This morning, I ran 5 miles, which is 5 miles more than I could run in January.
6:30am and it was already 73 degrees. Hello, summer in PHX!
For the last four months, I have been on a serious mission to rid my life—for good—of IT Band Syndrome.
I have tried pretty much everything, and as a result, I have no idea which things (or combination of things) is actually doing the trick, but I have a hunch. The big ones:
1. Changing my foot strike. And good news: the mid-foot strike gets easier with every run.
2. A visit to the chiropractor. I have no idea if the adjustment had any effect, but my chiropractor did point out that I hyperextend my knees when I stand. Since I have a standing desk at work, that’s a lot of hours spent putting unnecessary pressure on my knees. Since this visit, I have been focusing on standing with a slight bend in my knees and I can definitely feel a difference.
3. An anti-inflammatory diet.
This last part is the part for which I have the least conclusive evidence of a direct causal relationship. The only thing I can say is that I feel better and I feel like it’s helping my injury. It makes sense, though, that if many people feel temporary ITBS relief from taking NSAIDS, then maybe eating in a way that alleviates chronic inflammation could actually help get at the root of the problem.
Yes, I’m partially attributing my slow comeback to a whole lot of green smoothies.
I’m in the middle of Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse, which I’ve done before. I adore this cleanse (and way of eating in general) for the way it makes me feel. I don’t have a whole lot of food vices, but I do have a coffee habit and a sugar habit, neither of which were helping with my injury. This little reset is helping me kick them, and I’m going to try to keep it up after the initial 21 days.
Another added bonus: it’s reinvigorated my kitchen experimentation impulse. I might even get wacky enough to post some recipes again.
And til then, my blissful, pain-free 5 mile run in the Arizona heat is enough to make giving up coffee—for a while, at least—totally worth it.
