Uncover your inner athlete!

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be eaten.. Each morning in Africa a lion awakes - it knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve.


No matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up you had better be running!



Thursday, July 15, 2010

Rest and rehabilitation – the importance of listening

Like most of us runners, once the sport had captured me, I was thinking about it for large periods of my day and also wanting to get out and about running whenever I could. I would wake up in the morning and go for a run, I would then run to work, run at lunchtime and run home after work.

My goal was quite simply to run as much as I could because I enjoyed it so much. I never really had much structure to a training program other than to run as far and as often as I could. To many other people I was the insane person hooked on running. Workmates could not understand how I would want to run so much.

When I went through a relationship breakup a few years ago, my running really took off. I was suddenly running to kill the emotional pain that I may have been feeling at the time. I was also running to fill the void that had opened in my life. Running at all hours – 3 o’clock in the morning. Running just started to consume my life.

I now know that this was unsustainable and something that I would have to change if only for my own sanity. Having not been injured (bar a few sore muscles) during this heavy period of running, I began to get like many other runners who believe themselves to be cocksure and no longer in need of rest days. I felt the master of my universe.

All this came to an ubrupt end in 2009 when training my first 90km Comrades marathon. Six weeks into the training I was struck by what I now know as ITB tightness and strain. When my usual plan of running through any injuries did not cure this one, I knew that it was time to trundle myself off to the physio for the first time.

I did this very reluctantly and was still convinced that I could heal it my way until she stuck her elbow into my ITB and I almost climbed the wall in agony.

After an initial consultation she prescribed some exercises and told me to rest for a whole week. At that point I felt as though I may go insane during that week. However after she reminded me that if I did not listen and do as I was told, I could find that it was permanent damage, I went away and did all the exercises and felt the pain lifting.

The exercises she prescribed for the ITB were as follows:

1. Icing the knee area to reduce inflamation twice daily for 5 minutes.
2. Twice daily rolling the ITB area on the foam roller for 5 minutes each leg.
3. One legged squats (done off a gym bench or chair at home). 10-15 squats each leg – controlled movements and slow lifting and lowering. This builds the quads which are often weak in those suffering ITB issues.
4. Lying down on your side with you knees bent, secure an exercise rubber band around the legs (above the knees) to act as resistence. Open and close your legs in a clam fashion completing the exercises to failure (ie. Not being able to do another one). Getting to 50 should be the goal.
5. Stretch the legs twice a day. This is something that was completely foreign to me but something that I now do a lot of.

The importance of listening on this occassion has sat with me. All too often in the west we believe that our way is the best and are hesitant to take the word of a professional lest they utter those fateful words – Rest and recuperate. – Sean Muller

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