No More Knee Pain!

Apparently it’s body overhaul week everywhere! I’ve never (knock on wood) had knee issues save for one small flare of IT band syndrome in high school, when like every other 15 year old girl, my hips weren’t strong enough to support lots of running. However, knee valgus (colloquialism: knock kneed) is incredibly common and causes a ton of problems for men and women alike. Sometimes it’s an anatomical issue; rotated femurs aren’t an unusual finding. More commonly, it’s a functional issue. As with any muscle group, we tend to use our largest hip muscles and ignore firing the smaller ones that are critical for effective motion. One of my goals for this Spring is to get my left leg back on line. After two surgeries that required no weight bearing for a period of time, it’s gotten a little lazy and loves to roll inward.

James owns Body Resolution, a gym here in town, and I was psyched to read his post on preventing knee pain. I don’t know James personally but really admire both his facility and his strong use of science. As you’ll see in his post, the exercises are simple enough for almost anyone to do but also extremely effective tools for improving functional knee valgus. I’ll share my leg routine tomorrow, which has many similar movements to James’, but am definitely considering adding some of his moves in, especially the ball squat with abduction and glute bridge on foam roller.

What parts of your form need the most work?

The #1 Exercise for Runners

If you only have time for one “extra” in your routine, this is your pick. Bold claim, I know, but I’m good at reading science and Will is even better and over the past few years, we’ve spent an enormous amount of time reviewing literature on what makes the perfect runner. Sure, you have to have some genetic predisposition and big lungs, but you also have to have a stable foot and hip/knee drive. The exercise that comes up over and over again to facilitate the development of the best stride possible for each runner are step-ups. Anecdotally, when I do my step-ups regularly, my form is significantly better. When I don’t, it’s right back to shuffle city.

Don’t mind the banner in the back. It was borrowed from Terre Haute some years back.

Earlier this fall, Will built us a step-up box (you can buy them too, but they are surprisingly expensive). Ours is 18″ but anything between 12 and 20 inches should do the trick. If you want an even cheaper version, try using 2 or 3 stairs. Just be careful when you’re coming back down not to catch your foot.

As you can see from the pictures above, I still need work. In one picture, I’m looking down at my foot when I should be looking ahead. In the bottom picture, I’m collapsing towards my loaded foot. With continued lifting and drills, however, this should improve.

How do you incorporate step-ups into your life? Start with 5 on a side (so 10 total per set) with a goal of 3 sets. Eventually you want to get up to 10 on a side.These are best done after your harder runs; how else will you learn to improve form when you’re tired?! I generally do these three times a week with the rest of my leg work.

Later in the week, I’ll share my 20 minute leg and 20 minute arm workouts that really can fit in your day and are runner-specific. No future in Cross Fit with these routines, but done regularly, they’ll improve form and help you in the latter stages of runs and races.

Week in Review: 1/5/15 to 1/11/15

Despite an arctic blast that had us at -11 F (and -35 F “feels like”) and a cold that made me (and everyone around me) miserable, it was a great week of running!

Monday am: Super early 5.1 miler plus striders before case discussion at 7:30. Arms afterward.

Monday pm: Had a lot of reading in a review book to do, so did an hour on the bike to change it up.

Tuesday: Warmed up for my workout and realized I was much sicker than realized. Called it after 3 miles total.

Wednesday: 8 miles easy plus legs.

Thursday: Skied with the team for a bit then 5 miles indoors plus striders. Arms afterward.

Friday: One of the best workouts I’ve had in a long time! 8 miles total with warmup, then 2 by 10 at T pace and 5 minutes of cutdown plus cooldown. Legs afterward.

Saturday: 12.8 mile long run in the wind and cold on Spear Street. So grateful to have Amy, Ryan and Laurel with me!

Sunday: 6.1 mile eassssssy pace run around St. Mikes. Striders after.

Total Miles: 48

Arms: 2 times

Legs: 2 times

Striders: 3 times

I’m really thrilled with the way this week panned out, especially given my cold. I’m still totally stuffed up but feeling a lot better than I was midweek. I got my miles up another click, had a very solid workout on Friday and most importantly, did a good job of getting the extras in. I’m finding that if I go directly downstairs after my run or finish my run at the gym, I’m much better about getting lifting in. For this coming week, I’ll keep inching mileage up, hope to get two workouts in and add drills before those workouts.

How was your week?

Week in Review 12.22.14 to 12.28.14

The odd weather continues, with almost a week of springlike running that melted literally all of the two feet of snow we got last week. Since we’re scheduled to cool off tomorrow, it’s a blessing that the snow melted and won’t turn into a glare of ice but it’s still odd to have 40 degree temps at the end of December.

Monday: 6 mile golf course run with striders in the last mile.

Tuesday: 5 mile fartlek workout. 2 by 5 at T pace, 2 by 2 at T+ and 2 by 1 at I pace. Ran out of my inhaler so a little wheezy but a good workout regardless. Lifted legs afterward.

Wednesday: 4.25 mile run in the rain. Miserable weather!

Thursday: 9.1 mile run around the Fort. Lifted arms at home.

Friday: 4 mile fartlek dog run. New glute routine afterward.

Saturday: 4 mile run between studying and the wedding. Legs pretty tired from the glute work on Friday.

Sunday: 10 mile long run with Will. Arms afterward.

Total: 42.4 miles

Almost a legitimate week of running! I’m really happy with getting in that much lifting and starting up small workouts again. I’m still debating what I want 2015 to look like but I’m starting to move out of maintenance phase into basebuilding and feel really strong and almost mentally ready to grind out workouts again. Somehow I got roped into running a 5K on New Year’s Day, so look forward to the glorious recap of a race distance I haven’t trained for in 8 years on top of red wine.

How was your holiday week of running? Anyone else running a race on New Years Day?

The Most Monday of Mondays

Monday is always rough, but the Mondays that fall after holidays are especially horrid. To ease the pain, here are some of the articles and news clippings that I’ve been reading recently as I take my season break and think about ways to improve for my next cycle.

An AWESOME foam rolling routine from Runner Marci that is quick, efficient and accurate. If you aren’t foam rolling, I found your improvement for 2015.

I’m looking to do a stint at altitude this coming spring (if anyone has a space…) and have been doing a lot of research into the best place to get high and still have lots of running resources. I probably won’t end up in one of these towns because they are no real secret and extremely expensive, but one of these states is a good bet.

Ever the reinventor, Nick Symmonds has launched RunGum, a product intended to give a touch of caffeine without as much stomach upset. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but will do a product review soon as caffeine is basically a food group for me.

Interesting article on running weight in Zelle, Runner’s World’s new site targeted towards women. It’s particularly interesting given that sister site Running Times just ran a feature article on how weight and being lighter is critical to performance. The lighter is better argument has gone on for years and apparently, we’re not near the end of it.

One thing I know I need continued work on in 2015 is foot and ankle strength and I’ll be using this routine as part of that process.

Finally, I came across this article that made me downright livid. The author is allegedly one of the “foremost running experts in America” but his conclusion that strength training is unnecessary and even detrimental to everyone but the most elite is wrong and borderline irresponsible. Runners don’t need to powerlift but everyone benefits from regular strength training. Strength training maintains form when the body tires at the end of a run or race, which prevents injury. It builds strong bones (absolutely critical for women) and wards off stress fractures. Done regularly and when combined with cardio work, it creates lean, strong bodies that work efficiently.

Happy Monday! This too shall pass…