Run to Win

Training logs are great, especially modern training logs that let you graph workouts and see trends and get the big picture. The single largest benefit for keeping a training log, though, isn’t dependent upon fancy graphs or a searchable database of workouts. You can take advantage of this feature even if you just use pen and a calendar or notebook for tracking your workouts.

Last week, we got a pretty good sized snowstorm to come through our area and leave behind about 15 inches of wet, heavy snow. It was perfect for making snowmen, but not so good when you needed to get your car out to go to work. It was a beautiful and warm day, too, so the longer you waited to shovel the heavier the snow was going to get.

I figured that I had 3 options:
(Click here to continue reading…)

Stretching was always a mainstay for distance runners in an effort to both reduce injuries and improve performance. Over the past decade, however, a lot of research has come out that seems to contradict that popular belief.

In fact, according to Running Research News, almost twice as many research studies advise against stretching compared to those that advocate stretching. A recent article of theirs listed quotes from recent studies that they had gone through, with 14 quotes advising against stretching while only 8 quotes could be construed as advising stretching. There were 4 inconclusive quotes.

I’ve included their list of quotes below, since the format from the original article is really difficult to read and follow. I’ve asked them for a list of the studies where these quotes were pulled from for future reference:
(Click here to continue reading…)

You may or may not remember last April, when Judy was trying to decide whether or not she should ignore her doctor and run the Boston Marathon despite a serious onset of plantar fascitis.

Her training had been going really well, she was just entering her taper, and she really didn’t want to quit running a mere week before her marathon. I told her that they’ll make another marathon and that she was better off listening to her doctor in this instance. She had a specific problem that running was going to exacerbate and the best way to get rid of the problem was rest.

She decided to follow my advice and skipped not only the Boston Marathon but also the Vermont City Marathon, which she had considered trying to jump into a month later. In fact, she took 8 full weeks away from running. What was the result? Well, I’ll let her tell you herself (emphasis mine):

Hi,

Just thought I’d give you an update, and thank you once again for all your advice this past spring. Instead of pushing it, I ended up taking 8 weeks off from running to allow the foot to start healing. I then set my sights on a fall marathon, and ran Philadelphia this past weekend. I ended up with a PR, 3:55 (first time I ever broke 4 hours) and qualified for Boston with 20 minutes to spare!

So thank you again for your advice about Boston, I’m glad I took it – even though I didn’t like it at the time! But it did pay off!

Thank you!

I have no problem with you doing a follow up or using my comments, especially if it can help someone else see that taking time off is not the end of the world, and in the long run can actually help. I read on RA all the time about people dealing with PF for months, and even years. My doctor had warned me it could be up to year especially if I kept trying to run thru the pain.

Instead, I dealt with the problem, then came back stronger then ever. After 2 months off, I was only able to get 5 months of training in before the marathon, but still PR’d by 7 minutes.

Great race, very well run. Little cold at the start, 26 degrees! This was my 13th marathon, and my favorite course. I was running with my training partner, and friend. She ran this course 2 years ago, so she knew where the historic sites were and pointed them out as we went along. It was flat enough to be a fast course, but with enough hills thrown in to give your legs a little break. I also enjoyed the out and back so that you could watch the front runners. Of course the crowds weren’t as large as in Boston, but they certainly were enthusiastic.

I did take the first mile a little fast, then settled down to a good pace, and never fluctuated more then 6 seconds each mile. Even though it was cold, I made sure to hydrate at each water stop, plus with all the ice on the road from the thrown cups, you really did have to slow down as you went thru each stop. I’ve never felt better during a marathon, I even picked it up for the last half mile passing quite a few runners.

I was surprised when I checked the results today and found out I placed 4th in my age group! The finisher pictures in front of an American flag at the end were a nice touch, and the hot chicken broth really hit the spot! It was a painful 1.2 mile walk back to the hotel, but 2 days later I feel fine and ready to run again!

– Jane

Congratulations on a great race in Philadelphia, Jane, and I’m glad that you were able to rest up from your over training and use that as a base to start a new (injury free) season.

Sometimes we push our bodies so hard and for so long that the best thing that we can do is to just step away for a little while and let some recovery happen, and then to allow ourselves enough time to build our base back up while we train for our next goal event.

I’m glad that it worked out well for Jane and that she ran such a great time in Philly, and I hope that if you ever get a serious injury that you can also have such great success.

If you have any stories about your own injuries and how you overcame them (or they overcame you) then I’d love to hear them, either in the comments below or in an email.

(Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon)

The 2^nd annual Maine Coach and Athlete Cross Country Clinic was on August 18th, 2008 at the University of Southern Maine. The clinic lasted for about 2 hours, although most of the speakers and coaches were available before and after the clinic for questions.

The clinic was sponsored by John Rogers of the Maine Running Company. The panel brought together some of the best local experts and some native-Mainer professional runners and their teammates to talk on various topics relating to a high school cross country athlete. This year’s clinic did not touch on the coaching aspect nearly as much as it did last year, and just about the entire clinic is relevant not only to high school cross country runners but also to anybody that enjoys getting out to train and race.

I took a lot of notes, so I am going to be splitting up them up into functional parts which will be published throughout the week.

Injury Prevention and Treatment

Starting the night off was Greg Knapton, the director and owner of Riverview Physical Therapy. His talk focused on 2 key areas, training consistency and common traits amongst injured runners. Greg only sees the injured athletes, so his advice is geared towards making sure that he never has to meet you.

The most important thing to training is that you have a consistent schedule year round and that you don’t take significant stretches of time off from getting at least some sort of exercise, preferably sport-specific such as running. Cross country is a short season that is only 8 to 10 weeks long, so if you take the Summer off from running then you aren’t going to have the conditioning that you need in order to get into shape to race during the season.
(Click here to continue reading…)

Back on August 5^th, Karl Meltzer began his attempt to run the 2,147 mile Appalachian Trail in a record 47 days. The run may not be over, but his attempt at the record is:

“My Anterior Tibialas is tweaking. It’s swollen and unrunnable right now. Needless to say, the record will remain in AT’s (Andrew Thompson) hands.”

Apparently, he got a bad case of poison ivy on his left foot, which caused him to change his running gait enough to cause unnatural stresses on his body that led to tweaking his muscle. He still plans to continue running after taking a little rest and drugging himself up, but he is no longer to make an attempt (this year at least) at breaking the trail record.

While I applaud what he has done so far, 538 miles in 14 days for an average of over 38 miles per day, I have to disagree with his self-medication regimen that he is embarking on. I would avoid Prednisone unless I was in dire circumstances as a general rule, and taking it just to reduce inflammation so you can continue a feat like this doesn’t strike me as the best of ideas. At least he has conceded the attempt at the record and won’t try to push himself too far beyond his limits in continuing the record attempt.

I hope that Karl gets another opportunity to make the record attempt in a year or two, and I’m sorry that he had to take time off after 2 weeks of running. If you’d like to track Karl’s latest updates, he is keeping all of his relevant info at his website, Where’s Karl.com.

(More Info: KarlMeltzer.com – Photo Credit: Matt Hart)

Thanks for the emails over the weekend; my neck is doing much better tonight than it was a couple days ago. On Friday afternoon, I tweaked or pulled something when I began my run that led to my spending the rest of the afternoon on the couching and requiring assistance to get up. Saturday morning wasn’t quite as painful but wasn’t really much better. Things stretched out throughout the day to the point where I could play with my 3 and 5 year old cousins without being in too much pain, and by Sunday morning when I woke up I could turn my head without anything hurting. I couldn’t turn my head too far, so my wife had to drive home, but it was a definite improvement.

That meant that it was time to try running again this afternoon. I ran a few miles easy with my wife, then picked up the pace when we got to a place in the road where we couldn’t run next to one another safely anyway. I wound up adding 4 loops to the normal route that we were on, which turned an 8 miler into a 12.5 miler. My neck actually felt much better after the run than it did beforehand, which is a definite relief.

I didn’t make my weekly distance quota (95.5km ran of a minimum 100km in store and a preferred 110km penciled in,) but I came close enough and I was so exhausted all weekend that I’m sure the multiple naps helped me heal. This evening’s run leads me to believe that I can get back to my normal running routine tomorrow, although I am going to take a week off from any weight training.

I don’t feel that my training plan has been impacted at all by this minor injury, and I am looking forward to moving closer to my sub-16:00 5k goal for this Summer. I have also made some plans for my next goal race after the 5k races throughout the Summer and Autumn, a 50 miler on January 3^rd.

Last night at the Golden Gala track meet in Rome, Asafa Powell pulled up in the 100 meters with a groin injury. He is the former world record holder and is one of the favorites in Beijing next month.

“He’s OK, but he felt his groin cramp up and stopped running as a precaution,” said Powell’s manager, Paul Doyle. “He’s not going to take any chances. It’s an Olympic year.”

(More Info: Golden Gala – ESPN)

Today reminds me a lot of my birthday a couple of years ago, when I pulled a muscle in my neck and had to cut back on my training for a few weeks.

I didn’t hear any cracks today, and it isn’t nearly as painful, but I managed to tweak or pull something when I started my run today. I was all of about 22 seconds into the run. Now that it is 10 or 11 hours later, it hurts just as much so I don’t expect to run much this weekend, but hopefully it will have improved to the point where I can resume training again next week.