I had NO MOtivation to go out for my long run today. I got a late start due to a late night and I knew I'd be running alone. There is a 25K race tomorrow as part of the Houston Marathon prep series that is the perfect distance for me right now and I'm sure I'd run better under race conditions but I decided against the Sunday morning race.
I was scheduled for 15 miles at an 8:28 pace. I pulled up all of the 15-mile routes that we ran as a group during the summer. I found one that looked good and downloaded it to my Garmin. I think it was one of Randy's scenic routes that had a leg through the exclusive River Oaks neighborhood. Before setting out, I also analyzed last Saturday's 13 miler. I broke the run into mile segments and threw out the fastest and slowest miles. I then took the range of my slowest and fastest remaining miles. Then I overlaid the range onto my target pace of 8:28. From there, I broke the range into 15 segments and designated each segment as the targeted split for each mile of today's run. My goal was to run negative splits for the entire 15 miles. WARNING: This methodology has no basis in anything that I've read or heard of. The approach is just something I came up with myself that I thought might help me start slower and finish faster.
After driving to Memorial Park, I got started a little before 7:30 am (late for me on a Saturday). I had to keep slowing myself down at first reminding myself of the negative splits and that I'd need everything I had to finish as planned. I was feeling good and the 73 degree temperature was great. About 2 miles in, I felt a tightness in my right knee but this issue has been with me now for about 10 days so I ignored it and pressed on focused on my negative splits. I stopped a few times for water at the usual locations and thought I was on pace for the splits. The back half of the run became more difficult but somehow I managed each mile to step it up and hit the goal time or better. The further I made it the better I felt about actually finishing it off. Long story; short - I had one of the best 13-mile runs I've ever had. Here are my splits:
9:06
8:56
8:51
8:49
8:42
8:38
8:34
8:31
8:23
8:21
8:14
8:10
8:12
So with the exception of the last mile (by 2 seconds), I had done it! Of course, this was "gamed" a little bit by starting so slowly but I was on pace for the 8:28/mile pace that the training program required, it wasn't going to be easy but seemed attainable.
I'm not sure how to describe what happened next other than to say after stopping for a light on the Waugh Street Bridge, it felt like someone had jammed a knife into the side of my right knee! I tried walking it out for a bit, determined to loosen it up and finish this good run I was having. When I started running again, it just wasn't happening. My run was reduced to a jog then a walk. I alternated walking and jogging but the knee just felt worse. In this manner, the last 1.60 miles were finished at an 11:00/mile pace.
Needless to say this was very frustrating.
My right knee has had a few "flare ups" over the past 10 days but I really couldn't attribute it to anything specific. After researching the Internet later in the day, I'm convinced I'm suffering from iliotibial band syndrome (see also ITBS). I probably shouldn't continue running until I get this situation under control but I doubt I'll take that advice ... for now. I'm going to try to find a strap that's supposed to help. There's another one here.
There are also some exercises that are supposed to help build muscular strength that takes some pressure off the IT band while running.
I've been flippant about running injury free up to this point. It's frustrating but it looks like this is something I'm going to have to work with. Hopefully it's easily dealt with and doesn't become chronic.
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