Allergies and IT Bands....
 

Grass pollen is my main allergy. I was enjoying a pleasent run this morning until yesterday's grapefruit and salad hit. Lucky me I was close to my house and cut my run short.

When I finished my business, I could barely open my eyes because of my allergy reaction. It has never been this bad. I guess I'm meant to be a treadmill runner.

I also felt a small tightness in my IT Band near my buttox and will likely stretch and not run the next two days in preparation for the Wasatch Back Relay.

Good times, good times.

I've heard that eating a couple tablespoons of local honey does wonders for allergies.

This folk wisdom has been passed down for some time now. Does anybody have any research to confirm or repudiate the concept?

The pollen count Utah is really, really high right now - off the charts. I've had allergies my whole life and can't ever remember it being this bad. It's so bad that I can't even go outdoors.

I was running on the Jordan River Parkway last night, and kept smelling what was like a very strong perfume. The first time I smelled it I thought there must be a woman coming up on me on a bike, but there wasn't. It was just the crap from all the weeds and flowers. I've never smelled it that strong down there.

Looks like I'll be back on the shelf after Saturday. My IT Band is getting tighter every day no matter how much I stretch it. It isn't sore yet, it is just annoying.

That sucks. Has anything changed with your shoes or are they really old?

Have you been increasing your mileage a bunch? you may need to find some dirt trails to run on that doesn't pound as much when you run. It is a lot easier on your body.

Another thing that can help is to alternate sides of the road you run on. We have really severely crowned roads where I run and if I don't take time to run on the right, my left IT band will start to act up.

Very true - running at a camber is very hard on your body.

my shoes only have 100 miles on them, i try and switch sides of the road on every kilometer (except the narrow roads where I really want to see what's coming at me). I never had a problem on the treadmill so I might banish myself to the treadmill from now on.