reverse taper

It's amazing how many ways I've underestimated the marathon. There's always some little thing I either play down, or disregard. I don't mean to be disrespectful to the magical 26.2, but sometimes I just forget to give the whole undertaking its complete props. And every time I do, it comes back to bite me. Pretty hard.

I thought that having finished it, I would be in the clear from whatever problems could ever arise. (It's cute how I'm naive, isn't it?) I knew already that it basically takes as long to recover from a marathon as it does to taper for one. At least. I read a fantastic quote about recovery that actually said "You should never begin training for your next marathon until you've forgotten about your last one." That's probably true for fifty seven reasons. Anyway, it apparently true what they say about recovery. And that stuff about having a broken-down body? That's true too!

Of course, I found this out for myself the fun way. Well, I learned through the haze of the cold searing pain that acccompanied my early return to running. In fact, I wrote a song about it. Wanna hear about it? Here it goes...

I ran two miles on Wednesday without any problems. It was nice to get out. My legs felt tired, but I was going very easy on them. It was encouraging, and I was toying with the ideas of a 10k/half marathon on Saturday. It went so well, that after a day off, I scheduled a four miler. I got up, went out, and absolutely flew off the blocks. I was running an absolutely killer pace and everything felt great until I hit two miles, when the outside of my knee started to hurt like there were fifty daggers stabbed into it. I stopped and stretched, and was able to go again, albeit at a slower pacce. After another mile, I had to stop and stretch again, but not only was it hurting, it began tightening up. This meant that my pace was affected and had I not adjusted my right leg, then I would have begun running in small concentric circles. I would probably still be there today. I managed to get home with a short shuffle/jog pace, probably akin to Don's early Quasimoto school of gimpery. I then went upstairs and freaked out a bit, before calming down after my leg stoped bothering me.
The thing is, I knew it wasn't my knee, because the pain is actually on the outside of it, and a little lower. So I began doing some research (keep in mind, I have a special place in my heart for the Web MD hypochondriacs out there. By saying that, of course I mean I love to make fun of them. It always fascinates me how a hangnail turns terminal.) It didn't take long for me to ascertain that I have a problem with my Iliotibial Band. Basically, I've strained it good. This happens to roughly 300 percent of all runners at one point or another. The best news is that there are stretches for it, and once Don realigns my hips, then I shouldn't have any problems. I was hoping on running a 10K today, but decided to take it off and rest. I'm going to go out and do 3 miles really slow tomorrow, and see how these newfangled stretches work. There will be running, but there will be no heady sprints through the German heath. Not for a couple of weeks anyway. The reverse taper is officially underway!