HIM hopes/ITBS nightmares - What should I do?

my suggestion to you is to find a very good sports minded PT to work with you to diagnose why you are having continued ITB troubles.  it is usually a muscle imbalance or even a skeletal imbalance that can be addressed through proper rehab techniques.  i was lucky enough to have an excellent PT who worked with me and after 6+ years of keeping sure that i keep the appropriate muscles involved,  i haven't had any ITB troubles.   <sigh>  i miss my PT. 

if you don't address the issues, you will not be able to train properly for any race.   why be underprepared?  if it were me, i'd just be more frustrated with a poor performance than anything.  

k

I'll second seeing a good PT to help you with your issues.  Self-diagnosis is trouble waiting to happen.

Do you foam roll?  HERE is a thread from a while back talking about self-treatment using foam rolls.  The link to an article on "self-myofacial release" is one that's been particularly beneficial to me.  

Again, see a PT or doc first.  Then get a treatment plan.  Foam rolling is more of a maintenance measure than a treatment.  

Thanks for the input.

I did see a Sports Doc and a PT.  PT suggested strengthening adductors.  Bought a foam roller, did the stretches and exercises, and got better.  I brought this on myself the first time by over training, and didn't learn my lesson. 

My question is more about the amount of training, limited by pain not available time, I will be able to do before the race.  After my last race last year I rested for 3-4 weeks and then started back gradually.  Also, I never ran or biked on consecutive days.  This worked very well and if I follow the same m/o I will just barley be at the HIM level be race time.

The absurdity of trying to do a HIM this year is starting to sink in, so I think I will find and enter an Oly or two later in the year and also do a couple of sprints.  I may also see the PT again and do more stretching and rolling.

Thanks

Good Luck and Have Fun!

Thanks for the link Matchman.  Good info.

Cheers!

I have been fighting IT band syndrom since November.  I can now say, I've just about kicked its little butt right out of my knee.  I run with a guy that had ITBS so bad he had to have cortizone shots.  Last month he ran the White Rock Marathon and last Sunday he ran the Houston Marathon and is now preparing for Austin.  ITBS can be beaten.   For me, there have been a few factors in this success.  A foam rolle has been a large factor.  I don't want to diminish the importance of it.  I wouldn't sell mine for 10 times the cost I paid for it.

But the single largest factor in this success is my physical therapist.  Before I met him, I thought it was just a stretching problem that I could solve with a roam roller.  Turns out there was more wrong in there than I knew.  I've been to PT 4 or 5 times now and my knee problems are history.  There was some funkyness in my tibia bone that was not floating the way it should.  It was stuck in one location where it didn't move back and forth as it should have when I ran and cycled.  It also was leaning over to the side rubbing against the femor.  I would have never known this or been able to solve it without my PT.  My advice is to have a pro do a complete exam and see if there is something else going on.  

Have you ever had your bike fitted professionally? Does the pain appear when riding/after riding?