training

orthotics and training for the turkey trot

/ Brienna / 2 Comments

I went in last week for an orthotics casting. What this means is that they apply cast-like material to your feet to make a mold, and turn this into very custom insoles.

Hopefully these will help with my injures. We’ll see in 3-5 weeks when they’re ready.

Now that the Disneyland 1/2 marathon is over, I’m hoping that I can start (and complete) a training plan for the Turkey Trot. I’m running the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 5k, bright and early Thanksgiving morning. This is now a family tradition, and I will be joined by my husband (who hates to run, but has no choice on Thanksgiving), my mom, my step-dad, and one of my besties.

My training plan includes three runs per week. One “race pace” run, that is designed to practice running at the pace I want to run the race. I’m starting with 600m intervals and working up to 1000m. My second run each week is a speed workout. Most of these are sprint intervals with one or two tempo intervals in the mix. The last run for each week is an easy run. Conspicuously absent is a weekly long run.

Given my injuries, I made a decision to focus on speed and take a break from long runs for a while. The 5k mark is right about where I start feeling pain while running, and I think staying under that will be good.

thoughts on injury prevention for runners

/ Brienna / 3 Comments

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about health and fitness/exercise along with injury prevention. I’ve been injured recently and several of my friends have had torn ligaments, knee issues, stress fractures and shin splints.

I started running about 4 years ago, and last year really increased my mileage. Up until recently, I was injury free. And yet a year ago, I was told by a massage therapist to consider another sport. (Some people just don’t get it, do they?) He felt that the high impact of running was bad given my ankle injury from 2008 (three screws in my left talus bone). With his apparent general dislike of running and his suggestion to “use the elliptical machine instead,” it was easy to ignore his advice and to stop seeing him.

Well, turns out pretty much all the muscles in my legs are super tight and my hips are weak. The tightness is from a lack of stretching and the impact of running. The weak hips are a common problem and require special attention and some strength training exercises.

Since my knee injury in April, which turns out to be ITBS, I have been going to PT and doing research on injury prevention for running. ITBS is commonly caused by a tight IT band due to weak hips. The tightness all over in my legs probably exacerbates the problem.

I used to rock climb regularly, and I’ve been trying to do yoga at least once a week, but I have never been consistent with any sort of core, strength or stretching routines. This seems to be all the areas that need attention, if I am serious about injury prevention.

A few weeks ago, I posted some of what was recommended through PT. I have been trying my best to do those things daily, but it’s tough (I’ve been traveling; first a vacation, then a 10 day business trip to Munich/Romania). In addition to those exercises and stretches, I’m also trying to follow this ITBS rehab routine that I found on strengthrunning.com. And on top of that, I want to start running again 3x/week, yoga 1x/week, and I’m doing a 30 day plank challenge. Oh, and I want to start a regular core exercise program 3x/week and stretching before/after running.

Maybe I’ll even find time to sleep. And just because I love photos, here’s a shot of the shorts I bought on my vacation. Perfect for my new core / strength / stretching routine!

maui shorts

QOTD: Have you been injured? What did you do for rehab? Anything special to prevent future injuries?

still injured…

/ Brienna / 1 Comment

I went hiking about 10 days ago with some friends, and had a blast! We hiked about 6 miles, uphill for the first half, and had a great view from the top.

Boccardo trail

The only problem with this hike was the downhill part really hurt my knee. So much so, that I was pretty much unable to walk the remainder of the day.

The good news is this motivated me to finally make an appointment for physical therapy. Ortho gave me a recommendation about 5 weeks ago, but since I was going on three separate trips in July, I thought I’d wait until August to get started.

I’ve only had two appointments so far, but I have tried my best to do the stretches (side-lying quad stretch, supine hamstring stretch, and supine glute stretch: 3x of each for 30 seconds, 2x day minimum) and exercises (hip extension, adduction, abduction, and flexion with resistance: 3 sets of 5 each plus 1-2 sets of 10 wall squats) as prescribed.  Today we added more to the list:  calf stretches, step-ups, and normal squats.  Pretty soon it will feel like I do nothing but stretches and exercises all day long!

So far, I haven’t noticed much improvement, but I also haven’t noticed any further incidences of severe pain. My therapist did say it felt less tight today than it did last week, which is good. She also used a technique called “instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization.”  Let’s just say that it was not fun.

I was in Maui last week on vacation, and I went snorkeling, sailing, swimming, snorkeling some more and attempted to surf. I really wanted to go for a run on the beach, but I’ve been told to take a break from running (boo). Hopefully I’ll be able to start back up again this weekend or next week. I’m leaving for Romania on business tomorrow, and I will be spending the weekend in Munich. I may see if I can do some swimming or a light treadmill run at the hotel this weekend.

It was only on the way home, after sitting in the plane for 5 hours that my knee started hurting.  And actually, the WRONG knee started hurting. I’m not sure if this is a good sign or a very, very, very bad sign.

This knee injury is really putting a wrench in the PR I was hoping to have at the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon in 38 days. I am way behind in my training plan, so I guess this means I’ll just have to pick another 1/2 marathon to run next year for my PR. 🙂  Maybe I’ll try Big Sur or go back to Santa Cruz.

pain, pain, go away!

/ Brienna / 2 Comments

I finally got a referral to an orthopedic doctor to look at my knee. It’s been bothering me since the end of April, and really hampering my training for Disney.

The good news: x-rays look awesome, nothing structurally wrong with the knee, no arthritis

The bad news: it’s unclear exactly what IS wrong. It could be ITBS or it could be a tear in the meniscus, which is what my primary care doctor thought it was.

Outcome: physical therapy, stretch 5x/week, ice after stretching or running, and come back if it gets worse or doesn’t get better.

I’m not super happy about this.  Granted, it hasn’t been excruciatingly painful since May, and I’m able to run.  However, I do feel limited by it and anxious.  If I go outside for a long run, will I be able to make it home?  In May, I went less than .5 miles outside before calling my husband to pick me up because it hurt so much I didn’t even want to try walking home, even though it was such a short distance.

The bright side is that I completed a 7.3 race pace / long run yesterday!  The downside is that I wanted it to make it 7.5 but I was worried about knee pain.  🙁  It was just at that point where I knew more running would trigger pain.  .2 miles didn’t seem worth the risk!

P.S. I’ll have some more book reviews coming soon, and an update on the June diet extravaganza.  Just teaser — I tried a juice fast and survived!

P.P.S. You’ll notice the sidebar (over there —> if you’re on the main page)  now contains some count downs to my next races.  I’ll be adding more races soon I hope!