Mechanical recovery

Ah yes. Time for another introspective, advice giving, reflection on running from me. This time the subject is another in the line of what I did wrong with my running and what I am doing correctly now. My knees are a piece of crap due to arthritis but, I have learned more about my body in the past 3 years than I learned in the first 28 of running.

Running is easy when your body recovers from workouts and you gain fitness with each outing. Or is it? The rehydration, eating, staying strong are the easy parts of recovery. It seems the heart, lungs and mind always recover and are ready for more. Unless you are training heavy, fast miles, your body systems restore themselves with fairly minor attention. The part that does not recover is the the skeletal system, the tendons, ligaments and muscles. It seems they recover okay at first glance but, they need special, focused attention to increase training and recover from workout to workout. Running being the linear, repetitive movement that it is, does not favor the inefficent runner. That means most of us are mechanically inefficent. You see the people running when you are driving from place to place and think"my god, they should just walk if they look that bad." The injuries that happened to me, happened slowly. At first I was tight after my runs but, a hot bath and minor stretching would fix me up. Then I progressed to the point where getting out of my car after my runs was tough, then people noticed I seemed to limp when I walked. What the hell, I could still run faster and farther than them. So Suck It. More running will smooth things out. It got so bad I went to a physical therapist and massage therapist to figure this thing out. I stopped running. Every run seemed to injure me anyway. The engine was still a Ferrari but, was stuck in a Ford pinto chassis. My friend Jessi lured me back into helping out with a trail running group. I started running some slow miles and the fires reignited. The strength work and massage helped me run again but, my legs were still worked over after every run. A few weeks ago, I started working with the foam roller every day and doing a Yoga routine every day. This intense attention to recovery and getting my muscles loose and balanced has helped me run pain free again. Mostly. My knees are still crap and will never get better but, I am working on creating balance within my body. Runs should be followed with foam roller work and stretching. No more Ibuprofen to cover the aches. Stretching every day helps me know if I am recovered from a run. I pay close attention to the biomechanics of my runs. No more sloppy form. Core work to hold my form together. People usually just run due to time constraints but, your body will break down with enough miles and no awareness of your mechanics. Pay attention to the chasiss. The engine with no frame gets you no where. Fast!

Yoga my way back

Tightness. This is the runner's enemy to going fast and long. Somewhere along my path, it became crippling. A few weeks ago I started working with my trainer Ally at O2 fitness in Cary. She identified that my tightness and weakness because of the tightness were really imparing my attempts to get and stay healthy. All these years of moving in a linear motion have not helped my tightness. Having rock hard legs is a bad sign. Limping after every workout from stifness is a bad sign. Not stretching is a bad thing. About the same tame I took a Vinyasa yoga class that my health club offered. The first class was terrible. I lasted about 45 minutes, the second I lasted about 55 of an hour and 15 minute class. Now I have tried stretching from time to time and with limited success. This time the structure of the yoga class along with using my foam roller after workouts has really helped. I am starting to loosen up. Now it may look comical to others in the class but, I am able to bend over and touch my toes, sit on the floor without my knees being around my ears and feel more fluid walking. Last Saturday at Umstead, I ran ahead of the group a little. I ran a time on one section that I have not run in quite a while and it felt easy. Loose means fast. Maybe this yoga stuff will help me age more gracefully. I can't dance but, I can Yoga my way back to fitness.