Things I Didn't Know, That I Had To Go Look Up: Part One

   For the past several weeks I have been reading a ton of running blogs and quite enjoying the process. I am, however, a "newbie" and along the way I have encountered a handful of terms I've been unfamiliar with. At these times I've found myself thinking wouldn't it be cool if there was some sort of easily accessible electronic device that would give me instantaneous answers to pretty well any question I could possibly come up with but seeing as how that seems pretty far-fetched, dontcha know, I'd simply decided to ignore those terms.
   And then somebody told me about Google.
   Because of this, I am now able to take you along with me on my personal journey of discovery as I learn the meanings to words the rest of you runners out there have been intimately familiar with for years now. The list for this post is relatively short but, as you may have noticed in the title, this is only Part One, I fully anticipate more posts to follow.

IT Band
  Okay, so what the hell is an "IT band" and what the hell do you use it for? If your IT band is stiffening up can't you just lubricate or, if all else fails, go buy a new one??
   Yes, I kept running into people who were having issues with their "IT bands". Their IT bands were tightening up, they were getting physio for their IT bands, and round about mile 8 their IT bands started to hurt. It finally occurred to me that if an IT band hurt then it must be an actual body part. So far, though, with all of my own achy body parts, no medical

person had ever talked to me about my IT band so how was I to know?
   Finally I decided I was hearing so much about IT bands that it only made sense to find out what they actually were and why it was that so many people seemed to be complaining about them.
   IT actually stands for "iliotibial" and your IT band is a thick band of fascia which extends down from your hip, attaching itself just below your knee. Apparently it is crucial in the running process and when you see a depiction of it you can understand why.
   So now I know.

Negative Splits
   All I seemed to be able to figure out when I was hearing about negative splits was that people were dividing up their runs or races into portions and timing them. In an oddly counter-intuitive kind of way, the more negative the splits, the more positive people seemed to feel about them.
   Personally, I have never timed a portion of anything, I waited until the very end to see just how slow I ran. It was good enough for me to know that I ran the same route faster (or perhaps not as fast) as the last time.
   Eventually, though, I was hearing so much about negative splits that I looked it (them?) up. Negative splits occur when you divide your run up into equal portions and each portion is run slightly faster than the previous one. More simply put, you finish stronger than you begin.

   The strategy around this is a pacing one---don't use up all your vital energy at the beginning. Essentially, start slow.
   I thought this was actually pretty cool because if there's one thing I can do, it's start slow! What I struggle with is finishing even slower...

   So there you have it, the first installment of "Things I Didn't Know, That I Had To Go Look Up". I am quite sure there will be future installments as I continue to read about runners who know what they're doing. As I was writing this, actually, it occurred to me that I only think I know what "fascia" is...

   In the meantime, happy and healthy running to you all!