Hello and happy Monday! 🌞

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🏃 Running Updates

I recently had to drop out of two races that I had planned (Tobacco Road Marathon and the Umstead 50). The training was going well, but I started noticing a pain in my left knee that gradually got worse. Thankfully after going to PT and taking some time off to recover, things are feeling close to normal. But throughout these past three weeks of recovery, I had a chance to look back at my training logs and try to uncover why I ended up with this issue. Here’s what I found:

1. Increasing mileage too quickly

This was most likely the biggest reason for my left IT band flare-up. The increase in mileage in the three weeks leading up to the injury was too much. I need to stick closer to the 10-15% weekly increase rule.

2. Easier recovery runs

I didn’t give my legs the recovery benefits of an easy run since I was going too quickly. I’ve always struggled with this, but I will aim for more chill recovery runs moving forward.

3. More strength training

To strengthen the muscles surrounding the IT band, I’m starting with a weekly goal to get at least an hour of strength training. Training will be a mixture of resistance band exercises, kettlebells, and calisthenics.

4. More variety

My past training block comprised mainly of road running. To work on lateral muscle groups, ankles, and other stability things. I aim to mix it up a little more on the trails once I start ramping up the mileage again.

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💉 Dry Needling

I had the option to try dry needling at my PT session a couple of weeks ago. My PT said that it could help relieve the tension in my leg, so I decided to give it a go even though I was pretty skeptical. They use super tiny acupuncture-like needles on specific muscle groups for this treatment, and an electrical pulse goes through the muscles to remove tightness. It honestly wasn’t painful, even though describing it now sounds a bit torturous.

After the dry needling was complete, I stood up and was surprised by how light my legs felt. Most of the tension that I took as usual disappeared. It was a pretty surprising change from just 15 min earlier, and I am now a dry needling convert.

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📚 What I’ve Been Reading

Due to a lack of training, I’ve spent more time reading and painting. Here are some of the books I recently completed and recommend.

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​How to Take Smart Notes - Sonke Ahrens​

I’ll have to unpack all I’ve learned from this one in a later post. This book has made me re-think the way I approach taking and using notes for articles and projects.

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​North to Paradise by Ousman Umar​

Ousman’s story is almost unbelievable. It was miraculous how many times he escaped death throughout his journey from Ghana to his final destination in Barcelona.

His perseverance, strength, and bravery is phenomenal.

This book made me think a lot about the privileges I take for granted and how my troubles pale compared to what he had endured.

I’ll end with one quote that stuck with me from the book:

“Given all the hardship I’ve experienced, it would be easy to think that the world is full of bad people, but I prefer to think that most people are good. It’s just that the good people make less noise.”

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I’m currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo. This book will take a while, but so far, it’s been good.

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And that’s all for this week’s edition of the Mishmash. I hope you have a great rest of the week!

-Ryan

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