The Body Shop: Safe Keepers

I think these are good exercises. In battling an injury now, I've realized that going to the weight room is not all about lifting weights to make your muscles stronger. It's also about strengthening the smaller stability muscles. These are good to add to your strength routine.

The five most common running injuries—and how to make sure you never get them.

By Adam Bean
Image by Beth Bischoff
From the October 2010 issue of Runner's World

When a runners gets hurt, plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS), shinsplints, or runner's knee usually is the diagnosis. Allison Lind, a physical therapist in New York City, developed an exercise program that will make you less vulnerable to these five injuries. Do them together as a prerun routine.


SIDE-LEG RAISERS

Prevent ITBS by strengthening the gluteus medius muscle near the hip. When it's weak, another upper-leg muscle overcompensates and pulls on the ITB, causing pain along the outside of the leg, down to the knee.

Lie on your side with your hips and legs stacked. Lift your top leg up, keeping it straight, but point your toes inward and toward the ground to isolate the gluteus medius. Hold for 30 seconds, then release. Roll over so your opposite leg is on top, and repeat. Do three sets on each leg, working up to one minute per set.


HEEL WALKING AND BIG-TOE RAISERS
Prevent shinsplints by strengthening the muscles that attach to the shinbone.

A. Walk in place barefoot for one minute with your forefeet off the ground. Do three sets.




B. Lift the big toe of one foot as high as you can, lower, repeat 10 times. Switch feet. Do three sets.





HALF-SQUATS ON A DOWNWARD SLOPE
Prevent runner's knee by strengthening the quads to keep the kneecap aligned.
Stand facing down a hill or on a decline board. Squat halfway between the start position (straight leg) and a full squat (90 degrees). Do three sets of 10. Too easy? Try single-leg squats (below).



CALF DROPS
Prevent Achilles tendinitis by strengthening the calves.

The move: Stand barefoot with the balls of your feet on a step. Rise up on your toes with both feet. Shift your weight to one foot; lower down on that foot. Rise up on both, lower on one. Do three sets of 10 on each side.


ARCH RAISERS
Prevent plantar fasciitis by strengthening foot muscles.
Stand barefoot on one leg. Imagine your foot is a tripod and place even pressure on your big toe, pinkie toe, and heel. Ground these three points as you "scrunch up" your arch. Hold for 30 seconds; repeat three times.

How to Recondition After Injury

By Alan Peppard, P.T., A.T.C.
Running & FitNews ®
American Running Association

from Active.com

If you become injured, rest for a while and then find you are unable to return to your favorite sport or exercise without aggravating your injury, you will become frustrated. The injury-rest-re-injury cycle is common for athletic injuries, but you can avoid this cycle using the principles of reconditioning and working back safely to your former level of exercise or sport performance.

Reconditioning after injury means you should modify your normal workouts to control your intensity, judged by overall perception of effort (muscle tension or soreness, joint stress, breathing and chest sensations). Then, you should monitor residual pain in your injured area to an acceptable level.

When you are injury-free, normal conditioning requires you choose a level of exercise that causes enough overload to produce improvement in performance after recovery. If the intensity is too high you may become injured. There is a range of exercise intensity that will work properly to provide conditioning. We call this range the "intensity window." When you are not injured this window is wide. When you are injured this window is very narrow. Too high an intensity will prevent recovery and cause re-injury. During reconditioning you must be very specific in your choice of intensity in order to succeed in helping recovery.

It is helpful to think of pain in two ways. Type I pain is the pain felt during exercise. Type II pain is the residual pain, felt about 1.5 hours after exercise. These should be monitored to help select the right exercise window.

When you are not injured you can use overall Type I pain to regulate exercise intensity; you exercise to the point of slight discomfort or overall pain then go a little further, but short of producing specific pain in a localized area such as a muscle or joint. You have to continue to challenge your general exercise pain in order to achieve maximal performance gains.

Successful uninjured athletes continue to confront pain and push through Type I pain (when it comes to optimizing athletic performance, in the overall sense no pain no gain is true). Type I pain is relieved by rest soon after exercise and does not produce lasting effects.

When you are injured, no pain no gain doesn't work, and you will be frustrated if you try to use a similar approach during reconditioning. Instead of growing stronger you will become re-injured. Type II pain can become intense, even though you felt only slight pain during exercise.

When you are injured you should change your approach. Now you should focus on the injured area and use Type II pain instead of Type I to regulate your reconditioning. When you have no Type II pain or only mild pain relieved in one hour of light activity, you can slightly increase your exercise level. If Type II pain is intense, you should rest for up to three days, and then resume your reconditioning at a lower intensity.

To select appropriate exercise windows you should begin reconditioning with exercise involving static, pain-free stretching. When flexibility has returned you can begin weight lifting (or using resistance machines), using light weights at first and progressing slowly to heavier loads to increase muscle strength. When normal strength has returned you can practice the drills and moves associated with your sport, cautiously at first and gradually increasing intensity.

During each stage of your reconditioning you should take care to choose an intensity that does not increase Type I or Type II pain. As your recovery continues, your exercise window will grow wider and you will find at some point you can increase Type I pain with minimal or no Type II pain.

When you are injured you should recognize that your exercise window has narrowed, and you should take care to concentrate on monitoring your Type II pain. If you follow these guidelines you should be able to recondition an injury without stumbling into the injury-rest-re-injury pathway.

Strength Train for Trail Running

INSIDE JOB

Before you head out to cover new ground, work these exercises into your training routine.

By Michelle Hamilton
on runnersworld.com
PUBLISHED 09/09/2010

Roads, for the most part, are steady and predictable. Trails are not. "On the trail, every footfall is different," says Nikki Kimball, a physical therapist and ultrarunner who has won the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run three times. "If you land on a rock or slippery moss, your body has to be able to stabilize itself." To prepare for the task, Kimball suggests adding plyometric (jumping), core strength, and flexibility exercises into your routine.


Plyometrics

"Trail running is a miniplyo workout," Kimball says. "You jump to leap over a creek, avoid mud, or to land on a rock." But if a trail run is your first plyometric workout, your muscles, ligaments, and tendons might not be strong enough to keep you upright or to handle the impact from all directions. Perform these exercises, ideally on a soft surface (dirt, grass, rubber padding at gym), once or twice a week after an easy run or on an off day.

Jump-Offs
WHY: This two-part exercise prepares the quads for the abuse they'll take on descents. Part one approximates the impact the quads experience on downhills; part two strengthens the entire leg.
HOW: Jump off a six-inch step (or curb). Then immediately jump up as high as you can. Step back up onto the step and repeat. Start with three to five repetitions (one set). After three sessions, add another set. Increase reps to eight.

Single Leg Jumps
WHY: This exercise increases ankle strength and stability as well as proprioception—the body's ability to tell where it is in space—which helps to improve your overall balance.
HOW: Stand on one foot and jump from side to side and then back and forth (in a crisscross pattern) rapidly 10 times on each leg. The goal is balance, not height or distance, so jump gently. When this becomes easy, do it with your eyes closed.

Skip and Jump
WHY: Skipping and jumping develops explosive power and strength in the legs and hips that enable quick and safe negotiations of technical terrain.
HOW: (1) Skip for height for 15 steps, then skip for distance for 15 steps. Do two or three sets. (2) This is a lateral leaping exercise. Start with feet together and jump sideways. Land, and then jump back to your starting position. Repeat 15 times. Build to three sets.


Core Strength

Lower-leg stability depends on strong hips and a stable pelvis. Without them, your lower extremities have to adjust to both trunk motion and changing ground surfaces, which increases your risk of injury. Do these exercises two or three times a week, after an easy run or on an off day. You can combine these with the plyometric exercises, or do them on their own.

Side Plank
WHY: These build a stable core while also strengthening the glutes, which aids lower-leg stability.
HOW: From a plank position, rotate to one side, forearm on the floor, hip raised. Hold for 20 seconds; build to 60. Change sides. When this becomes easy, lift the upper leg three to six inches off the lower leg, hold for one second, and lower. Do five to 10 repetitions on both sides.

Bridge with Leg Lift
WHY: Strengthens the glutes, the powerhouse of stability for the entire leg. Strong glutes also power climbs.
HOW: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Lift your hips and back off the floor, squeezing your glutes as you rise. Hold for five to 10 seconds. Lower and repeat 10 times. Do two sets. When this becomes easy, straighten one leg after you lift your hips.


Flexibility

Having full range of motion decreases injury risk, says Kimball, who encourages runners to add these groin stretches to their postrun routine.

Groin Stretches
WHY: "The groin gets ignored by most road runners," Kimball says.
HOW: (1) Sit with the soles of your feet together. Press your knees toward the floor. Hold for 30 seconds. (2) From a wide-legged standing position, move into a side lunge. Hold each side for 30 seconds.

4 Exercises to Increase Your Running Speed

American Running Association
from Active.com

Years of studying elite runners in freeze frame video clips have revealed certain truths about optimal form. Both sprinters and distance runners alike can benefit from exercises that duplicate the distinct joint and limb movements, as well as the range of motion, of these athletes.

Try the following exercises using resistance tubing secured to a stationary object such as a post, or secure them with an Active Cord attachment, available at most sporting goods stores. (Resistance tubing comes in varying degrees of tension; be sure to try several in-store before purchasing.) The resulting strength, flexibility and muscle memory will improve your running form, stride length and explosiveness, which will mean faster race times.

Each of the exercises below is preceded by a few words about form. In addition to these tips, avoid rotating your torso or shoulders as you run. This, in turn, will keep your hips square so that your pushoff forces you directly forward.

To run well, great ankle joint extension is necessary, as this increases the power of your pushoff. The more you can extend, the better. During running, keep the knee slightly bent in the pushoff leg to maximize horizontal force. A perfectly straight leg results in more of a leap and is a waste of force.

Heel Raise

Secure the tubing under the balls of your feet. Fasten the ends to an Active Belt around your waist or to a post, or have someone assist you by holding the ends. Stand on the balls of your feet and lower your heels until you feel a stretch in your Achilles tendon (there is no need to push the heel beyond the point where you first feel the stretch).

Rise up as high as possible and hold for one to two seconds. Perform 10 repetitions. This exercise is best achieved standing on a stable board two to four inches from the ground.

Forward thigh drive increases stride length and the power of your pushoff. Hip flexors, located in the front of the hip are largely responsible for this, and you can benefit from strengthening them.

Hip Joint Flexion

Attach the tubing to a stationary object about knee high and attach the other end to your ankle. Stand far enough away so that there is tension with the leg behind the body (as in the thigh position immediately after pushoff).

Inhale and hold your breath as you drive your thigh forward. Keep your knee bent so that your shin remains parallel to the ground until your thigh is past vertical position. Do not drive the thigh all the way parallel to the ground, as this will teach you to drive your thigh upward rather than forward when running. Therefore, it's also best to add an additional cord for more resistance than to rely on a greater stretch of the tubing as you become stronger.

Turning over, such that your feet are in contact with the ground more often, provides more force-generation, allowing you to go faster. Cutting short your time in the air, however, reduces the extent to which you are using that generated force.

Therefore, during flight phase, do not drop your thigh as it reaches its highest point and the forward leg begins to straighten. Only after straightening should the leg come back and down. Aim to land with your landing leg close to the body's center of mass--for distance runners, this means only slightly in front of you. For sprinters, your leg should be more or less directly underneath you.

Combined with a full-foot or even ball-of-foot landing, this running technique will generate the least amount of braking force at the point of contact and keep you moving fast. The greater the angle between your legs midflight, the faster the results. The best sprinters open this angle up to as much as 165 degrees; distance runners employ a slower and more economical form, which means a maximum angle of about 100 degrees.

Hip Joint Extension

Attach the tubing to a high stationary object. Stand in front of it and attach the free end to your ankle. Stand with your leg raised, thigh slightly below parallel.

To begin, straighten your leg and pull down until your foot touches the ground beside your other leg. Perform this action vigorously for 10 repetitions. As you become conditioned, try balancing yourself (instead of holding on to a wall or stable object) to achieve even greater results.

Lunge

The down position of the lunge duplicates the airborne position in sprinting. This exercise will also stretch the hip flexors. With your feet hip-width apart, step forward with a very long stride. Upon landing, slowly lower your upper body straight down. Shift your weight backward and extend your forward leg. Return to your standing position and repeat with the other leg for 10 repetitions each.

In addition to the lower body workouts discussed here, there are a variety of lower-back, abdominal and upper body exercises that will increase your strength and improve your form. Coupling these sport-specific exercises with regular speed work will give you even more dramatic improvements in running speed.

Adapted from Explosive Running by Michael Yessis, PhD, Contemporary Books, Chicago, IL, 2000, 173 pp. $17.95.

© American Running Association, Running & FitNews 2003, Vol. 21, No. 5, p.2

Don't Blow It Now!

How to avoid the most common prerace gaffes.

By Liz Plosser
From the October 2010 issue of Runner's World

This month, thousands of runners will toe the line with mixed emotions. Some will be looking down at a brand-new pair of running shoes because they forgot to pack their tried-and-true trainers. Others will be kicking themselves for running too hard during their taper, or for hanging out too long at the expo—in flip-flops. The good news: If you follow our expert advice on how to avoid common prerace blunders, you won't sabotage all your hard work come race day.


NOT BEING PREPARED
AVOID IT: Make a detailed packing list and a race-weekend schedule.

"A week before the race, begin a 'pack pile,'" says Kristen Dieffenbach, Ph.D., assistant professor of athletic coaching education at West Virginia University. "This reduces last-minute chaos and the likelihood of forgetting something." To take the preparation process seriously, Dieffenbach suggests pretending your boss is running your race, and you're responsible for getting him to the starting line. Would you pack his shoes in his checked bag, or would you insist he wear them en route? Would you let him wander around hunting for a restaurant without a two-hour wait, or would you book a reservation?


NOT RESTING ENOUGH
AVOID IT: Taper smart: Reduce mileage by 60 percent during race week

You're at the peak of fitness. It's no wonder you're desperate to pound the pavement at warp speed. "Resist that temptation," says Christine Hinton, a coach in Crofton, Maryland. "Workouts break you down. Rest builds strength." Reducing mileage and intensity lets your muscles recover; it also restores depleted levels of fuel. Do your last long run three weeks before race day, and gradually cut back each week until you've nixed 60 percent of your peak training mileage in the final week before the race.


RESTING TOO MUCH
AVOID IT: Remind your legs they're speedy with strides while tapering

Okay, we just told you to chillax. But that doesn't mean parking yourself on the couch. "Too little activity during your taper or tapering too long can make you mentally and physically rusty," Hinton says. If you normally run five days per week, you can continue this pattern during the taper—just reduce the length of each run. Hinton recommends peppering your race-week runs with four to eight strides (speedy bursts for 10 to 30 seconds). Recover fully between each one.


OVERBOOKING YOURSELF
AVOID IT: Watch an in-room movie

You traveled to a new city and loved ones are in town to cheer you on. Hold the party until you've crossed the finish line. You don't want to wake up on race morning with achy legs, swollen feet, or excess fatigue from socializing and sightseeing. Set a curfew—such as home by 9 p.m. and lights off by 10 p.m. And no wandering around (and around) the expo.


GETTING OVEREXCITED
AVOID IT: Channel your inner Yoda

Rookies and veterans alike endure nerves and excitement before the gun goes off. You can deal with this surge of emotions if you've practiced going to a Zen place during your training, says Lucinda Seares-Monica, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist in Freehold, New Jersey. Close your eyes and practice deep breathing for five minutes every morning. Whether or not you meditated during training, taking deep breaths at the starting line will help you through prerace highs and lows.