It's the 4th of July already. So, happy 4th, one and all.
Have you ever heard of an IT band injury. Well, it's just my luck to have that strange thing occur. You see, my bum left knee started to hurt again, but in a different area. I talked to the ortho doctor, who knew what was up right away after asking a series of rather intelligent questions. Have you changed position on the bike? Yes new cleats and pedals, raised seat height a bit. Is one leg shorter than the other? Yes, the right is 3/4 inch shorter (up to a 1/2 inch is normal) . I had just recently found my heal shims for my everyday shoes and started using them again. Have you been riding longer and harder lately? Yes, I had doubled my rides and had been ramping up the intensity.
OK, rest and special stretches were prescribed for 5 days. The stretches worked well, the pain is pretty much gone. I took a short spin Thursday before golf league, no problem. Yesterday, a 26 mile ride with some intervals mixed in went off without a hitch. This morning, the knee feels fine, in fact I feel great all around. And, my average speed was up compared to the same ride several times this year. Probably due to the intervals, I would think.
Looks like it's going to be nice weather around these parts for the weekend. It's just too bad the local roads turn into a speedway on the holidays. Maybe I'll ride the MungerTrail, even though I'll have to put up with all the knuckle heads walking 3 wide with a dog on a long leash. People just don't think. Also, I picked up Tony Bourdain's "No Reservations", collection 3 to watch. 9 episodes of my favorite series of all time. Tony leads quite the life, one which I truly envy. Maybe once life settles down again, I could do some traveling, No Reservations style. Only, I would bring a bike.
6 comments:
We have the same problem...where to ride this weekend? I think we have a lot of boozed up drivers on our area back roads, so mountain biking it is. Single-trackin'
Yeah, I was thinking mountain bike myself. I'll probably explore the trails behind my place. Maybe play chicken with a moose. Safer than riding around DUI candidate motorists.
We drove back from a show at the Big Top Chautauqua near Bayfield last night. The show ended at 11 pm. That was a nerve racking drive across Hwy 2 not knowing if there was a drunk behind the wheel of every car that was approaching.
I had some ITB issues several years ago. I went to a PT who put me on a computrainer. It was clear that part of my problem was that I was making my left leg work harder. Pulling up more with the right and overall balancing my pedal stroke helped. Also, diligent use of the foam roller (look up foam roller ITB exercises) was very helpful. Finally, keeping my cadence higher was helpful.
Cheers.
Anne- thanks for the foam roller tip. That could be usefull for several different self massage treatments. In all, I guess as you get older, you have to be more careful. "Back in the day" (I hate that term), we just rode hard all the time and had no side effects. Other than some skin loss!.
Boz, you need to pack in that golf, its obviously not doing you any good!
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