What do we know about injuries?

/ Roundups / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

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Ask science and injuries are still in many ways a black box. We don’t really know what causes them. We have some ideas but there is no concrete evidence. Some will tell you heel striking causes injuries. Others will tell you midfoot or forefoot striking causes injuries.

The truth is that different injuries have different causes. What we don’t know is that there are some overarching causes that apply across the board.

Well, there have been a couple recent developments on this front.

Forget the term "overuse injury"?

First, a letter published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine makes the case that we should ditch the term "overuse injury" in favor of the term "training load errors".

Their idea is that it’s not how much you train, it’s how your training load changes over time. They talk about an "acute:chronic load ratio" which essentially compares your workload over the past week to the average of your past 4 weeks. If your ratio is above 1.2:1 (meaning your most recent week is more than 120% of your 4 week average), you have an elevated risk of injury. If your ratio is 1.6:1 (meaning your most recent week is more than 160% of your 4 week average), you are far more likely to get injured.

This seems like common sense. If you’re increasing your training load, either volume or intensity, there’s a risk. You’re much less likely to get injured if you don’t increase. The more gradual you build, the less likely you are to suffer an injury. However, at times at least, we need to increase and possibly risk injury if we want to get better. This is a good reminder that there is risk that goes with the reward so we should keep that in mind and take good care of ourselves as we increase our training load.

How to prevent running injuries?

Has the question really been answered? Well, this article suggests it might have.

While the idea is sound, a more gentle foot plant (I have always preferred that term to "foot strike" which, in my mind, conjures an image of a violent collision with the ground) should reduce impact forces and lead to less stress, I’m not fully convinced of the final conclusions drawn.

Consciously focusing on changing your form can backfire. Maybe it’s worth experimenting with if you suffer injuries already but there is risk involved. Just be careful if you give it a try.

Image credit: Running painful ankle injury by 4Chion Marketing, on Flickr

2016 US Olympic Trials Marathon preview

/ News/Elites / 6 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

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The US Olympic Trials for the marathon is this Saturday in Los Angeles. The races will be broadcast live starting at 1pm Eastern on NBC or you can check NBC Live Extra for online viewing.

Below is a bit about some of the favorites in each race, as well as a list of others who I think will run well and be in position if some of the favorites don’t come through.

Women

The women’s race is, in my opinion, the one with more drama. There are several contenders for the top 3 spots and just enough questions about most of them to be pretty unsure about what will happen.

Note: It was announced yesterday that Deena Kastor is out with an injury. I originally had her among the favorites listed. Sadly, I had to remove her before this got published.

Desi Linden

Linden is out for redemption. After qualifying to the 2012 Olympic marathon, she got injured and couldn’t finish in London.

Her most well known race would have to be the 2011 Boston Marathon, when she was leading very late in the race and took both herself and Caroline Kilel to the very limit before Kilel edged her out for the win. She returned to near form in the 2015 Boston Marathon, where she ran with authority and didn’t give in on her way to finishing 4th. It looks like she’s ready for redemption and might be able to put some pressure on Flanagan.

She’s healthy this time and, outside of Flanagan, clearly a cut above the rest. I wouldn’t be surprised if she wins.

Shalane Flanagan

Bottom line, Flanagan is the class of the field. Her version of an off day is still good enough to finish in the top three, if not win the race. However, she may not be at top form.

Flanagan has a long list of credentials. Olympic bronze in the 10,000. World Cross Country bronze. 18 US Championships. 6 American records. Just to name a few.

The one red flag on Flanagan is that she apparently has had some injury issues in her buildup to the Olympic Trials that have hampered her training. I still would be surprised if she isn’t fit enough to finish in the top 3. What would surprise me less is if those injury issues aren’t completely resolved and strike on race day.

Amy Cragg

Fourth place at the Olympic Trials is a tough place to be. Cragg (Hastings at the time) was that runner in 2012. She knows the top contenders well, being a college teammate of Linden’s and current training partner of Flanagan’s.

She has one of the faster qualifying times and has to be mentioned among the favorites given her history.

Kara Goucher

She has the credentials. Not quite as spectacular but similar career credentials to Flanagan. However, she seems to have been on a downward slide recently. Her coach says she’s ready. How ready? If she’s living up to her credentials, she would seem to be a pretty sure thing. If recent history is a guide, though, she’d be a well known dark horse.

Others to watch

While there are more "favorites" than on the men’s side, most of them have weaknesses or question marks. Don’t count out runners like Annie Bersagel, Sara Hall, Becky Wade, or (for my fellow Wisconsinites) Lauren Kleppin (originally from Milwaukee) or Kellyn Taylor (originally from Sussex).

Men

The men’s field has changed significantly due to recent announcements. From a somewhat surprising late entry (Galen Rupp) to two late withdrawls (Ryan Hall and Matt Tegenkamp), this field looks quite a bit different than we were expecting a month ago. Regardless, this is a field that looks pretty top heavy, with the top three on paper at least separating themselves from the rest.

Note: I originally had Ryan Vail listed as one of the other contenders. Sadly, it was announced yesterday that he is out with injury so I removed him from that list.

Meb Keflezighi

Who doesn’t know Meb? 2004 Olympic silver medalist. 2009 New York City Marathon champion. 2014 Boston Marathon champion. Especially with Ryan Hall out (and I’d argue even if Ryan Hall was in) the most credentialed marathoner in the field. We’ve been saying for years that he has to slow down at some point but he keeps surprising whenever you want to count him out.

Meb is aging but name three runners who you expect to beat him. Unless he has a bad day, which does happen with him at times, I don’t see him finishing outside the top 3. His greatest accomplishments come in slower, more tactical races. Saturday’s race will be just that. He has the proven experience and tactical intelligence. Nothing is a sure thing in the marathon but I’d be surprised if he doesn’t make the top 3.

Galen Rupp

Rupp announced he’s in just two weeks ago but his entry shakes things up quite a bit. While some suspect he still won’t run, I expect him to at least line up. He may not finish, especially if he finds himself outside the reach of a top 3 finish, but I expect him to give it a shot.

Rupp has the credentials at shorter events. He has the speed. His performances at the 10,000 on the track and the half marathon suggest he is capable of big things in the marathon. However, he’s never run one before. Who knows how he will respond to the distance? He’s the wild card of the event. I don’t expect him to lead early. However, if he can hang with the leaders to the late miles, it will be interesting to see if he can use his track speed or if the distance took that speed out of his legs. Given the fact that he won’t be going out at a suicidal pace like his teammate Mo Farah in his debut, I think he will hold on and have enough in his legs to at least finish well.

Dathan Ritzenhein

Ritz is the last "surviving" member of that great trio of high school phenoms from the early 2000s. Alan Webb became a middle distance runner and retired a while ago. Ryan Hall went straight to the marathon after college and just recently retired. Ritz took the middle road and is still a contender. He now has the fastest PR in the field, though that PR is now almost 3.5 years old. When he’s healthy, he’s very dangerous. From what I’ve heard, he’s healthy.

Ritz doesn’t quite have the big name of Meb and Rupp but, if he is healthy, I’d actually pick him as the most sure bet to make the team.

Others to watch

While I think these three are a step above the rest, there are other contenders. Don’t forget to watch for guys like Luke Puskedra, Bobby Curtis, Matt Llano, and Nick Arciniaga to name a handful of contenders.

“Fatigue” is not a four letter word

/ Training / 1 minute of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

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Are you base training right now?

Are you experiencing some fatigue?

Are you concerned about the fatigue?

In many aspects of our lives, we are told to avoid extremes. Even in running, some will tell you to avoid fatigue. A little tired after a hard day, fine. Relatively constant fatigue? You’re risking overtraining.

I disagree. Fatigue is simply a result of training hard and a sign that you’re applying stimulus for your body to grow stronger.

Now, you don’t want to bury yourself in fatigue. You don’t want it to last for months on end. You don’t want to keep going down the fatigue spiral to depths that are harmful. However, experiencing a low to moderate level of fatigue for a few days or even a week or two before backing off and refreshing your legs is a part of training and should not be considered something to avoid at all cost.

January Update

/ Miscellaneous / 1 minute of reading

This article was originally posted by Ed at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Wow what a month! January – even with its very cold days and a bunch of ice and snow gave me some great numbers. I had my highest ever weekly mileage total at 62.89 miles. I also had my highest ever monthly total at 245.17 miles besting my previous high of 229 miles. Unfortunately, I missed one scheduled run of seven miles. The route that I have been using has a number of good hills in it so I got some great hill training as well. Even though the pace was slow at a hair under eight minutes per mile I had plenty of great effort in almost every run.

I am feeling very good right now. This January I had more miles than I did September 2014 through April of 2015 and I had a successful 2015 racing season. I think there are great things to come this year.

Twenty nine days until the February update – see ya then folks.

Run – run – run!

Sometimes we just don’t know

/ Roundups / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a recap post. Here’s one in a slightly different format than we’re used to.

I’ve long believed that anyone who says they don’t have the answer to everything probably knows more than the self-proclaimed "expert" who claims to know everything. Let’s be honest, it’s impossible to know everything about every topic that can come up, even in a field in which you’re an expert.

For most questions, you can find an answer. However, sometimes there simply isn’t an answer.

For example, stretching before working out. First, we thought it was a good thing. Then we thought it was a bad thing.

The truth?

The review found few lingering negative impacts from these short stretches, especially if the volunteers followed that stretching with several minutes of jogging or other basic warm-up movements. … People who stretched in this way for at least five minutes during a warm-up were significantly less likely to strain or tear a muscle subsequently.

Now, distance runners are highly unlikely to suffer a strain or tear. These are injuries that typically occur in explosive sports. So the result for distance runners seems to be minimal likely benefit but also minimal likely detriment. So do what you’re comfortable with.

For another example, what will help with running injuries?

The answer isn’t all that clear cut. I’ve experienced this with plantar fasciitis, a very stubborn injury for some people. Depending on the individual, I’ve seen various treatments work. From shoe changes or inserts to direct stretching of the plantar facia to strengthening of the muscles of the foot to stretching of the calf or even hamstring to the Strassburg Sock. Sometimes it’s a combination of more than one of these things, sometimes just one of them gets the runner past the problem.

There’s not always a rhyme or reason for what works, either. So what do I usually tell a runner who experiences plantar fasciitis or any kind of soreness in the bottom of the foot? Try several things. See what works for you. Then be serious about doing it until the problem is completely resolved.

Sometimes this is what works best. Sometimes smacking the side of the TV was the best option (to use the analogy Hutchinson did in the link above). Sometimes trying whatever you can think of is how you will get over that injury. Why? We may never know. However, if it works, does why really matter?

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