So I’ve been promising this post for the past couple of weeks, and decided to make good on it today.
Have you ever heard of or met someone who just seemed like they were a born runner? Making PRs seeming without effort, no injuries, no carefully constructed workout plans to prevent compensations or improper body mechanics? A fitness Adonis who defies the nature of humanity?
Photo attribution: Sailko
Yeah, I am definitely not that person. In high school I was taught the traditional way of running, which I have mentioned some in my product review of Altra running shoes. In traditional running, we were taught to have long long strides, low arms that stay straight like train rails, and shoes specifically to correct improper structure. I don’t hold any grudges for being taught to run this way. In fact, I’d wager that most everyone has been taught to run this way if they were born before 2000 (don’t quote me on that). It was what we knew, based on the research that had been done, to be the best way to run.
But there’s a funny thing about research: it can never be truly all-inclusive. It is almost impossible to design studies that encompass all possible parameters and variables, let alone think of all of them! And that leads to another thing about research: it takes a while to go from theory to accepted practice. This is a good thing and a bad thing, as I’m sure you can imagine. It’s a good thing because you can almost guarantee that by the time you’re hearing about it in magazines and in workshops someone has done sufficient research (sorry, Skechers and Five Finger Shoes, you don’t match the bill here). It’s a bad thing because proper research takes a long time, so you will most likely be taught something that will eventually be found incorrect and you just spent all that time mastering it. Darn!
Alright, so that was my introduction to running coaching: traditional. Long strides. Low arms. Super stability shoes for my very very pronating feet. Carb-loading the night before big races (okay, this one doesn’t exactly fit into today’s blog, but it’s another misunderstood and therefore misused concept by many). I did everything I was told to do, and yet I kept getting injured. It must have been that my body was not very strong, sturdy, or capable of handling the very normal exercise I was throwing at it.
Middle row, third from left
Let’s take a look at my running career and saga of setbacks, followed by what I thought was the problem/solution at the time, and closing with what I know to do differently now.
I had shin splints every year from 2001-2006 that turned into stress fractures by the end of the season.Tape those suckers from ankle to knee and keep running!An imbalance of muscles in the lower leg, probably heralded by weakening feet and ankles, leads to the phenomenon of shin splints. If left untreated it will turn into stress fractures, but treatment is as easy as strengthening the muscle on the front of the shin.My ankles would roll and sprain almost weekly, some bad enough to lay me up for a while, others just hurt but I could still run.Wear a brace all the time (why not two?), and on race day tape from the toes to the knees and keep running!Weak ankles do not have very good stability. Not forgetting to train the little muscles in the feet and lower legs while also training the big muscles we predominantly think of for running will help increase stability and prevent injury (more and more shoes are being designed to try and encourage this. Check out my Altra product review.).My hips hurt all the time, would pop while sitting or standing, and occasionally give out on my while walking.Get them to pop again, and continue.This one is pretty major for me, and shocks me that I was as successful as a runner as I was. While studying for my degree, I completed an internship with a chiropractic office under the guidance of Dr Dennis DaPonte. On one of my first days there, we gave me an adjustment so I could experience it. What he discovered was that I had very shallow hip sockets and my femur heads were not sitting squarely in the middle of my sockets (essentially they were slightly out of socket, or dislocated, all the time). The connective tissue around my hips compensated by becoming very tight in order to hold my hip bones where they could function. What I needed was physical therapy: stretching the connective tissue, strengthening the muscles to hold my hips still. I am happy to report that after that first adjustment (and the years of practice that have followed), my hips haven’t given out on me once since 2007. Awesome-sauce!I shattered my 3rd and 4th metatarsals in my right foot (and didn’t know what was wrong so I kept running).Keep the foot elevated whenever not in use. Hide the problem from coach until he catches me shoving my poor swollen foot into racing spikes and tells me I can’t run until being cleared by a doctor (thank you SO MUCH for stopping my stupidity, Coach Mac!). Foot fractures are a serious deal. Honestly, any fracture should be taken seriously, but your feet bear all of your weight, which increases significantly with the added force and impact of running. Your feet move and expand with each step to distribute your weight, spreading the force through the arches and down into the ground. Not taking care of a fracture will eventually lead to a bad break.
I was blessed in that the shattered pieces of my bones all stayed where they were supposed to, which meant I didn’t need surgery or pins and plates. With months of not using it, my body would have the opportunity to fuse the pieces back together. But the surgeons I spoke to informed me that my running career was over, and that I should never run again for fear of re-breaking my foot.
At the time, I was 17 years old and devastated. I had been the first place runner for my team, leading by example of pushing yourself. I was co-captain. I had sat out half of the previous season for an ankle sprain that turned into torn ligaments, which means I didn’t get to compete in districts, regions, or state my junior year. And I had just been told that my senior year was a bust and I would have to give up running permanently.
I had been talking with colleges about scholarships for running. Now I was scrambling to try and land an academic scholarship instead (which didn’t happen). And I had to say goodbye to my long-time friend and sanity of running. I was a runner, I didn’t know how else to define myself.
Hopefully you can imagine how distressed I felt. In the midst of it, my parents got me a personal trainer to help me stay fit (and put my pent up energy into something) despite not being able to use my foot. That was a turning point for me. The trainer taught me about proper weight lifting and the importance of injury prevention. It was not an incredibly thorough education, as I was about to leave for college, but it lit a spark of interest that has lead me to where I am today. Because of my high school experience, I wanted to help others NOT go through what I did. I wanted young athletes to maintain their passion and get scholarships if they wanted them. I wanted parents and coaches to understand warning signs and, more importantly, how to train a young body to be balanced. So I decided to get a Kinesiology degree from James Madison University.
Fast forward a few years. I started swing dancing in college, a good deal of it barefoot, which led to a great deal of ankle strengthening. I can’t tell you how many nights I got home from dancing and just massaged my poor, aching feet. But they were getting stronger. I walked everywhere on campus, and walked to campus when I eventually moved into my own apartment. I started weight lifting with the same passion I put into my running. I worked closely with my chiropractor to ensure the health of my feet, ankles, hips, and knees (despite the “baby-arthritis” I gave myself from years of improper running). I learned how to overcome seeming impossible barriers, to overcome setbacks (like two bone edemas in other foot bones from freak accidents, an abdominal hernia surgery, and a strained back). I felt my passion for improving the body that you’re in grow. I wanted to work with my body, not beat it into submission. And I flourished under that approach.
I graduated from college and started bringing my passion to my clients. I embraced the challenging cases that came to me and used my collective knowledge from chiropractic alignment, core strengthening, and overall body balancing training to help my unique clients achieve their goals. And in March of 2012, seven years after I was told I would never run again, I completed my first Spartan Race.
Showing off my “battle face.”
By embracing the body I have now, instead of trying to force it to the the one I had in high school, I have achieved a balance in my fitness and my life. I will never be as fast as I was at the peak of my career, but I am stronger now than I ever was. I will never have sub-seven minute mile times, but I don’t need to. Running at the pace that works for my body still gets me where I am going, still lets me rejoice in my body’s ability to heal and grow strong, still lets me appreciate the world I live in and love. And when the hills start feeling very steep, or I don’t want to do the remaining push ups, or I’m just having a crummy workout, I try to remember how far this body has already carried me. How much we’ve been through together, and how much more we will experience. And I remember that “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weaknesses…therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with infirmities…with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 1 Cor 12:9-10.
Me and the Green Hat, we’ll just keep on truckin’. What about you?
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