1. Yoga—or really, lack thereof. I’m no tattooed, patchoulied, vegan, 1% body fat yogi, but I did enjoy weekly lessons in the art of stretching, relaxing, breathing, and peace that yoga classes offer. When I thought I would be finding a day-job, I quit yoga because the best teachers only worked during the day and the other classes were during the time I actually was working. Well, too bad for me. I can now barely touch my toes (and I’m really flexible) and my upper back gets sore after I go to the gym, even if I don’t lift any weights requiring the use of said muscles.
I’m sure yoga would have helped prevent my injury—why did I have to be so cheap and egotistical?2. Skiing—not only does the act of skiing require massive amounts of squatting and otherwise rubbing of the IT band across leg bones, it also took me out of my training schedule and “forced” me to forgo stretching for a good ten days. When you ski all day on big mountains in fresh, clean air and bright sunshine, you are way too tired to hold any stretching poses, no matter how much your muscles are screaming for help and how good for yourself you know it would be. I also was way too dehydrated and far too set on finding the perfect belt-buckle to worry about my training plan. Did I mention the Mexican food (and margaritas)? Or Whiskey Wednesday? So that week and a half of western debauchery could be the cause…
3. Doing a Crap Job on Following the Training Plan—this may or may not have a huge, irreplaceable part in my injury. I didn’t exactly start the plan on time, or maybe I did, but I wish I had left a couple weeks of “mess-up” time in there. I did that for my last (and first) marathon training and that was cake. Yes, cake is the word. Anyway, the ski trip, which made me miss a 16 mile run, came the week after I was sick, which made me miss a 15 mile run, and then I promptly hurt myself and haven’t run that long since. I got back up to 11 and then 12 miles before hurting myself again; but I don’t imagine the 18 and 20 mile runs on the training program are going to get done anytime soon…
4. Weakness—since I stopped going to the university twice a week—oh how I wish I still was—I also stopped going to the really good gym and giving my legs a good workout. Sure, running is supposed to be good for your stems, but what I need, and my not-so-tight little bum now desperately needs, is a good weight lifting session. Normally I have some pretty hot legs, but now I’m not too keen on showing them off. Anyway, regardless of my level of leg self-esteem, extensive research has shown me that weak hip flexors, gluteals, hamstrings, and quads lead to IT band injury. Considering it’s been five months since I did a real squat with any kind of weight, I consider this a legitimate reason for being injured. Dammit!
I feel as if I had many more epiphanies than the above four, but in the end really I guess that’s it. Those are enough excuses; I don’t really need to dwell on the myriad other things I probably did wrong this time around. As you know, I am basically jobless, spending hours every day begging for something to do to keep my brain from rotting and spilling out my ears (didn’t your Grammy tell you that’s what happens when you watch too much telly?), so I really don’t have a good reason to be injured in the first place. I should have been stretching, going to yoga, lifting weights, and following the God-forsaken oracle of a training plan because what the hell else have I been doing?!
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