Edit: Added the elevation profile from said marathon. Its making my knee twinge just looking at it.
Back in the olden days (2022), I ran the Giant's Head Marathon, and my knee hasn't spoken to me since.
It was a brutal course with around 1000m elevation gain that took you across an array of gnarly terrains including chalk roads so hard, you could shatter diamonds against them. Running over them it felt like the ground was fighting back. They were littered with rocks and boulders too, seemingly placed for the express purpose of breaking toes and snapping ankles.
I only had 8 weeks' clean training going into the event, so was at the very low end of my fitness and, more importantly, strength. Quads normally act as brakes. No quads equals no brakes; no brakes equals no control.
The whole route became like a rollercoaster: a slow, ratcheting ascent, a suspenseful pause at the top, a moment of sheer dread, a realisation that you can't get off, and then a wwwwhhhhhooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaa downwards at half the speed of light with arms flailing in the air and legs turning full circles like a cartoon character, and then SMASH! into the rock fields, like a demolition derby. There were enough stones flying everywhere to take out a whole herd of Goliaths. It doesn’t bode well for the knees, and one of mine sprouted what is best described as a head.
Have you ever had a swelling so beautifully round that it seems almost cruel not to adorn it with a marker-pen face? But then the problem is that it is far too convincing, and it’s hard to distinguish who came first? You or it? Like an optical illusion that could be mentally construed as a nodule sprouting its very own human? And its now taking this human for a walk? And saying good morning to terrified dog walkers?
No?
Yeah, er, me either. That’d just be weird, right?
Anyway, that was the start of our little fall out (me and my knee), and we haven’t made it up since.
But! It turns out it's not actually a knee injury after all (I’m still waiting for the apology) and actually it’s illiotib...illitibual...ill...
IT band syndrome.
I love how they call it a “syndrome”; it gives it some much need gravitas. Like Plantar Fasciitis.
*oooh*
I, er, don’t know how to write “oooh” so it reads like a long satisfied exhalation, rather than a camp *OoOoOoOoOoh*.
Anyway, nobody would mind rucking up at the physio's with Plantar Fasciitis. You'd feel a bit silly just calling it a sore foot. Savvy marketing, that.
IT band syndrome is a tightening of the IT band so that it causes aggravation to the outside of the knee and / or hip and is most commonly caused by a spike in loading and overuse. In my opinion, it's as equally commonly caused by gravity surfing down cliff faces onto chalk roads. I've seen a physio about it in the past, but he was overly keen to turn himself into some kind of life subscription, "just while I’ve got my diary open, let's book your next 50 sessions" - at £65 a pop by the way - so I grabbed a fistful of stretches and bodyweight exercises and ran (hobbled) for the door.
I managed the issue through most of last year's training, but at the business end of the block I was really struggling with overuse, and having to pop painkillers before events, plus lathering on enough Deepheat to land me a sponsorship. 12 weeks of rest hasn't done anything for it which was a worry seeing as I'm now staring down the barrel of a 1000mi+ training block.
We're just buying a new house at the moment (looking to complete in 6 weeks' time…exciting!) so the budget doesn’t currently stretch anywhere near physios (especially after I’ve just bought another new pair of running shoes. 10 pairs and counting now…but I’ve got it under control). But don’t worry about physios, I’ve been off to see Dr. YouTube.
VIDEO 1: Most effective treatment for IT band syndrome is rest and load management. SKIIIIIIIIP.
VIDEO 2: You should reduce your mileage. SKIIIIIIIIP.
VIDEO 3: Rest is most important. PAAAUUUUUUUSSSEEE. Oops, missed the button. I meant, SKIIIIIIIIP.
VIDEO 4: Place crystals on the effected area and be sure to transmit positive thinking. Ooooh! This looks interesting.
I think I need to keep at it though, as it hasn’t had much of an effect as of yet.
In all seriousness, I’ve found some helpful information. The syndrome (seems) non-progressive, but causes some discomfort which takes the fun out of the running. By all accounts, the poison and the antidote taste pretty similar. A bit of strength work should help, particularly knee and hip. Improving running form. Increasing cadence apparently can have some benefit. But the message is: I should be able to stay on top of it, so we’re on!
Slap on that goose fat, ply on that lycra, we are GO!
During my recent training, I paid a lot of attention to strength and conditioning, but it seems I may’ve been actually increasing the stress on the affected area, rather than underpinning it. I think I’ve found some tailored exercises to help target the areas surrounding the weaknesses.
I did some strength work yesterday and, my God, these exercises are brutal: Crab walks with resistance band around knees, drop squats with 30 second holds, elevated-leg glute bridges, bent leg calf raises?
I'm walking like I’m fifth generation inbred today.
The recovery shoes came out to play. It felt good though. Actually, everything is feeling good again now that I’m getting back motivated.
Today’s soup of the day was a 2-mile poodle round the block (there’ll be lots of poodling over the next few weeks), and the rest of the week will be on/off with 5K’s on Weds, Fri and Sun all at easy pace for a weekly total of 11miles (I’ve got a horrible habit of jumping between miles and km). I’ll also do a couple of 20min nice and light sessions on the exercise bike, which I find really helps re-build the base fitness with low stress on the body, and I’ll either have a rest day Thursday and do strength work on Saturday, or vice-versa, depending on how I feel.
Anyway. Happy running everyone! Wrap up your jewels. It’s getting cold out there.
Out of action for a while ☹️
Irritated Illio-tibial band? 
HUHM race report and post-race follow up.
