While non-runners might question why runners choose to put themselves through such pain, the greatest pain a runner will ever actually endure is not running.
For even the best of runners, there will be a time during their careers when either the risk or the reality of injury forces them to the sidelines (for recent examples, see Tyson Gay or Deena Kastor). And now I, having lost my latest battle with my ITB, am frittering away my time with not running. So how do I spend my time instead?
Rehab
Step 1: Lower body strengthening and stretching. There are all kinds of little muscle groups in and around the hips, knees, and thighs that stabilize your gait. Since they are hardly "beach muscles", we generally don't bother taking care of them. However when running long distances, they become very important to your body's ability to handle the impact of all that pavement. And when they start to fail, that magnified impact translates into pain of the lower extremities.
I've found the best defenses against this to be yoga and Pilates, but they also require the time commitment and cost of classes, not to mention the sacrifice of macho-ness. So I've also borrowed liberally from the web to develop my own home routine, focused mainly on working and stretching my weak hip abductors/adductors and inner thighs (speaking of sacrificing macho-ness, imagine me squeezing a ring between my thighs like Denise Austin).
Step 2: Core strengthening. Your abs and lower back are the muscles that hold you upright while you're running, keeping your legs and joints from doing more work than necessary. I generally stick to traditional crunches, throwing in some planks when I'm feeling especially masochistic, but since these are the quintessential beach muscles, there are plenty of web resources if you're looking for anything more creative.
Step 3: Swimming, or at least trying. For me, the most frustrating part of not running is trying to maintain cardio fitness without running. Stationary bikes seem to make my problems worse, so I've decided to teach myself how to swim.
While I've always been able to slog around a lake or the ocean, my approach to lap swimming can only be described as "flailing". I swallow so much water that I worry about chlorine poisoning, and my breathing technique often results in mini-episodes of drowning. Though I can (generally) run for an hour and feel great, five minutes in the pool is exhausting, so now I'm trying to fix my form, get over my issues, and make a decent workout of it.
Step 4: Patience. Psssht, wish me luck!
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22 hours ago
Hey I can totally relate your latest post.
ReplyDeleteWhen an athlete is sidelined due to an injury it can be really frustrating and discouraging. But this is also a great opportunity to focus on the parts of your body that still function well i.e. substituting swimming for your cardio exercise and yoga for some core strength training, that's all great.
Speaking from a gymnast's perspective, when a gymnast suffers from an ankle injury, they can no longer train floor or vault. So instead they focus on the upper body and other events like rings, p-bars, high bar and pommel horse. Of course all the landings are done onto a very soft mat. (trust me I’ve been there)
Excellent post. looking forward to the next one.
Psst. Good luck and hope that ITB issue gets resolved ASAP. :-)
Yeah I always plan on taking breaks like this anyway to give my legs a rest and work on the other parts of me that i generally neglect, but I keep putting that off because of all these races I want to run.
ReplyDeleteI guess injury is my body's way of forcing the issue.