Running Injury Tips: Learning to Improve

I recently read some advice on-line related to specific running injuries. In almost every case the commentary started out with the suggestion to begin taking ibuprofen, icing, and resting, and then following that up with a program of stretching and strengthening exercises. While all of that can certainly help, it is not a substitute for learning to improve what we are doing. 

The common assumption is that the problem is in the tissues, or in the joints, but I want to show that the real problem is not that at all. Why will a running injury often come right back after rest? The answer is that learning occurs in the brain, not the muscles, or joints. The way we do things is the real problem.  The human nervous system, is capable of a great deal of learning. When we are injured the brain goes into protection mode. We often maintain movement patterns designed to protect us long after the need to protect is gone. But the brain always wants to organize our actions in the most pleasant, strong, efficient, and pain free way possible.  That is why we can improve by paying attention to the little things. 

Running injury tip # 1

Try running by feel, instead of just thinking in terms of technique. Pay attention to what you are doing and how the overall body pattern feels. Shift your attention back and forth between the parts and the whole. This will have at least two benefits. If you are training or running in a race remember, you can always change something, you are not just a creature of habit. There is not just one way to do things. Some little change or change in emphasis can make all the difference.  A problem that is beginning to develop can end up not being a problem with a slight shift.   

The second reason to run with awareness of the overall balance and feel of what you are doing is that if you do have a problem, and if it appears that you are courting an injury after you are done running or on the next day, then you have filed away a memory of the exact body pattern that you used the day before. That is a huge clue about how to shift your emphasis. If you are stressed in a particular area you can remember exactly how you produced this discomfort. So tip # 1 is about developing a new kind of awareness of the feeling of the details of what you are doing.

Running injury tip #2

Continue to improve your overall awareness of, alignment and form. Simply put, the better your overall skill level becomes the stronger and more injury proof you will be. Notice I have used the words skill and awareness rather than technique and form. You might be able to recite elements of good form but we really want to go beyond that and experience good form, so that we “know” what we are doing and can feel it too. 

Applying this to real and specific injuries:

Let’s talk about IT band problems.  IT band problems are caused by overuse of the lateral  hip muscles.  Let’s look at some pictures of how this might happen. The three pictures below are a powerful illustration of patterns that might contribute to IT band syndrome. These patterns could be fairly obvious or more subtle. Now we can see that our overall alignment contributes to the problems that we can develop in running. It is not the running that causes the problems, but HOW we run. The first illustration on the left below illustrates the difference between level hips and hip drop of the free leg. We call the picture of the level hips on the left being on the high point of the hip, in other words not dropping the hip. We are talking here about a specific injury, IT band problems. However, you can see that this same pattern might cause other problems, hip problems or back problems are two that come to mind. Can you see that icing and stretching can never teach these runners to improve? Can you see that strengthening if needed at all could be employed much more efficiently AFTER the learning process has been started? Strengthening alone without learning could be a very inefficient way to deal with these problems. This is why we say the problem is in the brain, not the tissues.

 

Now look at the pictures above. The man on the left has level hips in contrast to the first three pictures.  The elite woman in the picture to the right has a very good alignment. Now notice the man in the blue track suite rounding the corner. He has very good alignment through the standing leg. Not only does the free hip not drop but if anything it might be raised a little. And finally there is the picture of Hicham El Guerrouj and the magnificent power of his hips. Notice how level they look.

All of these pictures combine running injury tips # 1 and #2.  They show concepts combined with real world skill through increased sensitivity and awareness. 

I hope this article has been fun and useful. Enjoy!  But remember, it you need help with specific injuries, I would be glad to help. If you want to learn at a deeper level and are committed to doing the work to improve, then Transcendent Running lessons are for you.  To learn more click here.

To get the free e-book, The Runners Body/Mind click here.

Thanks and take care - Scott

 

Releasing the Human Spirit: I have promised to take you beyond running form

Have you ever finished a run and felt that you really knew you could do better? You knew you had more to offer. You knew that the way you currently run was not all there is. Nearly everyone has more potential than they have realized. That is why I bring up today’s topic.  Potential is the term used to define the difference between the positive and negative poles of a battery.  When there is a voltage difference between the two, electrical energy is available. But that energy is not actually used when there is not a working circuit connected to the battery.  When nothing is connected, we have only stored energy. We have only the possibility of that energy being useful. If a battery is never used, it eventually becomes weak and useless.  Some of the most useful batteries are designed to be re-charged again and again.  When energy is released, useful work is done and then the source is replenished and is ready to supply power again. These batteries can have long useful lives.  To get the full benefit from the energy stored in a battery, it must be connected to something and that circuit must be designed carefully, that is certain conditions must be met for the system to work efficiently.

Using a more biological example we know that a massive tree grows from a single seed. The life contained within the seed is miraculous. We cannot explain it, yet we can trust that it is there.  Yet the life potential contained in most seeds does not produce a large mature tree. Certain conditions must be met. Most seeds are left on the surface to rot or are eaten by birds or squirrels, or fall on rocky or unsuitable ground or produce a tree that is unable to survive to maturity. If most of the conditions are met then survival to maturity becomes the final test. It is also interesting to note how long some seeds can remain dormant until the right conditions are met.  However the most critical stage is the point where the hard protective shell opens, the life within is exposed and begins to grow.  Once the protection is gone, dormancy is over, and life will emerge, to flourish or die. 

Like the battery on the shelf, or the dormant seed, each of us has a unique potential, a unique set of life gifts, and a challenge to sprout and grow and be part of the environment. Like the seed with the hard outer casing, each of us has a carefully crafted and clever self image that houses and protects our current identity and also sets limits on our growth. If our outer shell remains stable and static, no new life can emerge. This shell exists for an extremely important reason, to protect the life within. Only under the right circumstances can the shell be disturbed productively and allow for further growth.

What are the right conditions to release the potential of new life?  How do we more fully release the human spirit?  The ground the seed falls into represents opportunity. As the seed senses the right conditions, the ground begins to represent experience. When the time is right the ground is a place of surrender, trust, risk and sacrifice. The seed must not be opened before its time but when the time is right the embryonic tree will come forth. With humans the ground is not just experience, but learning from that experience. Learning is the key to moving forward. Progress is accepting a time of maximum vulnerability. 

With runners, running injury may be a new and transformative learning experience, a chance to learn something about ourselves and running that we didn’t know before.  And a chance to leave behind old attitudes and run in a way that is more compatible with our bodies and efficient running, a chance to learn better technique that will take us so much farther. A new training goal , a new coach, a new approach to training or most important for some people a new way to use running to prepare for some other aspect of life. All these are opportunities for growth. Pick your environment carefully to nourish your deepest desires. 

The hindrances to fully letting our spirit out are the habits that keep us from finding the fertile ground and planting ourselves there.  Growth in self awareness is the key. Think of living in an older house. You have lived there for years yet you have never looked into the attic. One day you need to know what is there, perhaps the roof has leaked. You get on the ladder and open the access door and look in.  You shine your flashlight into all the corners. You spot the source of the roof leak. You also see the cobwebs.  And in the middle of the attic you see a number of heirlooms. You see the condition of the structure. You will no longer have a blank spot in your mind about this area. Your relationship with the house is changed forever.

What is this fertile soil like?  “Find your true weakness and surrender to it. Therein lies the path to genius. Most people spend their lives using their strengths to overcome or cover up their weaknesses. Those few who use their strengths to incorporate their weaknesses, who don’t divide themselves, those people are very rare. In any generation there are a few and they lead their generation. ”                                                                                                                                     Moshe Feldenkrais

The refinement of the self image is not the changing of ourselves into someone else but the sharpening of the sense of who we really are.  Knowing ourselves and giving in to who we really are is the key to success as a runner or in any aspect of life. 

Remember the story of Jacob wresting with the angel?  Jacob was out of time. It was the last night before he would face a brother who had sworn to kill him. His brother approached and would meet him the next day with four hundred men. Jacob had only the women and children with him, the ones he loved, his family and his legacy. But worse for Jacob, all his life he had sought the blessing of his calling. No more time. One night remained, and then the sun would break and a critical day would begin. Jacob spent the night alone wrestling with his situation and then a man appeared. Jacob wrestled with the man all night.  And the angel said to him let me go for the day breaks, and Jacob said I will not let you go unless you bless me.  And the man touched Jacob on the thigh and his hip was dislocated and Jacob was blessed. Jacob was never the same. After that night he even had a new name.  His name was one who had prevailed with God. 

I have wrestled with myself all night, as I am sure you have.  I was tempted to give up and say I could never be anything but what I have been and settle for that. But that was not acceptable; it was not the true possibility. The first secret is not giving up. Then when the energy for the struggle is gone the only solution is to surrender to who you really are. You see when we use all our energy to cover our weaknesses; there is nothing left to reveal our strengths. Jacob now met his brother with a limp that was probably painful. Yet as far as the real situation this did not matter, it was only an acknowledgement, an accentuation of his already weak position.  We can walk with a limp metaphorically, and yet be the ones who prevail.  First we must refuse to give up.  Then in vulnerability and humility we find our true strengths.   This is all done through real experience as we live our lives.  Anyone can release their human potential by exposing their true selves. Be real, integrate your dreams with your workouts, your gifts whatever they maybe, and your real here and now.   We have two kinds of weaknesses, the first kind we surrender to. With our true weaknesses revealed we can manage them and release our greatest strengths.   The second kind, when the light shines on them are revealed to be only imagined weakness. These then become fertile ground for new learning. 

Yes anyone can find and release their gifts. But since my wrestling involved realizing that I am getting a bit older, that I am in the Baby Boomer demographic. Since my wrestling involved giving in to that reality of myself image, I have a special message for Baby Boomers.  I will get to that soon. 

We'd love to have your comments!

www.transcendent-running.com

 

Tools of Transcendence And The Difference Between Will Power And Single Mindedness

Look at the illustration below of two people in a boat, rowing in opposite directions. What will happen if the stronger of the two rows harder. The boat will speed up, right? But what is obvious is that with more effort comes more speed, but the situation remains inefficient. No matter how hard one person tries to speed up, they are still encountering resistance, drag, and extraneous effort toward the intention to move forward in one direction. Obviously, the admonition to just try harder here, misses the point.

If we take this as a picture of our physical existence, then we realize that our movement, our running can be improved, ultimately not by trying harder but by discovering and eliminating unnecessary effort.

While will power and persistence can be admirable qualities. They cannot by themselves allow us to achieve our full potential. "Trying" could be defined as using extra effort to make up for lack of skill. What results is less than our full potential. We reach plateaus and cannot make further progress. If we apply this idea to the mechanics of our running, we realize that most of us could benefit from becoming more efficient in some way. We can always improve. Most of us do not have action that is fully consistent with our intention of moving forward smoothly.

Most of us have a divided mind, a divided action in one way or another as a result of habit and previous learning. The solution is more learning.