4/26/09 - Staying Injury Free

Running injuries tend to generally be overuse injuries rather than acute or sudden injuries. Any muscle imbalance or poor technique, even if very small, can cause an injury after miles and miles of repetitious movement. Many running injuries (such as iliotibial band syndrome that I dealt with last fall) are a result of quad dominance. This is where the quad muscles overpower the hamstrings and glutes in the running motion. The quad muscles become stronger as the runner becomes more dependant on them. The glutes and hamstrings become weaker, leading to a muscle imbalance. This is what happened to me. The muscle imbalance led to increased tension on my iliotibial band, which resulted in severe swelling, and pain.

After several meetings with a physical therapist last December, she explained that this was the problem. Having come from a swimming background (another quad dominant sport), I realized how weak my glutes actually were. Over the past few months, I have been focusing on strengthening my posterior chain (the core muscles of your backside such as the glutes, the hamstrings, the lower back, etc.) It has helped tremendously in my ability to stay injury free. I have been sore in areas that I had never been sore in before, and have made huge leaps in the amount of weight that I can lift in those particular exercises. The main exercises that I have been doing are squats, deadlifts, good mornings, clam shells, and lots of work with exercise bands. I have also been using a foam roller consistently and stretching much more often.

I usually lift hardest on Saturdays and do my long runs on Sundays. As a result, my glutes and hamstrings are pretty sore on Sundays and I can actually feel them working when I run. I did front squats yesterday for the first time rather than back squats, and as a result, my buns were on fire today towards the end of the long run. However, it feels good to know that what I am doing in the gym is actually making a difference in my running. So often, people in the gym are lifting for physical appearance. To have a functionale purpose for exercises in the gym, and to feel them paying off is a great feeling. I got up to 46 miles this week without any signs of injury. I am confident that I owe it to my focus on fixing my muscle imbalance.

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 9 miles + weights
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - 11 miles
Friday - 8 miles + weights
Saturday 3 miles on treadmill + weights
Sunday - 15 mile long run