Good Evening all three of my readers! :-) I will be doing a training update weekly to let you know what I'm doing, how it went, and maybe even why I'm doing it. Feel free to ask questions or heckle me mercilessly.
This week...
I don't have much to report because unfortunately I've been injured. You see, after an ill advised long tempo run a few weeks ago my knee started hurting pretty good. I did exactly what I was supposed to do with the exception of a few things. Whenever you get injured or feel an injury coming on you are supposed to follow the RICE acronym. RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevate. I did the resting part for the entire time even though my knee only hurt when bent it fully or kneeled on it. Also, I iced it... for a few days then stopped. I never did any compression or elevated it. Primarily because it never swelled up or was that type of injury. After giving it an opportunity to shape up I finally went to the doctor for a referral to a specialist. I went to see an orthopedic and he pushed, pulled, and bent it every which way but loose and determined that it wasn't any of the common "serious" injuries so that's good. He believes that I have the beginnings of I.T. Band Syndrome. My treatment is to stretch a lot more and to slowly pick back up running. Yay!
Today...
I went for a run for the first time in weeks. I warmed up thoroughly beforehand and slowly eased into the run (or so I thought). The first mile was a bit quick for just coming back from an injury. I was shooting for a 10 minute mile but clicked off a 9:12 pace per mile. The second mile wasn't a whole lot better (from a slow and easy perspective) but I think I was just so happy to be running that it was hard to keep the adrenaline under control. I ran 3 miles at a 9:29 pace with no pain :-) Typically, I end my runs near the elementary school in my neighborhood. I walk up to the pull-up bar and bang out some pull-ups then make my way over to a bench to stretch out. I stretched out a little more than usual today for good reason. Once home I sat outside with some ice on my knee. I would like to think I did everything right this time. Hopefully it continues from here on out so that I can have a successful racing season this year. So, starting now I'll do this every time before and after I run. I vow to stick to my training schedule which if I had I wouldn't have gotten injured in the first place. Time will tell... Be smart Paul!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Bummed...
Captain's log, star date March 15th, 2011...
- Knee still hurts a good bit when I bend it.
- Haven't run since the 5th.
- No improvement, I'm a little worried.
- Doctor's appointment on Thursday, to get a referral.
- Appointment with an orthopaedic on Friday.
- Walking or jogging across the street doesn't hurt so maybe its not that serious.
- Spring training looms in the not so distant future.
- Let us pray.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Stretching 101
We've all seen it, on television, in movies, and in real life. There's a guy (or girl) doing toe touches, twisting from side to side, etc. All of a sudden they're like "Alright, I'm ready. I've warmed-up!" Yeah right.The two most common forms of stretching that people do before performing a bout of "active" exercise are, static and dynamic. If you think there are more then start your own blog and talk about it! :-) A great deal of people still believe and therefore solely perform static stretches before they exercise. Both types have their place in the fitness realm so you should make sure to perform both when the situation calls for it.
Before I go running, cycling, or swimming I perform dynamic stretches to get my body warmed up. Before running I do leg swings, arm swings, neck circles, butt kicks, high knees, and skipping drills. Before a cycling work-out I might do some of the same but also incorporate moves mimicking the pedaling motion, both forward and backwards. Swimming, not all that similar but arm circles and just movements to loosen me up. That's all we're talking about here is performing exercise specific movements to send blood to those areas that we're going to use and consequently warm them up. Dynamic stretches also increase range of motion so they actually help my running. I don't view them as injury prevention drills but they might reduce the change of a pulled muscle, who knows. What they do is they enable me to get right to it during a work-out or race. An important note - The more intense the session, the longer the warm-up will be. I have heard of 400-800m sprinters that warm-up for an hour before their races. Consequently, marathoners don't warm-up even half that much. The level of intensity is much lower for the marathoner and therefore the warm-up is that much shorter.
Back to static stretching... it is "thought to be" beneficial to perform this type of stretching after a work-out or race. Static stretches include toe touches, calf stretches, hamstring and quad stretches, etc. These stretches slowly elongate the muscle through its full range of motion and typically they are held for between 15-30 seconds. Stretching after a bout of exercise can help to relax and balance tension on muscles that have just been stressed through exercise.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding stretching in general, before, after, static or dynamic. So I encourage you to read up and form your own opinion. Personally, I like the practice of performing dynamic stretches before exercising and static stretches afterward. That's when my muscles, tendons, and ligaments are the warmest and most receptive to elongating which ultimately leads to an increased range of motion.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)