So two days before I was supposed to fly out to Washington to do my ironman distance race, I was concerned. I've had some running injuries over the last few years. First it was shin splints, then compartment syndrome... the worst. I had to take a year off - as in 12 full months of no running. Zero. Not that it was a huge stretch... there were days I could barely walk to class... Luckily, taking the time off and some rehab and I was back on the right track. Not only did I find compression tubes and socks (helps alleviate a little of the pain), but I was also outfitted with orthotics - not cheap. It took a few weeks wearing them a little every day to get used to them, but it seemed to do the trick. But it's never that easy is it...
This May I was 2/3 of the way through the 70.3 at Wildflower and it was time for the run... the damn run. A quarter mile in, shins are feeling good, even at half a mile I wasn't feeling any tinge of pain but about a quarter mile later... my knee hurt. My knee???? What the ...?
Where was this coming from? The outside of my right knee had this shooting pain when I ran... but not when I walked. You gotta be kidding me... right? But what are you going to do... I've been told I'm a fast walker, but trust me... if you CAN run 13 miles... you'd rather. It's over so much faster that way! Ugggh.
Luckily I found a young man who apparently really isn't all that interested in triathlons, but his friends are, and he doesn't feel like sitting at the campground. We walked together for a good 6 or 7 miles before he was antsy to get moving again... lucky. Long story short my half marathon time was a very drawn out 2 hours and 55 minutes...
Well... my new "knee" pain was diagnosed as an IT band issue. The way to fix it is to roll the muscle on the outside of your leg on this big foam roller. It's not a particularly enjoyable exercise... Let me rephrase that, it's not enjoyable in the least... at least when you're IT band is really tight, like mine was. Well I suffered through a lot of rolling and knew I could go about 6 miles before the pain would kick in.
That wouldn't get me very far in the 26.2 miles I was looking at 2 days from then... after the 112 mile bike... which is most likely the reason I have an IT band issue... cycling.
OK so...2 days before I was leaving for the 140.6... I was worried because I had switched shoes recently, and although I loved how everything was feeling in terms of mileage... they seemed tight! Obviously I hadn't been able to do a lot of running in preparation for this so I was concerned they were ok for the 6-7 mile runs I had been doing, but might not work for the long haul. I broke down. I admit it!
I went into RoadRunner sports... I looked at the guy and said, "these shoes are great, but they feel a little tight... could I just try a bigger size?" He obliged and when I took the shoes off, he saw I had my orthotics in and pulled one of them out for me to put in the new shoe....
He looked at me, looked at Peter, Peter looked at him and they both rolled their eyes....
They were too tight because I had the original insole PLUS my orthotics... I'm an idiot :)
Good news though... when we took the other insole out... they fit great! ha.
Needless to say, I was feeling very guilty about buying a pair of shoes, but I was desperate. I walked out of there without buying anything new. whew.
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