Core3 Massage

A lot has been written recently about barefoot running, as well as minimalistic running (running in a “minimal” shoe – one that is thin and light-weight).  I think it is great, but I urge a note of caution. 

The big push for barefoot/minimalistic running comes from the idea that it will reduce running injuries and encourage our bodies to run more efficiently. Efficient running consists of:  short, quick strides/your feet landing lightly under your body on the midfoot-forefoot area (the ball of the foot, but not the toes)/a slight lean forward/relaxed arm swing.  Check out this cool video to get a visual: http://www.newtonrunning.com/run-better/optimal-running-form

It is true that running in your bare feet or in a minimal type shoe does help you have a better running form. However, please build up gradually. I suggest slowly adding some barefoot running into your schedule – starting with just a few minutes in the grass once or twice a week. I wrote about this in a 2008 blog post http://www.core3massage.com/blog/?p=12 , mentioning that running barefoot helps strengthen the tendons and muscles of the foot.

The same is true for minimal type shoes – build up to it. You will be recruiting some leg muscles that are not used to working out as much, so take it slow.  I will not go into the various shoes that one might call minimalistic (Newton, Vibram Fivefingers….) since I have not tried them myself. I will leave that to those more experienced…..which leads me to a Tri Clinic that Tri-Maine is hosting with the city of Portland. Someone from Maine Running Company will be there presenting a talk on Minimalistic Running. They’ll give you a much better take on the whole barefoot/minimalistic issue.

Check out the info here http://www.tri-maine.com/Races/Clinic.html. It is Sunday April 11th @ the Riverton Pool and Community Center out on Forest Ave.  I will also be there to give a session on Athlete Self Care. I’ll be talking about things that you can do to reduce your chances for injuries as you train. There will be bike and swim presentations as well, so if you are a triathlete (or an aspiring one) – come check it out.

These past few weeks I have been reading through a book that was recently published – Running Injuries: Treatment and Prevention by Jeff Galloway and David Hannaford DPM. I found it quite thorough- possibly useful and accessible to the regular runner – once I got over Galloway’s stretching paranoia and his walk/run obsession. 

The sections are grouped by body part (Foot and Toes, The Ankle, The Knee….) and the descriptions of injuries include terminology that runners might use, such as: Outside of the Ankle Mostly – But Can Be on the Inside, Various Pains in the Calf Muscle, or Outside of the Thigh from the Bony Knob on the Outside of the Hip, Going Down…..and so on.

The book was given to me by a client who has been dealing with calf issues for a long time.  Her calf issues (perhaps defined as “Various Pains in the Calf Muscles “) had stopped her from running at all for long periods of time. So, they were frustrating for her.

She is now, thankfully, slowly getting back into running, with her calves feeling good. She saw a podiatrist (discovering that yes she does need to wear her orthotics), as well as came in for regular calf focused massages.  But she also started regularly to do calf raises (as the above book suggests, for those runners with persistent calf issues) to strengthen her calves.

The book, like the New York Times article that I mentioned in my last post http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/phys-ed-how-to-prevent-stress-fractures/  suggested calf raises as treatment for calf problems. They have you start with working up to 25 regular calf raises, and then progress to doing calf raises with your toes pointed in, and then toes pointed out. The goal is 25 of each (toes in, toes out) to give you a total of 50 calf raises.

Not only do calf raises (and overall calf strength) help to prevent tibial stress fractures (as suggested in the NY Times article), but they also help with overall lower leg health.

And as you may remember, the article also suggested decreasing your stride length as well to help prevent tibial stress fractures.  Likewise, the authors of Running Injuries also suggest: “The most efficient and gentle running form is a “shuffle”: the feet stay close to the ground, touching lightly and with a relatively short stride. When running at the most relaxed range of the shuffling motion, the ankle mechanism does a great deal of the work, and little effort is required  from the calf muscle. But when the foot pushes harder and bounces more, and the stride increase, there are often more aches, pains and injuries.”

So, another plug for shorter stride length. And, as some of you may be out running in the snow and ice, shorter quicker strides help you negotiate the messy stuff – and minimizes your foot slipping.

In my many years of running, I have had 2 stress fractures. One in my tibia and one in my upper femur. Stress fractures are not uncommon in runners, and can be a real drag. Once diagnosed, one has to take 6-8 weeks off  from running to let it heal. Runners don’t like not running. It makes us grumpy and miserable.  (It is at this time that we usually discover the pool or the bike to get our exercise fix, and a few triathletes are born)

As dreaded as stress fractures are, at least once the 6-8 weeks is over, the injury is healed. Then you can gradually start running again, and happiness returns to the runner.

Tibial stress fractures were recently addressed in a NY Times article http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/phys-ed-how-to-prevent-stress-fractures/  , which is what got me thinking about stress fractures again.  Although it has been over 10 years since my tibial stress fracture, I still fear them.  So any tips on decreasing my, or my client’s, possibility of a stress fracture, grabs my attention.

First of all, the tibia is one of the 2 lower leg bones (http://adam.about.com/encyclopedia/Leg-skeletal-anatomy.htm).  In the article, tibial stress fracture prevention was focused on 2 possibilities: 1) strengthening the calves ( primarily found to help women)  and 2) decreasing your stride length.

Strengthening the calves can be as easy as just adding some calf raises to your strength or stretching routine (I know you all have one). As the article states “…rising up on to your toes and sinking back to the floor 10 or 12 times every day, might be enough.”  So , if you are a female runner, this might be something that you want to add into your daily routine.

The other suggestion is to reduce your stride length.  Back when I was the Assistant XC and Track coach at Bowdoin, this was something that all the runners were taught.  Head Coach Peter Slovenski had all his runner count their strides on a regular basis (I will call 1 stride every time your right or left foot - pick a foot - strikes the ground).  The goal was 90 strikes or more per minute. ( You can also try for 30 or more strides per 20 sec – if you can’t focus for that full minute).

As Peter told me, he based this on work  Jack Daniels, a respected running coach, had done.  He noticed that in the Olympics the runners all had a stride rate of 90-110.  So, these are the fast guy/gals – and they all had a short fast stride.

As the article states “The researchers determined that reducing stride length by about 10 percent seemed to reduce the stress on the tibia enough to lower the risk of a stress fracture. “  So, I am guessing that by counting your foot strikes and trying to increase them, one is on their way to decreasing their stride length by 10%.

Certainly more can be said about stress fractures, but in general they are an injury to respect.  They are usually first identified as a very specific area of pain found when pushing down on the bone.  You will feel it when you run, and can be so painful that it alters your stride, or even so that you just can’t put any weight on the bone. Have it checked out ASAP.  And a reminder – the tibia is only one bone where you can get a stress fracture.  The femur, the bones of the foot, and the spine are other examples of areas where stress fractures can occur – and not only with runners.

With all this said, I hope none of you ever have to suffer from a stress fracture ever – or ever again.

In my many years as a runner, I have used Ibuprofen to help me deal with occasional pain and soreness. I have been known to pop a pill after a long run to prevent that post “long run soreness”. I’ve even downed a few before a workout when dealing with some persistent discomfort.

 Of course, I have regular massages to help prevent and reduce any of the soreness and pain from hard training…..but you know how it goes – there are just those days when you want to get out there and you don’t want that stubborn soreness to stop you.

I just read an article that leads me to think that I wasn’t doing myself any favors. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/phys-ed-does-ibuprofen-help-or-hurt-during-exercise/  According to the article, researchers found more inflammation in athletes that used Ibuprofen before/during activity….. actually inhibiting recovery. And, compared to athletes not taking Ibuprofen, their legs were just as sore post-activity.

Something to think about, and more reason to not use pills to mask your pain.  Keeping those muscles loose and healthy with massage, stretching and proper hydration and nutrition is best in the “long run” anyway.

With all my talk about the difficulties of running in the snow, I finally tried Stabil-Icers (www.32north.com). I acknowledge that I am a little late coming to the whole “cleats on your running shoes” thing, but never realized that they could be worn on concrete as well as ice and snow.

Stabil-Icers are ice cleats that you slip onto your shoes. I had talked to several people about the best kind of cleats, and Stabil-Icers is what most of them recommended. I found some at Peak Performance (www.mypeakmultisport.com) and the next day was out running in a snowstorm.

Some thought I was crazy (Ralph) but I felt like a super hero!  Super Runner Girl can run anywhere! There is still a little slippage when the snow is too deep or loose, but in general I had great traction for my run. As I did the next day, when it was less deep snow but more ice and loose snow. 

So, if you are a die-hard winter runner like me, these are a must buy. Or at least check out other types of cleats – or drill screws into an old pair of running shoes (suggested by one trail runner guy).

There is a lot of info out there about winter running. They mention things like: dress in layers, run into the wind first, hydrate even if you don’t feel thirsty, shorter steps……. However, no one ever talks about the actual running surfaces, other than the ”don’t run on ice” advice. I have been thinking about this a lot recently, as I run through snow, slush, freezing rain, and ice.

I have spent my entire running career in cold places: upstate NY, western MA, MN, and ME. Every winter, no matter how much I pray, it still snows and gets nasty out there. So, I have learned how to deal with it, because I am not much for the treadmill (or indoor track) unless I am really serious about getting some speed in.

You have the light fluffy snow – not bad if it is not deep, but a total pain if more than a few inches. You have to shorten your stride and slow down.  The compacted snow (like where cars have driven) is great, until it starts to warm up (or too many cars have driven over it) – then it slowly becomes loose snow (and your feet will slip a little with each step) – and eventually becomes a slushy substance.  Slush is actually not too bad if there is not much of it - like after the car tires have pushes it off to the side of the road. Then you have that clear path following the tire tracks with NO slippage. Unfortunately when cars come by you are forced back to the shoulder of the road, where all of that slush (and/or loose snow) has accumulated, which means more slow slippery steps, as the cars splash you with even more slush.  Oh yeah, and then there is that deep slush puddle that you just stepped in that is freezing cold, and so now your toes are going numb.

The different places I have run each had/have their own unique winter running challenges.  Upstate NY was not bad because they have HUGE shoulders there – and I was probably too worried about getting shot by hunters to think much about what I was running on.

Western MA had lots of ice.  It seems like there was always another ice storm, which really puts a damper on running outside. Some days the 200yd banked wooden balcony track over the gym (where the smelly wrestlers were working out) would have to suffice.

Minnesota is where I REALLY learned about winter. I learned that although not recommended, it is possible to run in -20 temps – and that is without windchill.  Certainly there were 2 days a week on the indoor track (one of those – again – on an indoor 200yd wooden banked balcony track). But every other single mile I ran was outside – never ran on a treadmill in MN. I fell a lot on my butt in that menacing “loose snow”….one esp. had to watch out at intersections where you could fall on that loose snow right in front of or under that car getting ready to take off.   It did take me 15 yrs to finally get over all that painful “frost-nip” in my toes that I inherited from MN, but it was worth every single step.

In ME you don’t have to deal with the wind and cold as much.  But the running conditions can make it frustrating enough, that I would trade warmer temps for colder temps and the accompanying firmer snow. My first winter in ME these guys would take me out for long runs on the trails behind UMO.  The trails were not plowed – so it was continuous punching your feet though the snow, deep snow.  Now that is tiring.  Portland is warmer than Orono, which means more ice, slush, loose snow. Yuck!

As all runners do, we seek out the roads/paths with the best conditions. Sometimes it is the less used neighborhood roads with the firmer snow that are the best (enough traffic to compact the snow but not enough to tear it up into loose snow).  Sometime the major roads are best - they at least are plowed.  But then there is the battle with traffic.  Here in Portland I now love hospitals because they clear their sidewalks of all snow/slush and always use salt.  I could do 100m pick-ups on them! The brick sidewalks that are everywhere can be really nasty  though.  If a little wet, they can really be slippery – and shoveling usually just leaves a thin layer of loose snow that melts and eventually becomes ice. Slippery all around unless they are dry or salted. I could go on and on.

If you have run in the winter too, I am sure you have your own stories of running surfaces and the art of how to negotiate them.  When those non-running people ask: “What do you think about when you run?” Well, this is what I think about as I brave another winter run.