Cycling Swag

I’m going back in time a little bit here. New Year’s Eve Michael and I went snowshoeing. Thursday night though, I met my friend Robyn at the gym to do yoga. I didn’t do anything besides yoga. It was technically a Rest Day for me. I wore some of my new clothes that Michael got me for Christmas.

First he got me fancy compression tights for cycling (or running). They felt really good on my legs. They aren’t ideal for doing yoga. Instead of being beneficial it was more annoying because every pose and stretch made my tights slip down a little bit. I think they’ll be great for cycling though because I’ll be in one position the whole time. He also gave me a new cycling t-shirt. It’s purple and cute and I love it. 😉

My other gift was fancy new water bottles. These are pretty neat: they unscrew from the top AND the bottom of the bottle.

That means no more mold, gross water bottles that are impossible to clean properly. I’m excited about trying the water bottles.

Yoga Stats:

Time: 1 hour

Calories Burned: 161

Favorite Pose: Tree Pose

Yoga was good. It felt really good to stretch my hips and legs. I’d gone to my sports medicine doctor earlier in the day for a follow-up appointment. It didn’t go ideally but it wasn’t all bad news.

The good news was that I was stronger in my hips and legs than I was when I saw him in September. He also said that a lot of patients with ITB Syndrome have pain just walking so the fact that I can run on the treadmill for almost 3 miles with no pain is great! I recognize this as being a positive and that I HAVE come a long way since September.

The “bad news” was that my IT band is still really tight. He was surprised at how tight it was. That was really disappointing. I held it together, refusing to cry, refusing to let it get me down. It does depress me when I think how FAR I’ve come from that sedentary, lazy 250 pound girl to an athlete and it makes me mad that my body is not healing like I want it to!

He gave me a new exercise to try for my hips which is too difficult to try and explain in words here. I’ll try to do some research and find a video demonstration of the hip stretch because I really felt it!! Ouch! He also gave me a tiny heel lift for me shoe. He said if I want to wear the heel lift and see if it helps I can. I’m not ready to do that yet. He also recommended physical therapy (which I don’t want to do). I can’t take time off work every week for PT appointment, plus I am doing really well on my own with stretches and exercises. I will stick with that for awhile.

His final thought: if I’m going to be a runner, I should get used to pain and injuries. I don’t know how I feel about that…Part of me wonders if maybe I’m just not meant to be a runner. Maybe I’m meant to be a swimmer and a cyclist only. He said he rarely sees any cyclists with ITB problems. It may be time to think about switching sports.

His suggestion was to strengthen my glutes. He thinks the problem might be my “Tensor Fascia Lata“. Whatever the heck that is! I guess it’s the part of my butt/hip that is inflamed and in turn irritating the rest of my IT band and knee. “The Tensor fasciæ latæ is a tensor of the fascia lata; continuing its action, the oblique direction of its fibers enables it to abduct the thigh and assists with internal rotation and flexion of the hip inward (medial rotation).” Further reading told me: “The tensor fascia lata is heavily utilized in horse riding, hurdling and water skiing. Some problems that arise when this muscle is tight or shortened are pelvic imbalances that lead to pain in hips, as well as pain in the lower back and lateral area of knees.” Sounds about right…!

Doc said no hiking, no stair-master. Weights are okay and that I should strengthen my glutes. He’s leaving Oregon soon so I will have to see a new doctor for my next follow-up appointment in February.

My plan of action:

Keep stretching

Strengthen my Glutes with weights and squats

Switch to cycling when I can

I asked him, “If I quit running completely would the problem go away? And could I then do other things like hiking?” He said yes. If it came down to choosing between being able to run 3x a week or hiking…I might choose hiking. At least hiking is a hobby that Michael and I can do together and it’s something I really enjoy. This injury has taken all the fun out of running for me.

Dinner was pizza from Costco. Nothing too exciting.