Well, my knee started hurting a few days ago. The pain is pretty common for me in the winter time. It’s usually across the top which hurts on the downstroke of my pedalstroke, and walking down stairs. Over time, I have learned that this pain is due to ultra tight IT bands. I stretch and use my foam roller, but because my quads are pretty large and in charge, sometimes I need a bit more help. I headed over to Boulder College of Massage this AM for some help. I love this place because the students gain their training hours and I get an hour massage for 35 bucks, or 1.5 hours for 50 bucks. For a broke-ass bike racer like me, that is perfect. The girl today really got into my quads and was literally standing with one leg on a chair and one on the table, getting her elbow into my IT Bands. My knee pain was definitely better after I left there and I do have a sore spot where the tissue is being extra difficult. I haven’t had a massage there since April, so it was long overdue… and delightful I might add.
The official base miles start next week, so I am excited. Jeff got my/his (he is letting me use it for the foreseeable future, and I know, you can make the joke that women ALWAYS think “my/his” haha) powertap working. I replaced batteries in the hub and computer. The computer definitely needed it, but it was still in computer mode so I couldn’t get it to work. I know, I know what you are thinking. “You are an engineer! You should be able to fix anything.” Sorry. I can’t…
I am starting my core training for the year as well. I usually have my own routine over the winter that includes some yoga, pilates, and fitball stuff. Jeff’s coach has him use this book:
Core Performance.
I got one and started reading it last night. It has really good philosophy, and the workouts seem to be very useful and strengthen the body as a whole. I will be doing this program over the winter with a few yoga classes and some pilates thrown in there. I will let you know how my progress goes with that.
I will be running and cycling this weekend based on how my knee feels.
Reading this post made me think of when I was in surgical tech school and an orthopedic surgeon let me feel a iliotibial band. They are very tough tissues, so it makes sense you would need a near industrial massage to get it loosened up.
Darn those IT bands!!!
I’m on week 2 of that core book and I think you will like it. I’m starting to feel every muscle in my body…ouch!
Nah…engineers don’t fix things, technicians do.
and technicians don’t design things, engineers do. Works like a charm that way most of the time. But of course the most hilarious thing to witness is trouble shooting with an engineer who has a schematic drawing but no sense of field components….and a technician familiar with a product but with no sense of a schematic drawing. It’s even better if the technician uses laymans terminology and the engineer only knows product nomenclature. BTW, this is known as General Motors.