Run to Win

Susan from the Workin’ on My Fitness site recently wrote about doing some ab work in order to get over some work-related stress. I asked her whether she had ever tried using a swiss ball rather than using a machine or just a mat. She emailed me back with the following question:

I’ve never used a swiss ball, although I’ve used those balls that are weighted. Is there a difference? I’m down to trying anything new when it comes to ab work.

It turns out that she does in fact have a swiss ball, she just had not heard the terms that I refer to them as before. Below I have provided a brief description of medicine balls and swiss balls, as well as their ugly step-brother the bosu ball.
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Last week I got an email from Jeanne, who is an aerobics instructor. She was asking about one of the guys in her class and some pains that he has been having. If you have opinions or follow up questions then feel free to post in the comments below, and you can always email me about this topic or if you have any questions of your own that you would like me to answer.

This should probably go thru the website, but here it is anyway:

I had a member ask me today about pain in his legs and based on what he described and showed me, I think he has posterior shin splints. I suspect flat-footedness, but he also squats heavy and lifts heavy in general. He says the pain backs off after about a mile, but comes back. I think he said he ran about 8.5 on Sunday…

I told him ice for sure, which he is doing, and maybe some over the counter anti-inflammatory drugs and maybe 7-10 days of no running.

Any thoughts? Have you run into this before with any runners you know? Have you ever tried “arch-strapping”? I noticed that is a some-times cure for pain associated with flat-footedness.

I do think the guy is somewhat flat-footed.

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Since I have been getting a few more reader questions lately, I thought that I would make a slightly more regular feature out of it than has previously been the case. If you have any questions that you would like me to answer, then please feel free to email me.

“G” is somebody I know locally outside of the running community, and he asked me:

I got conned into running the 5 miler at the Yarmouth clam festival.

I don’t have any good running clothes… anything you recommend? I was gonna hit dick’s sporting goods and pick something out, but I wanted to see if you knew of anything special I should look for.

I was just wondering about attire - I’ve been ramping up my running lately and starting to chafe a bit, so thought I’d invest in something decent so I don’t sever my leg at the thigh.

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You will often hear runners and other endurance athletes discuss a concept known as tapering for a race. What is a taper? Why is a taper important?
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