For the uninitiated ITB is not the name of a department of home affairs form but a sport injury. Its full name is Iliotibial Band Syndrome and in some ways it is a lot worse than dealing with a government department.

ITB is a little like those relatives, the ones you try not to admit are yours. Like them it turns up, uninvited and out of the blue, and then refuses to leave. And, like them, it has good days, so good that you plan a road trip. And then you hit the road and just a couple of kilometers in you realise the scale of your mistake. This is not going to end well.

You limp home with a brave face.

ITB is generally an injury associated with running although I’ve previously had ITB while cycling. In most cases it is brought on by over training, though I swear this time I wasn’t overdoing it, and it can also be brought on by the camber in the road or the shoes you run in. Its two most marked characteristics are that it appears out of nowhere — one day you’re running happily, the next you’re limping — and although the pain goes away when you’re not running it reappears soon after you start again.

I confess that I’ve self-diagnosed my current injury as ITB but I’ve suffered enough at its hands to make my diagnosis slightly better than a stab in the dark.

For weeks I’d been running around 30km a week and enjoying it. I wasn’t pushing hard, trying to run fast or doing anything extreme. I put in a couple of weeks with longs runs of more than 10km. And on January 1 I did my longest run of the year at 15km . I muddled on for the next couple of weeks at around 30-34km a week and on the 15th January I did another 15km run. A long, slow 15km which I felt completely comfortable with. Monday was a swim day so no running. Tuesday I went out for a gentle 6km run and three kilometres in I felt the pain. Having done this before I walked home and took the week off.

I’ve run twice this week and in both cases I made about 3km before the pain started. What’s most frustrating is that until the pain in the knee starts I feel like I could run a marathon. Then I’m forced to walk home.

From experience the only sure cure is rest. Weeks of it. The problem with that is that when you do restart running in a month’s time you’re back to square one, or pretty close to it.

The alternative is to push on a little, do a serious amount of stretching and perhaps even spend some time with a physiotherapist. I’ve opted for this route. I plan to run every other day, mostly short runs that I can cut even shorter if (or when) the pain reappears. I haven’t quite got to the physio stage yet but I’m giving it a week before I make a decision on that.

There is a silver lining to this cloud, I suppose. Next month I am swimming in the Midmar Mile for the second time in my life. Fortunately swimming is one of the few exercises that I can do without worsening my ITB. If anything I suspect swimming actually helps ITB though I have no actual evidence for this. So while I can’t be out running I’m getting in a decent amount of swimming.

Our own slow Sunday runs aside, it does seem likely that humans were indeed designed to run. It’s just that we now have so many other transportation options (and supermarkets to replace hunting) that we now look at running as something closer to torture than something we’re excellently equipped to do.

Another friend, Calvin, steered me in the direction of this Ted video by Christopher McDougall. In it McDougall provides an entertaining look at how humans are suited to long distance running.

Apparently it takes six weeks to break a bad habit.[1] Which got me thinking, does that mean that it takes six weeks to develop a new habit?

I assume it takes a lot less than six weeks to get hooked on heroine or crack cocaine, but what if you’re trying something less addictive? Say getting yourself out of bed at 5am every morning do exercise?  Is six weeks enough to change your behaviour? I plan to find out.

My plan, since 3 January, has been to drag myself out of bed at around 5am and exercise, generally swimming or running. What I’m hoping is that by the end of six weeks I’ll become so accustomed to the early morning workout that I’ll no longer dread the inevitable alarm.

I’m not particularly lazy when it comes to exercise but I do have a serious problem when it comes to consistency. Somehow, no matter how much I want to exercise (in theory) there is always a convenient excuse not to exercise when the time to do so arrives.

The one real problem I have, as most people do, is a lack of time. Ever since kids arrived it’s been tough finding time in the day between work and home routines to get in exercise. And once the children started school it got tougher. Every morning is a mad rush to get them ready and off to school before 7:30am. Getting up at 6 or 7am and taking a leisurely run is not an option. So I decided on the almost pre-dawn 5am routine. At least that way I can get in a good hour’s exercise and be ready to tackle the morning chaos.

As I said, I’m now nine days into this (I track my progress on Endomondo, see log below) . Although it’s still tough I’ve been lucky that most mornings have had stunning weather so far which makes it a lot easier.

So here’s to another 33 early mornings and hoping that the weather plays along.

[1] I’ve yet to see research that backs this up but it is a statistic that is widely quoted on the internet. And, as most of us know, if it’s on the internet then it must be true. Not so? Anyway, I’m going to assume there is some truth to the number in this case. And if there isn’t I suppose I’ll find out in six weeks’ time.

[2] The picture at the head of this post is a slightly older one. I took this one winter morning last year during one of my more active phases.

Going away over Christmas is not really our thing. With most of the family living in Johannesburg we tend to stay home for the celebrations and only when the rushing around has become too much do we head off to CapeTown.

This year, however, we decided to do things differently. We have family in Cape Town and so we packed up everything and, as soon as schools had closed, we headed to the airport.

Travelling is generally stressful but add two children, a dog and secreted Christmas presents to the mix and things are liable to explode. Despite the primed bomb we managed to make all the flights and even found our dog on the other side.

We’re pretty lucky that the Cape Town family has an absolutely amazing house in Noordhoek. With a view of the beach, neighbours with horses, and Chapman’s peak just a stone’s throw away, it’s a fantastic mix of country and beach living and a cyclist’s and runner’s paradise. And because it’s on the “other side of the mountain” Noordhoek is generally not too crowded with those annoying Gautengers

The kids love Noordhoek. Our daughter lives for going to “pony camp” and it’s all she can talk about on the days before we get to Cape Town. We also like pony camp because we can drop her off every afternoon and spend some quiet time having lunch at the Noordhoek Farm Village. Actually we only did that once. One of the disadvantages of being away before Christmas is that you spend a fair bit of time shopping for presents so any time without kids is an opportunity not to miss.

Our son, at the ripe old age of 10, is now apparently “too old” for pony camp. Fortunately he’s pretty keen on boogie boarding so trips to Glencairn and Kommetjie were common during our three weeks.

This year we finally got around to going on a boat to Seal Island. You know how it is, you’re there for three weeks and you think “we’ll do that next week”. And then the weather turns and you never get to do it.

This time we hopped on the boat the first day the weather was clear and it was well worth it. Seeing tens of thousands on seals on a tiny rock in the sea is not something you can imagine and while it sounds pretty dull it’s memorable. The smell is also pretty memorable.

One of the surprises of the three weeks was a trip to Silvermine reserve. We’ve driven past the entrance on Ou Kaapse Weg countless times over the years but never actually been into the park. This time we did and it proved a great day. Despite being holiday season it was quiet and peaceful. It also gave us a chance to do a little open water swimming in the dam as practice for this year’s Midmar Mile.

Christmas Day was spent at home overlooking the sea. It turned out to be a perfect day with a decent mix of eating, swimming and present unwrapping. Later in the afternoon, when the wind had picked up, we headed off towards Scarborough and watched the windsurfers and kite surfers taking advantage of the great conditions.

Being in Cape Town for three weeks also gave us a good chance to catch up with friends, many of which now live down south and a few that were just down there at the same time as us.

A great holiday.