured I’d do a few laps of the TI exercises and then go back to my normal lap routine.

Boy was I wrong. It made a ridiculous difference to do their methods. I’m not actually up to “real” swimming yet. I’m practicing with one arm out or the other, occasionally switching them. The focus now is on staying balanced in different positions.  While I wasn’t fast, I could just keep going and going. I also scoffed at their weird practice breathing position where you roll about 3/4 of the way onto your back and breathe as much as you want. That was also as easy as they said it would be. So I am convinced and will be working through the DVD to (hopefully) become a much better swimmer.

My bike is now at the bike store being checked and properly assembled. On Friday I’m going in to get it fit to me properly. They said to bring in my shoes and shorts which means I’ll have to actually get some shorts.

In addition to today’s swimming, I went for a run this afternoon. The IT band is still achy so I cut the run short. This makes me unhappy but I have no reason to push things. I know I just need to let it recover.  I just keep telling this to myself over and over hoping it will sink in.

My bike arrived today!

It’s pretty cool. I have it loosely assembled now and tomorrow I’m planning to bring it to the bike store to be tuned up and fitted to me.

I’m looking forward to taking it out later this week to get see how it feels.

I was hoping to take the Total Immersion swim workshop being offered in Towson in a few weeks, but it’s sold out. To help me along, I bought the DVD.  I’ve watched a couple lessons worth and I’ll try it out in the pool tomorrow. The program has a good reputation and the books and DVDs are well reviewed. However, I’m not sure that I’m yet at the point where these lessons will help me. I recognize that I have some of the style problems they address, but I think I also need to get much better adapted to the water before I’ll really see the benefits from better form.

One thing that has been a somewhat valuable lesson from the reading I’ve been doing is to think of swimming more as practice than training. That makes sense to me (though I need the training as much as the practice). I don’t really like the idea of just doing drills in the pool rather than putting in distance, but this is apparently my runner self interfering with my potential swimmer self. I’m still going to be treating this as training, but I’ll mix in some practice and, if it works, I’ll do as much practice as training.

Today I went to see the podiatrist at my sports medicine clinic to be fitted for orthotics. It was pretty interesting. I brought in the pictures of my race that I had presented earlier where my right foot swings out to the side. The doctor confirmed my previous hypothesis about why I’m swinging out my foot (kind of). I do sort of swing it around to keep it from hitting the ground if I were to move it straight forward. However, I don’t do this because I’m a lazy runner. There are two reasons I do it:

1) The abducting of my right foot makes it seem longer, and that’s a method of compensating

2) My right leg is longer than my left, and swinging the foot out is another way to compensate.

Indeed, we measured it and my right leg is 1/8th of an inch longer.

Swinging the leg around like I do contributes to the IT band problems. This makes me very happy because it’s an explanation for my problems that makes sense. Furthermore, it’s mechanical which means it’s correctable.

After the leg measuring and analysis, we went and did some computer stuff. I stood on this pressure pad which showed me standing pretty normally on the left foot, but putting most of my weight on the outside edge of my right foot. I then walked across this pad which showed the distribution of weight as I stepped. The computer showed a heat map and a little line showing the highest pressure area. It’s pretty normal on the left, but on the right,  the pressure of my step starts toward the inside of my heel and rolls forward toward the inside of the ball of my foot.

That’s right - if anything I am an underpronator rather than an overpronator.  I had started to suspect this after analyzing the pictures of my gait. It’s interesting, though, because I had thought I was overpronating (and even said so on my blog). Fortunately, I went with a shoe that was still kind of neutral. The doctor today said I should stay with a neutral shoe, and I may move back to a more neutral one once the orthotics come in.

Brother Tom has, fortunately, overcome most of his IT band issues. However, our foot movements look very similar in pictures. I wonder, darling brother, if you may have similar issues to me…

The orthotics are ordered. I’m quite a bit poorer this morning since the insurance won’t cover them, but it will be SO worth it if it helps with this problem. I’ll have these inserts in about 2 weeks which will give me a little time to get used to them before the Bethesda Turkey Chase on Thanksgiving.

I will have some tenderness on my knee from Wednesday’s cortisone shot, but I’m feeling much better. I went to the gym to swim today, only to discover there was a swim meet. In desperate need of a workout, I decided to run, even though I should be resting. I did 3 easy miles, and it was good. I had no IT band pain, save the injection tenderness (which is quite different than a painful, inflamed IT band). That was encouraging, but I’m going to keep resting, foam rolling, taking the Celebrex, and saying nice things to my IT band to make it behave.

My bike has shipped! It will be here Tuesday if all goes according to plan. Wednesday should be nice, so hopefully I’ll be able to take it out for a test ride then.

Both the equipment I was born with and the stuff that came from UPS…

The cortisone injection is a bit more sore today than it was yesterday. However, it’s still not as bad as it was last time. Hopefully, I’ll be able to go out for a run relatively soon. I was extremely tempted today, since it was 75 and sunny, but I behaved.

My new bike shoes came today. Like most of my other purchases, they were suggested by Brother Tom.  These are mountain biking shoes with clips on them to go with my fancy yet-to-arrive pedals. Pretty nice!

I mentioned that after my 3 mile run on Monday, my IT band was bothering me again. I’d feel little tweaks occasionally throughout the day. Instead of suffering, I went back to the sports medicine doctor and got another cortisone shot. They had suggested this might be helpful after the marathon to push along the recovery. It felt about the same going in, but all day it has been much less painful than the first one. I can hardly feel it most of the time and didn’t notice it at all as I ran around doing a million things today. Only on occasion when I bend deeply on it do I feel the same post-cortisone pain that I had before.

I’ve decided to take this as a positive sign. I’m also back to taking the Celebrex for a while, with the hope of beating down the post marathon inflammation during my rest period. In the meantime, I’m actually starting to enjoy the swimming and I’m a bit sad that I won’t be able to go for the next couple days because of some work events. I’ve also got a long routine of strengthening exercises for my IT band and core that I’m trying to do 4 or 5 times a week. I hope these, plus the bike when it comes next week, will keep me satisfied with limited running until I’m better.

I went back to the pool today after no swimming on Monday. It’s interesting to me that even after only 3 visits I can feel myself making progress. I’m not good, by any means, but I feel like I can at least tell what all my body parts are doing. I can identify the things I need to work on stylistically and I obviously still need to improve my stamina. Still I could make it 3 lengths without a break today, and the breaks were shorter.

More encouraging was the guy next to me. The lanes in the pool were full and so three of us were swimming laps in the shallow end set up for lessons. The guy asked if I swam a lot and told me I was a much better swimmer than him. I didn’t really notice how good he was, though he definitely was not an expert. Still, I appreciated the compliment even though his bar was set quite low.

I also bought my first bike today. It is identical to Brother Tom’s bike. Same year, make, model, size, etc. I had a nice long conversation with the people at The Bicycle Place, one of my local bike shops this weekend. I told them I was willing to buy a bike but said I had a cheap option that I’d like to use if it would fit ok. The guy there told me right off to take the cheap option as I learned and then he spent over half an hour showing me models, explaining frame and wheel structure, giving me tips about how to train, describing how to adapt the bike for me, and then telling me what my options were in the spring once I’ve become a better cycler. I was very impressed that (1) *he* told me not to buy a bike from them, even though I said I would if it was a good idea and (2) after telling me not to buy a bike from them, he spent all that time explaining things.

So here it is! My 2009 model Trek 1.2:

I got a very good deal. The bike is almost new (about 100 miles on it) and comes with the stand, aerobars, little bag, bottle holder, and odometer. I got it all for several hundred dollars less than the MSRP of the new bike, and about $500 less than I would have paid for the whole setup with all the accessories and taxes. I’m a happy girl.

It probably won’t get here for another couple weeks, which is ok. I have some rollers on my christmas (or birthday) list, though it’s taking some willpower not to buy them right now. I did buy some clipless pedals and shoes and a helmet (all on muffin’s recommendation). So, I should look a little big competent when I head out for my first training ride.

I ran 2 miles on the treadmill last Saturday. It was fine. I ran three miles today (Monday). It was not fine. My IT band really started hurting about 2 miles in. That’s very classic IT band syndrome. I guess I need to give it more time to recover after the marathon. It wasn’t just a long run - I pushed it very very hard through that race. Still, I’m VERY ready to be back training.

While I know I will need more recovery time, if I’m honest with myself I would like to run the Miami Marathon again this year. It won’t happen - I might do the half - but I know that I will need to recuperate for a while before my IT band is ready for that. Still, I have the urge and I hope with the new inserts and stretching and strengthening and cross training I’ll be at a point next year where I can do 2 or 3 marathons each year.

For now, I’ll be happy to be healed up and feeling good for the 10K Turkey Trot next month.

In the meantime, I’m swimming. It’s hard. I’m really bad at it. I went Saturday for the first time and felt like a drowning, uncoordinated, moron. I couldn’t breath properly. Every time I’d come up for a breath, I’d have to exhale to get the water out of my nose, and then try to inhale. It simply didn’t work.
On Sunday, I got a set of nose plugs. That helped quite a bit. I can make it down and back (almost). The last 10 feet of each lap is a bit hard. I feel a bit more coordinated now that I am able to breathe. I still have a lot of coordination progress to make, not to mention strengthening and building stamina and endurance.

Brother Tom says it will get easier, and I trust him. I can see that it could happen. We’ll see how long it takes to really see some progress.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this IT band problem (obviously). I have trouble accepting that it’s simply an overuse problem. I don’t run that much. There are lots of casual runners who put on more miles than I do. I do about 20 a week, maybe 30 during marathon training. I think only once in my life have I done 40 miles in a week. That’s just not so much that it should be injuring me.

Similarly, it can’t just be a tightness issue. The foam roller and I have become one. I can feel my IT band - it’s nice and loose.

I do believe it’s mechanical. However, I have pretty normal arches. But I’ve noticed a problem with my feet in most of my race pictures. Some from the marathon really show it. I push off and my toes point away from my body. I land on the outside of my heel, and repeat. It’s overpronation, but not because of my arch structure. Here’s the most telling picture of it from the marathon:

I was shocked to see my foot about to land at that angle. Now, this picture exaggerates it a bit. Most of my landings aren’t that bad, and I believe this picture was taken after my IT band siezed up during the race. Still - pictures like these are very common for me:

Notice in this last picture that I’m pushing off ok on the back foot. It seems to flare out to the side once it leaves the ground. The top picture here shows that on my right foot after pushing off and how it stays like that when I land. It seems I land on my heel with my toe pointed out, but rotate around to have my foot straight to push off, and then repeat.

It seems clear to me that these bad mechanics can be the cause of my IT band. If you try running with your feet at the angle in the first picture, you can start to feel some of the stress that puts on things.

The issue is not simply that I am built this way. When I walk, I do not have this sort of crazy gait. I’ve taken video and photos and checked. I have several theories as to why I am doing this in my runs.

Theory 1. Less energy - Imagine walking like a runway model with very high kicking steps. That takes a lot of energy. Running with big kicks takes a lot of energy too. However, if you run or walk and don’t lift your feet enough, you will stumble on them because they will hit the ground on the way forward. However, if you swing them around to the outside, they do not get caught under you and you do not pick them up as far. I am certainly not doing this consciously - if this is the reason at all - but maybe it’s part of the reason this is happening.

I’ve watched video of me finishing the Philadelphia distance run, where I pushed it a bit. I still have this weird flare, but it’s much less pronounced. It doesn’t explain everything and it may not explain even part of it, but it’s a theory.

Theory 2 (confirmed). Muscle imbalance - while I was not particularly impressed with my physical therapy sessions, it was very clear from those that I have a pretty serious muscle imbalance. I just run and all the stabilizing muscles are relatively undeveloped. They know it and I totally believe them. Fixing that will likely do a lot to help me.

Theory 3. Correctable bad behavior - even with the imbalance corrected, I haven’t ever spent any time thinking about my feet when I run. It’s possible that with some focus and practice I can get them to stay a bit more in alignment. I’m not talking about overcorrecting past what’s natural for me. However, since I walk without this angling of feet, I can likely also run with much less of it.

Armed with photos, I’m going back to the sports medicine doctor tomorrow. I’m going to show her these, ask about what exercises I can do beyond correcting the muscle imbalance to specifically help with this issue, and see what she thinks about simply practicing to fix my stride. I also won’t mind getting orthotics for my shoes if that will help correct the natural part of the problem. However, I suspect there are many things at work and that I should work on fixing all of them.

We will see how things go tomorrow as I think about what steps to take next (no pun intended).