Last year I had a significant period out from training due
to a sharp ankle pain – after lots of work with my osteo (John and Paddy at
Montserrat Clinic in Putney), my acupuncturist (Charles Bourne – www.bourneacupuncture.com)
and Martin Felix (super-sports-masseur who’s been keeping Brett and me on the
road for the last six years – www.martinfelix.co.uk)
it became clear that the original cause of the problem was tightness in my
back. This was translating into a skewed
pelvis and the problems that filtered out of that all the way down to my feet.
So the solution was lots of back stretches and work on
spinal flexibility. I realised that if I
have 30 mins to stretch then at least 20 mins of this should be spent working
on my back and hips. And if I only have
10 mins to stretch then I’m best to spend all of this working on my back and
hips. This is complemented by a pilates
session with Nathan on Monday evenings which forces me to do stretches,
mobilisation work and core exercises that I might otherwise avoid.
As I’ve mentioned before, I was struggling with a tight left
glute / hip back in February this year which put me out of training for a bit
and caused me to DNF in a marathon.
After lots of treatment my back came out as the root cause again. This time the main problem is the side of my
back – and since I discovered that I’ve been able to do something about it and
am running happily again. I now do
mobilisation work before I run (several reaches over to each side and great big circles with my arms and hips), side
stretches after I run (sometimes on the power plate to increase the intensity)
and spend a lot of time with a microwaveable heat pack (aka a “huggy”) tied to
my waist – I know I’ve been training hard when I manage to sleep the whole
night through with this strapped to me!
Whilst it’s frustrating to have learned the same lesson as
last year it’s helped to hammer home the importance of core strength and spinal
flexibility. And it’s helped me to run
again which is the most important thing.
My mileages now are considerably higher than they’ve ever been before,
regularly exceeding 100km per week. So
it’s not surprising that I’m getting a few niggles or that my body is reacting
differently to how it has before. The
key thing is that I learn how to recognise these niggles, deal with them and
keep them at bay. I’m now happily
running 100km weeks again and I recently did my first ultra – the Endurance
Life Sussex Coastal Trail Series. I
loved it and will definitely be back for more.
So to summarise, what are the main things I do to keep
myself running...
- I stretch for at least 20 mins after I run with lots of focus on back and hips stretches – the plough is a must, spinal rotation, side stretches, hip flexors, psoas stretch.
- Pilates once a week with Nathan at Virgin Active Strand – he runs a tough session which forces me outside my comfort zone in terms of both stretching and core.
- At least two more core / gym sessions during the week, incorporating a lot of time on the TRX. And also calf raises, single leg squats etc.
- Regularly strapping a huggy to any tight bits of my body – when I’m working from home or before I go to bed.
- Leaving a tennis ball on the sitting room floor so I can massage my feet regularly and release any tension – I do this first thing in the morning and while watching TV in the evening.
- Seeing Martin for massage every couple of weeks.
- Osteo every three months or so to realign everything and in between if I have any particular problems.
- Acupuncture sessions from Charles Bourne, especially when it comes to dealing with any acute problems.
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