Marathon Recovery. ITB pain. Barefooting it.

The road to recovery from a marathon can be a tricky task. Some marathons you run them and recover perfectly so that you don't even need a day off from running. This has been my experience after the majority of my marathons.

Unfortunately the Denver Marathon recovery has not been quite so easy. A twinge in my right ITB at 20 miles was not the best start. The pain got worse over the last 6 miles and left me limping at the end. It had been a long year of racing and travel so it was a great excuse to have some much needed time off from running.

The problem was how to maintain some fitness without adding more stress to my IT Band. I tried a light jog a few days after. Bad move. Stabbing pain in my right knee. Next i tried spin class. Bad move. Resulted in tighter hamstrings, hip flexors and ITB. Next swimming...still put stress on my IT Band. Lastly i resorted to the most simple of all exercise -Walking! At first i was sore to walk but after a week or so i found i could walk with minimal pain. Living right beside Chataqua Park in Boulder i started to hike some of the trails. However i kept getting sore in my knee or worse feeling sharp pain in my hip on the same side. The more cushioning i had in my shoes the worse the pain. Hmmm. I thought. Must be something to this. So i went to my big sports bag and got out my old trusty VIBRAM FIVE FINGERS. Woo hoo! After a 2 hour hike in the Vibrams i felt the best i had felt for 2 weeks. Being able to feel the dirt and rocks under my feet must have improved the proprioception to my legs, hips and spine and so i had found the perfect recovery exercise post marathon. Barefoot hiking!

So a combination of ICING, BAREFOOT WALKING, MASSAGE, FOAM ROLLER and HIP EXERCISES helped me get rid of that horrid IT BAND PAIN. Today i went for my first proper run post marathon. 30mins on the flat grass. No pain during or after. That really put a smile back on my face :-)

Garmin File & Race Report from Denver Marathon. Training Peaks

Hi guys,

Here is the link to my Garmin File & Race Report from Denver Marathon :-)

...not much being recorded on the Garmin at the moment! Enjoying a nice little rest. Hope to record some activity very soon!!!

From Kaz

http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/2010/10/denver-rock-n-roll-marathon-winner-karen-barlow-shares-her-race-file-with-trainingpeaks.html

Denver Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Winner, Karen Barlow, Shares Her Race File With TrainingPeaks

28 October 2010

So what’s it take to WIN a marathon?  Ask Karen Barlow.  She’s won two Rock ‘n’ Roll marathons this year: New Orleans and Denver a little over a week ago.

Here’s a summary of the race from Karen:

“Rock n Roll Denver Marathon 2010  —  Goal was to run relaxed and conservative, have fun, and try to win! Started out relatively fast. 6.04 first mile. Wanted to start strong and hopefully establish an early lead. I was surprised at 8miles to be passed by Heather Utrata. She looked fantastic and put a good 30secs to a minute on me very quickly. Instead of reacting to her move by speeding up i focused on being relaxed and made sure I kept a close eye on her for my counter-move…it was still early days for a marathon race. I re-established the lead just before halfway i think. I love leading and was determined to remain in the lead to the finish line. I concentrated on picking off one guy at a time and had fun running through the shaded parks, enjoying the crowd, picking up cytomax from the drink stations and focusing on trying to run relaxed and strong. Everything was going great until i felt my right ITB twinge badly turning a corner between 21 & 22 miles. The pain was worse on the downhill sections. I was relieved to run up the bridge between 23 & 24 miles because it did not hurt my knee! I saw the second and third placed girls at the turnaround point and saw the pain on their faces and saw they were hurting. I knew that if i could relax and stay strong to the finish line without my knee buckling that i had the win. It was a wonderful feeling crossing the finish line first! The course was beautiful winding through the parks of Denver. We had a perfect cool clear sunny day. Perfect weather for the marathon & a great reward for all the hard marathon training i have put in this year!”

She had come off a bit of a disappointment in the Chicago Marathon a week earlier.  At 14 miles in, she made the call to pull out of the race because the conditions just weren’t right.  She said,

“After the disappointment of not finishing Chicago…I consoled myself with lots of ice-cream after the race. I only went out for 2x jogs -30min only the following week. Treated myself to a pedicure (they took off all the hard callous from under my feet)…

…and then decided instead of calling it a year that i should try to finish off my year on a positive note by attempting another marathon the following Sunday…at altitude in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon!”

Karen was gracious enough to share her race file with us.  So here’s what it looks like (the data, at least) to win the Denver Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon:

You may also like -

Preparing for the Boston Marathon: Karen Barlow at Carlsbad