One of my "running junkie" weekends in 2014 when I completed the Hat Trick challenge of a half-marathon, 10k and 5k in one weekend. In both 2013 & 2014, I logged well over 500 miles running. This included 2 Boston Marathons, a few dozen half-marathons, several 10ks and 5ks, trail races, mud runs, obstacle course races and other challenges. Running was my escape, my stress management, the one thing I could fully, personally dedicate to outside of my job, relationships and day-to-day responsibilities. I loved race weekends and the running community. I loved waking up at sunrise to log miles, running through the city after dark to close out a long day and practicing the dedication to fuel myself properly. I would even sign-up for a race in whatever city I was traveling to for work, just so I could show up a few days early and stick to my healthy habits. I explored the country through running.
Now, it's August 2015.
Since January, I've logged fewer than 100 miles and have only participated in a single trail race with a group of friends. For the past 8 months or so, I decided to break up with running. Not because of a serious injury or because I fell out of love with it. I still love the freedom of running and yearn to get back into the racing circuit. I stopped running because I found that the sames aches, pains, minor injuries and imbalances were persisting. My body wasn't moving efficiently and my running simply perpetuated all the issues.
If anyone knows me, they know I always have to figure things out for myself. This serves my clients well, because I've had to find my way through many injuries and conditions, which provides direct experience to help them through their challenges. It doesn't always serve me in the best way possible, but in the long run....it all works out.
Now that you know how I operate, I'll summarize that I didn't take the best approaches in managing widespread pain and injuries from a few accidents, surgeries and other conditions. Instead, I pushed through pain and poor movement patterns and decided to dive into distance running. **I don't recommend this approach for anyone, ever.**
As you can imagine, with back to back years of 500+ miles logged, issues really didn't get better. They shape-shifted or caused a chain reaction of other problems. Nothing too debilitating, but plenty that was uncomfortable and didn't serve me well in daily functioning or overall athletic performance. So, I quit running.
I decided to step away from running until I found a way for my body to move as functionally and efficiently as possible; until my excessive, everyday aches and pains diminished; until I established a better baseline of total body strength (not just runner strength), and my running form was based on purposeful, precise movements...rather than compensation patterns.
It has taken over 6 months of diligent training to arrive at a point where I can slowly re-introduce running alongside my continued functional movement and strength training. I headed out for my first 5k run in several months and my pace was over 60 seconds faster than where I left off at the end of last year. Running feels like an entirely different sport now that I can maintain proper form, utilize core stability and total body strength, and not adapt my movements in an effort to mask lingering pains.
How did I get to a point where it made sense to start running again? I used a variety of methods, but really tried to keep it as simple as possible.
-Daily soft-tissue release, mobility work and activation exercises
-Targeted strength and stability work for areas that needed it most
-Working with other coaches for assessments and additional perspectives
-Total body strength development with a focus on the 7 Primal Movements
-Low impact cardio cross-training
-Getting back into a regular yoga practice
As runners and athletes, we train our minds to push through pain and just keep going...one more step, one more mile, just keep going no matter what. If you can maintain your form without compensating or adapting your movements in those final steps or sprints, then it's all good. You are improving your overall endurance. BUT if you are feeling pain, leaning forward, putting more weight on one side of your body than the other, chopping the air instead of swinging your shoulders, hardcore heel-striking, or doing some other funky thing when your body is fatigued....it might be a better idea to peel it back a little bit. At this point, you aren't serving yourself well---instead of increasing your endurance, you are conditioning your body to rely on these inefficient movement patterns.
I'm happy to share that, with diligence and the proper approaches, you can stop feeling riddled with pain and/or injuries and you can become a much stronger, faster runner.
If anything, just take a moment to pause and ask yourself....what purpose is my running serving? Is it making me better? Am I taking the best approach possible?
If you're not sure, I'd love to connect and see how we can help you find your "zen" with running.
Keep it functional, people.
-Cassie Taylor
Contact:
www.olliwithcassie.com
[email protected]
Now, it's August 2015.
Since January, I've logged fewer than 100 miles and have only participated in a single trail race with a group of friends. For the past 8 months or so, I decided to break up with running. Not because of a serious injury or because I fell out of love with it. I still love the freedom of running and yearn to get back into the racing circuit. I stopped running because I found that the sames aches, pains, minor injuries and imbalances were persisting. My body wasn't moving efficiently and my running simply perpetuated all the issues.
If anyone knows me, they know I always have to figure things out for myself. This serves my clients well, because I've had to find my way through many injuries and conditions, which provides direct experience to help them through their challenges. It doesn't always serve me in the best way possible, but in the long run....it all works out.
Now that you know how I operate, I'll summarize that I didn't take the best approaches in managing widespread pain and injuries from a few accidents, surgeries and other conditions. Instead, I pushed through pain and poor movement patterns and decided to dive into distance running. **I don't recommend this approach for anyone, ever.**
As you can imagine, with back to back years of 500+ miles logged, issues really didn't get better. They shape-shifted or caused a chain reaction of other problems. Nothing too debilitating, but plenty that was uncomfortable and didn't serve me well in daily functioning or overall athletic performance. So, I quit running.
I decided to step away from running until I found a way for my body to move as functionally and efficiently as possible; until my excessive, everyday aches and pains diminished; until I established a better baseline of total body strength (not just runner strength), and my running form was based on purposeful, precise movements...rather than compensation patterns.
It has taken over 6 months of diligent training to arrive at a point where I can slowly re-introduce running alongside my continued functional movement and strength training. I headed out for my first 5k run in several months and my pace was over 60 seconds faster than where I left off at the end of last year. Running feels like an entirely different sport now that I can maintain proper form, utilize core stability and total body strength, and not adapt my movements in an effort to mask lingering pains.
How did I get to a point where it made sense to start running again? I used a variety of methods, but really tried to keep it as simple as possible.
-Daily soft-tissue release, mobility work and activation exercises
-Targeted strength and stability work for areas that needed it most
-Working with other coaches for assessments and additional perspectives
-Total body strength development with a focus on the 7 Primal Movements
-Low impact cardio cross-training
-Getting back into a regular yoga practice
As runners and athletes, we train our minds to push through pain and just keep going...one more step, one more mile, just keep going no matter what. If you can maintain your form without compensating or adapting your movements in those final steps or sprints, then it's all good. You are improving your overall endurance. BUT if you are feeling pain, leaning forward, putting more weight on one side of your body than the other, chopping the air instead of swinging your shoulders, hardcore heel-striking, or doing some other funky thing when your body is fatigued....it might be a better idea to peel it back a little bit. At this point, you aren't serving yourself well---instead of increasing your endurance, you are conditioning your body to rely on these inefficient movement patterns.
I'm happy to share that, with diligence and the proper approaches, you can stop feeling riddled with pain and/or injuries and you can become a much stronger, faster runner.
If anything, just take a moment to pause and ask yourself....what purpose is my running serving? Is it making me better? Am I taking the best approach possible?
If you're not sure, I'd love to connect and see how we can help you find your "zen" with running.
Keep it functional, people.
-Cassie Taylor
Contact:
www.olliwithcassie.com
[email protected]
RSS Feed