If anyone has been following my posts for awhile, they would know that Jenna has had a chronic running injury for 15 months now. It appeared in November of 2008 right after an awesome CC season. It is her Iliotobial Band (IT Band). They are known to cause long term effects and problems, but we never thought it would go on this long. Since then, she has been faithful to her rehab, crosstrained herself to exhaustion & boredom and prayed that one of these days it would just be better.
Last spring just when she started to get back to full force running again, she sprained her ankle and her coach had to carry her a mile from deep in the woods. This also happened twice again when she was getting back into the full swing of running. Three times back, three sprained ankles. Make that four. Sunday, she was just setting out for a 50 minute run. She has been consistently increasing her mileage for about 3-4 weeks and was hoping to race at an indoor meet in 2 weeks. She called crying. She was out on a run and twisted that darn ankle again. She was by herself and managed to hobble back to the University.
Her trainer was still there. It wasn't too bruised and he didn't think it was broke. I tried to make her feel better. Maybe it was a simple strain/sprain and it would be ok in a day or two. I guess she wasn't that lucky. Yesterday morning it was bruised and swollen. Darn! Back on the bike twice a day now...or 90 minutes in the pool and 60-70 on the bike. When she doesn't run for over a day, she loses the momentum she had been gaining up...it is like taking ten steps backwards....
Why? Not sure. My feeling is that is has to be in her form or how she is favoring the still tight IT Band when she runs. Her forefoot could be hitting too soon or she could be swinging her right foot a little to the left. She just wants to race. I want her to race. But, I also have to question if she should even be running at all. Is it worth it? They tell me that the IT Band will not cause long term permament damage, but honestly, this isn't good either!
She is so dedicated and takes running/racing extremely serious. She lives to run. She wants to race and win and be competitive. How do you tell someone that it might just not be in the cards?.....Sometimes I think someone else is trying to tell her that. Does persistence pay off, or do you have to know when to quit? What is the right answer? Is there one?
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