Minimal running but much more swimming

Ever since my last 10K race I’ve had a niggling pain in my right leg. It kind of starts near the ankle and radiates up the leg. Or on other occasions it feels like it’s deep in my right buttock.

I had a massage a couple of weeks ago and it turns out my IT band is extremely tight. So, I’ve been laying off the running and spending more time in the pool. I’ve also spent at least half an hour each evening stretching my legs and performing several exercises with my foam roller. I think this is tarting to have a real good effect. The roller doesn’t make me say ‘ow’ anymore anyway!

I’ve only gone on about 2 runs a week over the last 3 weeks, so I’m starting to get itchy feet and want to get out again. Still, with winter coming I kind of figure that it’s better to make sure I don’t do myself any more damage. We had snow this weekend so it wasn’t exactly the warmest of conditions to take a dodgy leg out for a run in!

The few runs I have gone out for have been really good. I’ve been doing some exercises at home to practice the correct midfoot landing and this has translated well to the road. I’ve felt really strong when running (apart from the dodgy right leg!) and the orthotics are also feeling really good now. So once this minor injury clears up I should be able to start to build up the base mileage again. Till then it’s plenty of time stretching, foam rollering (is there such a word?), and swimming.