I am starting to think this off-season marathon thing was a bad idea. Despite my valiant efforts to resolve my ITBS issues from my last tri, I am still running and it keeps coming back. Although it is not very consistent as to when it strikes. Sometimes it is around 6 miles other times it is at 17 miles, or it doesn’t happen at all. I am very confused by it really. I had planned on running around 22-24 miles yesterday and was feeling great the whole time up until the 17th mile, when it felt like I was stabbed in the side of the knee. I had been wearing my IT Band Strap the whole time which seemed to have helped up until that point. I was stretching it out every few miles too. But this time nothing would provide any relief. Fortunately, I only had less than a mile to go at that point and I made my depressing walk back to the car. This was my last big mileage week before the D&L Marathon, so there will be no more chances to build from here. My only hope now is to rest it well and try to gut it out on November 4th. I very well may pull the plug on it if it starts bothering me during that race. The race was more for fun, than a priority for me. Lake Placid is the priority and if I can start rehabbing it sooner I will.
Additionally, I have invested in a new pair of Newton Distance running shoes
this week. I was hoping that the addition support would provide some needed relief to me knee. They did see to and the additional cushioning provided relief to my feet in general just from the pounding they take over 20 miles. My old Newton MV2’s 
were over 400 miles and they had seen better days. This month’s Triathlete Magazine also had a article in it that posed the question whether you should run an off-season marathon. All signs led to NO. One of reasons not to was if are you nursing an injury such as ITBS.
Despite the injury, I am getting some decent training in. I am also keeping up with my off-season strength training which was one thing I really wanted to accomplish this off-season. The bike has been pretty much resting quietly in the basement except for one ride with some of my co-workers. 
It is getting dark so early here in the Northeast that it makes it really tough to get a good ride in during the week. I did sign up for a bike fitting at Sleeping Dog Pro Cycles, so I am hoping that should help some of my knee issues as well. I had been having some “weirdness” in my left leg towards the end of the tri season, which I am not sure if that is related to the ITBS, that I hope to resolve. Seemed to have started right after the new crankset was installed. John(from bike shop) also said he could possibly get me 1-2 mph from the fitting which would be awesome. I am hoping Santa brings me a CompuTrainer for Christmas this year since I will need to log some miles indoors during the winter. That should help make that time more valuable and fun. Looking forward to training with Power too, which I have not done before. It is a lot of money, but could be worthwhile.
In addition to our weekly dining out at The Honey Underground , we found another good little place right around the 
corner(Emmaus) called The Trapp Door. While they only really have one, appetizer, soup, and entrée that is vegan(or vegetarian) what they had was really good. I had the Butternut squash soup and the Roasted Stuffed Baby Pumpkin which was killer. My wife had the same entrée and the Celery Soup which was awesome too. In addition to the good food, they had a beer selection that you would dream of. They have cask ales pumped from the cellar, beers on tap and a huge bottle selection to boot. I did pay the price for having a few high alcohol IPA’s from the cask the next morning. Ouch! They also have entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights. They 2 guys playing while we were there were pretty good. Definitely worth checking out.
Well, the next two weeks are supposed to be taper/recovery weeks so I am going to take advantage of that and do some major RICE(Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation) therapy during that time. I think I would be happier to cure the ITBS issue and maybe end up doing a half-marathon than doing the full and being in pain again.
