Crumbling Body....

OK, so I am officially old and my body is crumbling under the strain of running so much.

• Good news: the right achilles problem I had is OK; I managed to nurse my way through that, and once I started doing some real calf massages and eased a little on icing the achilles (I had been overdoing it) it is back to normal. I think it was basically a tight calf issue, which was in turn straining the achilles.
• Bad news: Now I am dealing with some right knee problem - this time it's ITBS (Iliotibial Band Syndrome), which has the downside of being a fairly sharp pain, so when it hits, it's unpleasant to run. It's worse in the morning, so a bunch of runs this week have been later in the day (which worked out well with the clocks changing). Next week it's a cutback week (mid 50's with Monday off). The sensible thing would be to ease up on the miles, and dial back the Edinburgh goal slightly. I'll see how I am after the cutback week.

ITBS is often due to weak or unbalanced leg muscles - which is definitely me. The ITB (which runs from the top of the leg to just below the knee) gets overworked since you have wussy muscles, and it hurts like hell just on the outside of the knee. Usually after a few miles of running. Sleeping with a twisted leg can make it hard to stand in the morning. Running on cambered surfaces messes it up too.

Real cure is building some real leg muscles, but short term relief comes from using a foam roller. a 6 inch hard foam cylinder you roll around on. Basically lie on the roller and roll up and down. Hurts like crazy, so I am certain it is doing me some good.

Quick weekly recap for those keeping score at home.....
Mon - 4.91m at 8:43 (ouch)
Tu - 7m tempo at 6:50, 9.02 miles overall
Wed - 9.56m at 7:40
Thu - 13.28m at 7:54
Fri - 10.06m at 7:40, 2.5 miles under at 6:30-7:00

Saturday is a 22 miler
Sunday is another 13 easy.

So far I've hit the planned miles, but was a litle slow on Tuesday (it was windy) and bailed on the race pace stuff this morning.

After Edinburgh I am going to have to get serious about working some weights etc into my schedule or I am constantly going to be running myself thru these types of injuries.