Run to Win

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:
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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.
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About a month or so ago I was in touch with a gentleman at Ball Dynamics, a Colorado based manufacturer and distributor of the FitBall^® product line. They sell a variety of swiss balls and medicine balls and accessories, which should be a staple in any athlete’s home exercise equipment.

In exchange for this review, they sent me their Pressure Points™ product, which are a couple of hard rubber balls that are used to put pressure on various parts of your body when there is nobody around to massage you. There are 20 points on the body that are the most sensitive and conducive to acupressure. These points were chosen by acupuncturist and program creator Marc Coseo. Along with the two balls, the package comes with a poster to help you find the 20 different points and a DVD that leads you through finding each point within about a 30 minute timespan.

The packaging for the product recommends that you use the Pressure Points™ system to warm up muscles before athletic activity and to help relieve muscle soreness or back and neck pain. Prior to receiving this product, I have used similar methods as what are described to self-massage some of my muscles, especially on the bottom of my feet.
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The easiest way to sideline a runner is an injury, especially one in the foot or knee. A very sensitive part of the foot that does not always get enough attention is the arch. There are a few ways to easily injure the arch of your foot. One way to hurt yourself is that you could wear the wrong kind of shoe for your body type or training style and exacerbate an existing biomechanical innefficiency. In other words, you could wear an uncomfortable shoe that makes you run funny. Another way is to wear improper shoes for long distances, such as wearing your racing flats for every run and then covering 80 or 90 miles per week. You could also step on a nail; that can hurt quite a bit as well.

There are a few ways to stretch your arch. If you are doing a “Figure 4″ stretch and you can reach your toes, you can pull them back towards you and do a combination stretch. The easiest way does not involve that kind of flexibility, though. You just roll your foot over a tennis ball along the floor with your shoe off. You can also use some other ball of the same general size. I use a wooden juggling ball. The next method is not technically the safest way for you to stretch out your arch, but it is very effective. First, a little background:
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