Dammit

Still at least a week away from running on the road. I have been feeling some pulling and/or snapping across the front right of my knee. PT doesn't want to chance that going away. On the plus side, the power went out tonight during my session, so no sweating in the Alter G. Next up is a reevaluation of my gait on Thursday. To see if the Alter G has helped at all.

Frustration is setting in

In my fourth week of PT, and the frustration with not being cleared to run on the streets is down right nasty. I am up to 3 miles at 75% weight on the Alter G, but I hate that thing. Especially when the only shorts that were left at the end of the day were a pair of smalls. I think my voice went up an octave after the 3-miler that day.

I walked about four miles yesterday to try to meet my Tuesday night group at our usual pizza spot. Turns out that it was the first Tuesday in a year when no one felt like going out after the run. I had no way of knowing that until I got to place and no one was there. I checked two other bars nearby, to no avail. I posted a message on the site, and someone replied with the bail out info. Darn. At least I got the walking in.

I still feel something in the area of the IT band... not pain, but something.

PT Continuing

PT continues to progress. Last night involved the addition of some new exercises to strengthen the muscles that stabilize the leg during landing. I was actually amazed that there was such a significant difference between my left leg (my leaping leg) and my right leg. I did 3 miles on the Alter G treadmill. I was at 75% weight and pacing at 7:03, with a cadence of 172 spm. In the last 1/10 mile, I could swear I felt something in my knee. Not pain, just something. Mentioned it to the PT, but I didn't feel it during any of the exercises, so maybe it was nothing.

Supposedly 2 weeks out from real road running at low mileage.

The first week of PT

Just finished my first week of physical therapy for the IT band issue that I have. It is not nearly as painful as I thought it would be... so far. I imagine that it will ramp up in intensity as I build some more strength around the hip/glute area of the legs. So far, the worst experience has been running on the Alter G treadmill. I was trying to explain it to some co-workers. Basically, you wear rubber shorts, zip into a bubble, which inflates with air and lifts you by said shorts. It felt OK for about the first 2 minutes, then the air in the bubble got Arizona hot and the compression on the boys was getting to be too much. I was working at 70% weight. I could definitely focus on stride more than on a regular treadmill. I tried hard to keep each foot in its own lane, avoiding the crossover hip whip that I was doing previously. I also focused on a balanced arm swing, without the the floppy T-rex form that I normally use. By the time it ended, I was happy to get out of the thing. The woman before had run 30 minutes in it, which I could not have endured. Perhaps her lack of external genitals aided in her ability to last that long.

Actually during the very first session, which included a stride analysis, I spent 7 minutes on the regular treadmill with no pain. I took that as a good sign for the start of treatment.