Avoiding injuries

The last thing we want to happen to us as runners is get injured. It doesn't matter if we are veterans or new ones. An injury forces us to cut back if not totally stop. It transforms running from a fun activity to a stressful one. That is something we definitely do not look forward to.

Experts agree that injuries are part of the sport, and are common. Owen Anderson in an article on running injuries posted at Sports Injury Bulletin cites scientific studies showing that "about 60-65% of all runners are injured during an average year..."

Anderson lists five anatomical 'hotspots' for running injuries:

1. The knee (25-30% of all injuries to endurance runners occur there);

2. The calf and shin (20% of all injuries);

3. The iliotibial band - a long sheath of connective tissue which runs from the outside of the hip down to the lateral edge of the knee (10%);

4. The Achilles tendon (8-10%), and

5. The foot - the focal point for hobbling injuries like plantar fasciitis (10%).

Jonathan Cluett, M.D., in his article on the same topic at About.com also classifies common running injuries into hip and thigh injuries, knee injuries, leg injuries, ankle injuries and foot injuries.

Like the other experts, Cluett points out that understanding a running injury is the key to effective treatment. They could be avoided and prevented by wearing proper footwear, stretching out properly, and crosstraining.

In the About.com article "How to Prevent Running Injuries," Christine Luff lists six steps to keep yourself on the road.

1. Avoid the "terrible too's" - too much intensity, too many miles, too soon.

2. Treat your feet right - Be sure that your shoes aren't worn out and that you have the right model for your feet and running style.

3. Find the right surface - Once you have the right shoes, you want to make sure you're using them on the best surface. You'll also want to avoid tight turns, so look for slow curves and straight paths.

4. Stay loose - with a regular stretching program.

5. Keep your balance - Injuries sometimes pop up when you're paying too much attention to your running muscles and forgetting about the others.

6. Make sure you're ready to return - To prevent re-injury, ease back into training

Another list of things to do to avoid running injuries is provided by Rick Morris at the Running Planet website.

Motivation 101 reposted

Going over my posts in my other running blog, I chanced upon this piece which I wrote in August last year.

Enthusiasm runs out of everyone after a time, be they newbies or veterans. And more often than not, we are most vulnerable after the holidays.

If you are among those who feel the fire slowly burning out, maybe reading this would help.

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It is not always that we are in the mood to run. We all get tired and eventually begin to feel too lazy to even dare a run around the block.

What to do?

Runner's World's Calvin Hennick has a list of what he calls "Kicks in the Butt." All 101 of them -  tips, inspiring quotes, and more to keep you motivated.

Hennick has a number of Good-To-Go Playlists for those who get a kick from pacing to music. Selections include classic rock ("Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen, "Break on Through" by The Doors, and "Come Together" the Beatles), country, hip-hop, and alternative rock. He even has a playlist of "guilty pleasures," which is honestly alien to me.

His list also includes movies to watch -  the 1981 Oscar winner for Best Picture Chariots of Fire (undoubetdly a classic film on running that can truly inspire), Saint Ralph (a 2005 Canadian film where a teenager sets out to win the 1954 Boston Marathon, thinking this is the "miracle" required to wake his mother from a coma), even Endurance, the 1999 docudrama on how Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie became one of the best distance runners of all time.

And there are the books to read for inspiration. Leading Hennick's list are two favorites among runners - The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, a short story by Alan Sillitoe tells the tale of a rebellious youth in a reformatory who runs in solitude and makes a stand against a system he doesn't believe in, and the cult classic Once a Runner, by talented runner John L. Parker JR., which captures the hard work and dedication required of fictional collegiate miler Quenton Cassidy.

After going through Hennick's list, I tried to come up with a short list of 10 "interesting" ones which I suppose would most likely be duldrum busters for many.

1. MAMA, GET A NEW PAIR OF SHOES. Two-time Olympian Shayne Culpepper puts new gear she receives as an elite athlete to good use. "It's fun to break in a new pair of shoes," she says. "Sometimes that's enough to get me excited."

2. EVERY MILE YOU RUN burns roughly 100 calories. Think of that next six-miler as two slices of pizza.

3. MAKE A MASSAGE APPOINTMENT for the day after your long run.

4. GET YOURSELF A HEARTY DOG who needs lots of exercise. You'll always have a reason for a daily jog.

5. FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY: Consider taking a short break from running if you think you've got the beginning of an overuse injury or you're truly fatigued. A couple days of rest may be the thing to reinvigorate you. Call this one instant running motivation for three days from now.

6. YOU'LL BE WEARING A BATHING SUIT in another month or so, won't you?

7. PAY YOURSELF. Set a price for attaining a certain weekly mileage goal. When you hit it, pay up. Keep your mileage money in a jar, and once it accumulates, buy yourself that new running jacket you've been ogling.

8. BUY A FULL-LENGTH MIRROR and make sure you look in it every day.

9. A HEALTHY RUNNER IS A HAPPY RUNNER. As soon as you feel like you might be coming down with something, pamper yourself: Eat more healthfully (think lots of fruits and veggies) and get extra rest. A little prevention today means you won't be debating next week whether you're too sick to run.

10. EXERCISE IMPROVES SEXUAL PERFORMANCE, according to research. Nuff said.

Getting through the running jargon

A new runner can easily get lost in the maze of running terminology in the numerous running blogs and articles that flood the worldwide web.

Runbritain.com perhaps best describes the predicament a new runner faces in encountering all those training terms from intervals to fartlek to splits, not to mention the various abbreviations like AT (anaerobic threshold), PB (personal best) and PR (personal record), and LSD (long slow distance).

"The terminology used to describe this fit and healthy form of exercise may at first come across as if it's a foreign language," the running site says. "Whether it's a term used to refer to an injury or a description of a type of running training, the language used to describe running can be difficult to understand."

Runbritain.com has a glossary of frequently used running terms which would definitely help a new runner with the jargon.

Hillrunner.com also has a compilation of running terms. The list mainly includes training terminology.

The list I enjoyed going through the most, though, is that of the Tahoe Mountain Milers Running Club. Taken from the 1997 Royal Renegade Runners Revised Reference Guide compiled by Laura Kulsik, Past RRCA Western Regional Director, as acknowledged at the TMMRC website, the list gives a tongue-in-cheek definition of running terms including some race jargon.

Here are some that made me giggle.

Achilles Tendinitis: the Greek God of running injuries.

Bandit: cheapskate, "Can you believe he ran that race without paying the registration fee?!!"

Blade Runner: a runner who is as skinny as a blade of grass.

Carbo load: a garbage truck full of bread and 6" pasta.

Fartlek, (1): speed work after a meal of refried beans.

Fartlek, (2): When a runner increases his or her pace sufficiently enough to put adequate distance between themselves and the rest of the group so they can take a quick pottie break before the group catches up. "There goes Jim on another Fartlek!" (TMMRC) 

Gel: something in your running shoe or your hair; both of which are supposed to make you run faster.

Glycogen stores: stores where you can get a limited supply of fuel before you have to visit the fat stores.

Plantar Fasciitis: a Latin derivative for doing a face plant on a trail run.

Pronate: 1. Podiatrists say 90% of the running population overpronates; the other 10% stagnate. 2. What the shoe guy says you have and then you have to pay an extra 5 bucks for your running shoes.