Oct 16, 2024
Training Tips by Runzy Director of Coaching Joe McConkey
'Fresh Legs' Test - IT Band
Not sure if you've over-trained, not fully recovered, or lost power? A great way to find out, from a musculoskeletal perspective, is by checking in on the IT bands.
The IT band is the long, strong connective tissue that runs along the outside of your thigh, connecting your hip to your knee. Two of the primary muscles that insert into the IT band are the glutes and quads, the main power sources for most runners. If these muscles are fatigued and tight, this soft-tissue translation quickly spreads to the IT band.
To test the health of the IT band place a foamroller directly under the middle of the side of your leg, and slowly roll along the entire length of the IT band. If you are wincing in pain, you have either over done it with your training and/or under done it with your pliability and recovery work.
The truth is the IT band does not have to be and should not be painful to press in. If this is the case, it's time to get to work - multiple times per day of quality slow self-massage targeted throughout the quads, glutes, and IT band. Runs might need to be put off or shortened until you have successfully established a new baseline of IT band health, i.e. the ability to have no pain when foamrolling the IT band. Once this is in place, however, it only takes a few minutes each day to maintain this ‘soft’ foundation as the runs come back in.
