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ghethco
Lurker
Posts: 3
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« on: August 18, 2008, 03:18:10 pm » |
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I'd like to share some of my experiences in the hopes that others will benefit. I'll start with the punch line for the benefit of those without the time or patience to read the details. Here are two things that I heard from experienced runners when I was starting out:
1. "You can run up to twice your normal mileage as a one-time thing without hurting yourself" -- Simply not true. Not if you're 45 at least. Maybe the 20 year olds can get away with this. In my experience this is a sure fire way to get an injury started.
2. "Running is the best training for running. Throw in a little cross training if you need it." -- Again not necessarily true for everyone. Strength training the lower body is needed to maintain balance and good body mechanics while running. Cross training in other sports is not a bad idea, but is no substitute for strength training the lower body for running.
It took me several years to arrive at these two fundamental truths. I'm not saying these two things will be true for everyone. They probably will be true for most runners over 40 however. If you're still interested read on.
I few things I learned, slowly and the hard way :-)
1. Icing sore/injured areas after running. Icing any area where you have an inflammation starting -- tendonitis, bursitis, etc. will help tremendously.
2. Using a foam roller when sore is also very beneficial.
I started running at age 45. Part of a mid-life crisis of sorts, I'm probably not alone in that :-) I built my mileage slowly, following the 10% per week mileage increase rule. I spent several sessions with a trainer, who went over everything with me including shoe selection, form/posture and so on. I got fitted for shoes at a specialty running store by a guy who was very knowledgable and experienced. I tried different shoes and he watched me run on a treadmill. Everything went fine and I built up to doing 10 mile runs without any problems. Then I ran a half marathon. Decent time (2 hrs something) but within a few hours of the finish, my knees hurt so bad I could barely walk. I couldn't run again for several weeks, and in the following months my knees never fully recovered. I had soreness in my knees and right hip after every run. These problems nagged on for over a year. I tried lowering my mileage, taking longer breaks, but the pain and soreness kept coming back.
Like many of you I'm sure -- I love to run. There are few things I enjoy as much as running a fast 100 yard dash. Feeling your body pushing you, feeling strong, I'm sure many of you know what I mean. I really didn't want to stop running for good. I was afraid that if I continued I would be putting myself at risk for long-term injury and maybe even disability of some kind. So I saw a sports physician. He sent me to a physical therapist attached to his practice.
The sports physical therapists I saw opened my eyes to a lot of things. They see people every day with sports injuries, including a lot of runners. The first thing she observed is that I'm flat footed. I knew that, but noone had ever mentioned it as a potential problem. Neither the personal trainer or the guy who fitted my shoes caught this. Granted I probably should have realized it could be a problem myself, but after 45 years with flat feet, I don't think about it too much :-) She recommended orthotics (Superfeet) which I now use religiously. These would probably benefit most people with low or flat arches.
She had me lie down and tested the strength of my lower body. She said I was weak in a number of important areas. She stated flatly that the non-running exercise (not much) I was doing was totally inadequate. She said I needed to spend at least one session strength training for every run that I did. Here's the program she recommended for stretching and strength training:
1. Calf stretches - 3x 30 sec
2. Toe touches (knees together) -- 10 with toes elevated one inch, 10 with heels elevated one inch
3. Warm up on treadmill, elliptical, or dynamic warm-up -- 10 minutes
4. Stretches (lower body -- hamstrings, quads, IT band, torso twist, etc... the usual stuff)
5. Bridge on exercise ball - 10 times, 10 sec
6. Hamstring curls on ball, 2x 10 reps
7. Step up on 12-16 inch step, 3x 10 reps each leg
8. Dips on same step, 2x 10 reps each leg (good posture is to stick your butt out as much as possible)
9. IT band -- using a stretch band around the ankles, walk sideways with knees bent, 30 feet in each direction
10. Superset - backward lunges and bridge on ball - 2x 10 reps each side
I usually follow this with some abs and upper body work if I have time. Following this regimen and icing / foam rolling any sore or injured areas, I have had no further problems and I've built back up to 5 mile runs three times per week with no problems. I'm also following the 10% rule religiously, no more than 10% increase per week in per-run mileage or weekly mileage. Never. Ever.
Gary
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