Getting out of a Runners' Low

After nearly 2 years of consistent running, I have been laid low by an injury, pretty common among runners - ITB. I was in a training group, Runners High, to improve my running and ensure that I run properly without getting injured. It turned out that the training was a bit too much for me and I had to back off from the Bangalore Ultra-09 25K. Also there are other suspicious activity like cycling that I was doing during the training which could have worsened the situation. I thought I was taking it easy by not pushing for longer distances than last year by sticking to distances under 25K. Instead I was training for better timings, which was more injury prone I realize. The training programs were a bit more work than the Galloway programs that I was following. There were indicators that the training was a bit tough, I had a series of neck sprains and the knee started collapsing once the distances got more than 15K. But after the poorly paced half marathon at KTM, it was difficult to run even 10K when I decided to stop and take some action finally!

But it was a real low which was tough to endure. I couldn't do cycling or even skipping(jump) rope because everything hits the knee. Found it really difficult to get up and go swimming as well. Life in general was hit, hit badly with strong shades of blue for a while.

I turned to my trusted Orthopedician, Dr. Deepak Sharan who runs the Recoup clinics all over the city. The only sports med specialist I know of, Dr. Rajat(a runner himself), moved to Delhi with his clinic. The Anjanapura clinic, which was recently built, is pretty close to where I live. Dr. Deepak is a well known Repeitive Stress Injury(RSI) specialist and though he is not a sports specialist, most of the running injuries being RSI ones, he sure is a good doc to go to. He didn't need much time to diagnose the problem and the inflammation under the knee which was caused by the weak ITB was the problem, it was not just the ITB. It was very painful when he stuck his finger a bit below the knee. Treatment was manual therapy mostly, just massage out the tightness or inflammation. What I like about Dr. Deepak's treatment is the non-invasive nature of it - rarely does he prescribe any medicines except for some vitamins or other advanced therapy using some machines. While it takes a while to see some improvement, it works well! I have had some RSI problems earlier which was treated the same way. Needless to say, Dr. Deepak's diagnosis has always been spot on all the time. He is not that friendly with the patients, but what matters is the right diagnosis ultimately. And the approach to treating the problems have a holistic touch, not a short term quick fixes. He recommends yoga as a long term solution for many of the RSI problems.

After a little more than 2 weeks of trigger point manual therapy for a little more than 2 weeks, things look good. The main problem was the inflammation under the knee, which took some time to heal. ITB eased off within couple of days of therapy. Walking a bit was difficult during the first week of therapy, but things improved quickly and I am finally read to run again!

Lessons learned

• I don't need no training to run(that should have been straightforward!), I need to get back to the Galloway method of running which helped me run the distances. I just need to stick to that program and don't get distracted by time goals.
  
• Training to improve timing is wrought with danger, and the kind of fitness I am in, it is not worth it.
• My goals for running are to keep myself fit and enjoy the runs - the added pressure of time goals make the runs not so enjoyable, but more stressful. And to be fit, I need to be running for a long time
  
• Stop running if there is a problem - and fix it before you get back. It is really stupid to carry on with pain. Recoup is just round the corner!
  
• You don't really need the running "events" to enjoy your runs - that can be anywhere, choose the simplest thing that works! It also reduces the stress to prepare for an event.
• It is important to have another couple of other fitness activities to keep yourself occupied in case of an injury.
  

So I will carry on running, and see how much I can go and stop immediately when in trouble. Armed with the most natural running technique from Jeff Galloway, I sure want to keep running till I am 100 and enjoy it too !