Tagged: rehab

A Tale of Three Runners

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…if you understand that reference then you’re probably my age or older (or just enjoy reading).  Actually, this weekend it was the best of times for three of my athletes.

Recently in my city of Ottawa we had our annual Ottawa Race Weekend.  It is a fantastic weekend for runners where they hold a marathon, half marathon and a 10k and 5k and all events are well attended with over 30,000 people participating.  Every year it is run flawlessly for the most part (although they had a bit of a screw up on the ½ marathon course this year) and attracts runners from all over the world.  Since runner coaching is a part of my business I wanted to share a story about three of my athletes who all come from different aspects of fitness, but all achieved a level of success this weekend, even though they started in very different places.

RP is a gentleman who has been working with me for over two years, who although he just turned 40 still has the athletic ability of a gazelle and the sparkling wit to match.  When he started working with me he had acute Achilles tendonitis and he had 8 weeks to his first marathon.  He couldn’t run for more than about 10k without pain.  I distinctly remember the look on his face when I told him his mileage was getting cut in half 8 weeks before a marathon, but he went with it and successfully ran his first marathon.  Since then he has done several other races including two more full marathons, a half marathon PB and a 500 kilometer bike ride from London to Paris.  Last weekend he beat his personal best on the marathon by over 30 minutes by staying consistent and running 4 times per week with a gradual buildup to 65-75k per week over time.

TW is a woman who came to me only a few months ago with another problem – this time ITBS, or iliotibial band syndrome and she couldn’t run at all, but still wanted to compete in the 10k with a restriction of only running 3 times per week (with a holiday mixed in for good measure).  She had previously done marathon training so was used to volume, but had to have some adjustments to her speed (I actually sped her UP to give her a proper gait) and work on her IT band issues, which resolved fairly quickly.  Her initial goal was to complete the 10k, but then a few weeks out we changed that to doing it in under an hour, which she had never done.  She finished in 58:30 with a smile on her face and no IT band issues.

CM is a woman who I have been working with for about a year who came to me because she liked to walk long distances with a goal of completing another ½ marathon walk in another short time line.  She is obese and has some other health issues that make it difficult for her to move.  We got her through that race, however she continued to suffer from calf and ankle issues and had to restrict her volume so that she could stay consistent with her workouts.  She completed another ½ marathon walk last weekend only about 10 minutes slower than the year previous – having never walked for more than an hour in training.  For her a ½ marathon walk takes four hours but she got through it, even on a brutally hot day.

These three people all made significant accomplishments last weekend.  The point I’m trying to make is that different people accomplish things differently.  All three of these athletes came at their respective events from different places, skill levels and levels of progression.  However, all had a successful result following a plan – and in CM’s case that plan was simply to get it done even though we both knew she was going to have a hard time.  With all the athletes they did what they could to make consistent progress towards the goal they had set – and then those got modified when progress was either better or worse than expected.

Anyone can be successful given the right tools and progression, no matter what you want to do.  Want to bench press 300 pounds?  Want to run a marathon?  Want to climb a mountain?  Great.  The idea is to set the goal and then work towards it carefully, mindfully towards what your body is capable of at that time and then just keeping moving forward.  And you’re never going to get anywhere by trying to not listening and respecting your body when you try to push it too far too soon.  The great thing is, it will tell you when you’re pushing too hard and try to stop you – you just have to listen.

Getting hurt doesn’t mean you have to stop – it means you have to learn what caused you to get hurt, and either stop doing it or modify what you’re doing in order to let it recover and not have it happen again down the road.  Attack the problem, not the symptom.  With a couple of these athletes it was a simple form adjustment and being mindful of what they were doing, which you should be doing anyway.

So today, tomorrow, whenever you start working towards something be smart, progress yourself within your tolerance limits and above all, listen to your body.  Oh, and hire a good coach.  I happen to know one, and he trains runners virtually as well if you’re interested.  Maybe next year you can have the same success that all of these people did, even though they started from completely different places.

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Your Body Is Going to Hate You in 10 Years

Weekly (actually almost daily) on my Facebook feed I see debate and discussion about various fitness modalities and “the best way” to exercise.  Wow, that was an awesome leg workout!  I almost puked!  I can’t walk today thanks to @awesomeharcoretrainer!  #feelbeatenup.  Inevitably these are posted by folks in their 20’s and 30’s who are getting into workouts that are pretty advanced, and likely in no way appropriate – but they do get the desired results.  For a brief time people can have bulging muscles, lower body fat (or nicely flexed pictures) and post pictures of themselves doing things like obstacle races or really heavy lifts, even if they have terrible form.

Then there is the other side of the equation.  The majority of my practice deals with injuries, and a lot of these are things like tears of various things, joint replacements, spinal herniation and overuse issues.  Most of these people are in their 40’s and older, but this is not a hard rule.  My youngest client who had a hip replaced was 46.  Knee replacements are fairly common once people who are active get into their 50’s and 60’s.  Disc hernation when younger tends to lead to chronic back pain for many people until they decide to either get surgery or figure out a way to manage their lives in order to live without pain.  I see this as a really sad thing.

My aunt (who was obese at the time) announced one year at Christmas that she was getting a knee replacement because it was the only solution to her knee pain.  When I suggested that possibly losing 50 pounds might help her more there was a bit of an awkward silence in the room.  As you all know, holding my tongue isn’t exactly something I do well.

One thing I often say to people is that “I wish I had seen you ten years ago.”  My belief is that if people were properly educated on what exercise can do to their body long term they might think twice before getting into hardcore heavy lifting, fast ballistic movements and things like hardcore competition without properly progressing themselves.

The point of this article is very simple:  people don’t think about the long term damage they are doing to their bodies and what it is going to be dealing with years down the road.  This could also apply to the general population, but especially applies to people in the fitness industry who are supposed to know a bit more about their physical well-being and how to improve others than the average person.  Just recently there was a gentleman who during a CrossFit competition actually severed his spine during a heavy lift and will never walk again.  Another recent article had a high level runner fracturing her femur – 500 meters from the finish line of a race – but she dragged her self across the finish line anyway, risking her life in the process.  She likely will never walk properly again either and she has small children at home.  Professional athletes, while achieving incredible things in their careers often have their physical health or even their lives cut short dramatically due to the abuse their body has to adapt to through training.  These are obviously outliers, but for every one of these examples, there are thousands of regular people who suffer daily with things that likely could have been either prevented or eliminated entirely given the right amount of care.

There are also people who commit to fitness (for a short time) and do a cycle of working out for a few weeks, then come up with every excuse under the sun why they can’t continue – until the next time.  In January these are called “resolutionists”.  For a lot of people they will be inspired by something and maybe follow through for a few months, and then go back to the same cycle they had in the past.  Then, in five years they are heavier, sicker or get injured and wonder why.  Here’s a thought – make a commitment for a long period of time and stick with it.  You should be exercising regularly (in whatever capacity you want to) for the rest of your life.  Time after time I meet with people, they stick with a program for a few weeks or months, and then something happens in their life so that they won’t continue (notice I said won’t, not can’t) and then a year later it’s “oh, yeah – I should start working out again.”  Then I meet with them a few more times, with them fully committed and then inevitably it happens again.

So my simple words to you:  look forward.  See yourself in 10 years and ask yourself what type of body you want to have.  What do you want to be able to do?  What do you want to have accomplished?  We do this all of the time for our careers, but neglect the one thing that is going to carry us forward for the rest of our lives.  And get started.  Now.  Just do it the smart, responsible way and don’t let your body hate you.  It really doesn’t want to, after all.