What does it do for you? - Corina's Marathon Blog

A week later and a grand total of 4 weeks since the first injury and my foot still hurts. I’ve had quite a few conversations with my trainer/therapist/coach/sounding board/husband Alan about how I feel about my foot, i.e. answering the question “What does it do for you?” It has caused me to do a lot of soul searching and be honest with myself.

When I first hurt my foot it was annoying, but I thought I would just take a few days off (over the 4th July weekend) and be back to normal so it was not a bad thing at all. Then the foot didn’t improve and I started to get itchy to get back to running. Plus I was getting worried about losing fitness and being set back in my marathon training.

After this, when we started to consider that it may be a stress fracture, I just wanted to know either way whether I was going to be hurt for the long haul or not. I was starting to consider whether I needed to start riding my bike again to maintain my fitness until I could start running again, or whether I should forget about running, spend more time swimming and maybe hit the gym again. I didn’t get an answer on the foot prognosis and this was extremely frustrating. Hence last week’s no-mans land post.

At the beginning of this week I still hand’t run. My foot was not hurting me any more most of the time but I was still scared to run again. Sometimes I think way too much so I needed to release all my random conflicting thoughts to someone else who might be able to make sense of them. Alan asked me that question, “What does your sore foot do for you?”. I had to answer honestly that I was a little scared of the training for my first marathon, especially now that the long runs had got longer than I had ever done before. The injury gave me an exit strategy without having to say that I was dropping out because I was scared. So in a way I am happy that I am injured because I don’t need to face those scary runs and don’t run the risk of finding out that I’m not up to the job.

Now I had figured out what I was thinking the question came “how can I make a rational decision on whether my foot is better if it’s not hurting me right now?”. Again Alan helped me get my head straight and we came up with a plan to help me make an informed decision. I would go for a short run the following day (wednesday) and see how it feels. If all is OK I go a little longer on Friday and then ramp up my mileage to hopefully hit around 10 miles by the end of the following week.

As planned I headed out for my 15 minute run the following morning. My foot started aching after about a quarter mile, but it wasn’t too bad so I carried on. During those 15 minutes I managed to find just about every ache in my body in turn, achilles, knees, hips, even my shoulders! But they all went away again. After the run I didn’t get that sharp pain that I had previously when taking my shoes off either. So far so good.

But over the next 2 days it went downhill again, without doing any more exercise on it. Now on Friday my foot is aching just sitting still and I have pain on walking again. I guess I wasn’t ready for a whole 15 minutes of running.

So, I am going to take it easy for a while and let my foot heal. I don’t know how long “a while” is, so when it feels ready I’m going to try more short test runs. I don’t know whether that will be in time for me to train for and run a marathon, I’ll need to decide that when it feels good again. I am disappointed that I may not be able to follow through on a big goal that I had set myself and a little embarrassed that I’ve had to do it in public. But hopefully my struggles will be something someone reading this can identify with. We all go through this at some point.

I’m going to take a break from marathon blogging as well until I have something more to report on. I will instead channel my efforts into other topics as I see fit.

Keep on running, I’m thinking of you!

Get Real! - Randi's Blog

After reading Alan’s thoughts on the need to train smarter AND harder, and reflecting on the overwhelming prevalence of fitness marketing ploys that promise “something for nothing” (i.e., footwear, diet pills, beverages, cleanses, etc), I began to think about the dangers of the other side - programs that advocate hard work, but often promise unrealistic results - “Get absolutely ripped in 90 days, guaranteed!” or “Lose up to 20 pounds in 30 days!” 

You’ve seen the advertisements. You may have even been impressed or intrigued; and rightfully so, these claims are mind-blowing. But are unrealistic expectations setting the average client up for failure, straight from the beginning?

Now, I’m not saying these programs don’t work. Gym memberships and personal training sessions can be expensive, so “home fitness” DVDs and the like can have their place, if used properly and approached with a level head. The danger starts, however, when exercise beginners fall for photo-shopped BEFORE/AFTER shots and jump head-first into exercise programs designed way out of their range of physical capabilities. These programs make outrageous claims because they themselves ARE outrageous and designed for/by the extremely fit. Absolutely ripped in 90 days, guaranteed? It takes six to eight weeks of consistent overload to build muscle, so if you’ve been sedentary for the past couple years, or you’re new to the world of exercise, this is just not going to happen.

The REAL guarantee is this - one of two things will happen with the average “client” following these programs: he/she will struggle with the routines for a few days, but will experience debilitating soreness and muscle fatigue that forces them to taper off, and he/she will soon forget exercise altogether, OR he/she will push through the program but become frustrated, and eventually give up, when the results they see do not match those they were promised.

If you’re new to exercise, have been out of practice for a few years, or are just unsure of your current fitness level, stay away from infomercials promising huge gains (or losses) in unrealistic time frames, and come visit The Wolf Studio for an exercise program designed especially for you (not you and the rest of the masses). When you have specific, realistic goals and a specific, realistic, expertly designed program, you WILL see results. But, you will also be expected to do the work. Ambitious fitness goals are great, but remember to consider the sacrifices you are willing to make and the time you are willing to commit.

More to come,
Randi

Training smarter AND harder!

There is a big move the the US footwear market towards footwear that gives you something for nothing. This sparked a conversation I had with a footwear designer that really got me thinking about the nature of training and a spin on a subject I have been talking about for may years. Like most people in the health and fitness world I talk about exercising smarter NOT harder, I like to think that I am one of the few that actually practices this because I am one of the few that has the skill to measure and evaluate the body before prescribing either strength or endurance exercise, everyone else is just guessing… But my realization was that what I actually want is for my clients to train smarter AND harder, let me elaborate:

By taking an extensive evaluation in terms of interview, postural and biomechanical testing and, if appropriate, blood lactate testing I can help the client avoid many pitfalls. I can help my clients do exercises that are the right exercises for their body, exercises that won’t injure them, exercises that will yield results. This evaluation takes time, and has taken many years of study all around the world. My years of study and years of experience working with the widest range of clients is that doing an evaluation is not enough. To get the results that most clients want the client usually needs to be working harder, that means more hours training usually at a higher intensity, and for endurance athletes many more hours training a lower intensity (trust me this is harder for the client).

To get real results clients need to be doing something nearly every day! I spoke to a noted triathlon coach who believes that doing 20 hours of training per week for an age-group Ironman athlete is a compromise and will only give mediocre results, he expects his athletes to work in the 40 hours per week arena (these are not full-time athletes, and most have normal jobs!). The combination of us doing the blood lactate testing for these athletes and the coaches training program ensure that we are definitely working smarter. The results that this particular coach gets are amazing, it is a matter of training both smarter AND harder.

The best way to improve running form is to run, if you want to get fitter and stronger you need to train hard. If it was as easy as putting on a slimming belt or wearing special weight loss shoes or weight loss clothing then we would all be slim and fit! Buying the latest bare foot running shoes is no substitute for hard work, you still need to put the hours of training in.

Until we find a magic pill, or running shoe, that gives you more willpower then those that train hardest and make the most sacrifices will see the best results. Yes you need to train smart but that alone is not enough, you need to train smarter AND harder.

Alan

No-mans land - Corina's Marathon Blog

Well, the jury is still out on my foot. I went to see Dr Chad on Monday and unfortunately didn’t get the definite diagnosis I was hoping for. I should know better really, I know how tough it is to diagnose anything even with the multi-million dollar scanners that we don’t have.

So, biomechnically my foot is moving well. But there is more pain than there should be over the area where I have hurt it. Movement has been getting better in the last week as I have managed not to aggravate it for a whole week, but it hurts more than it should when pressing on it. I’m afraid to run, or even jump up and down in case I hurt it again. The prognosis is that if I rest it and it heals up in the next week or so it was injury to the muscles. If it doesn’t and takes longer then I probably have a stress fracture in it. So, I am left in “wait and see” mode.

I don’t know where this leaves me for the marathon. I have already missed almost a month of training so I am way behind where I should be, plus I can’t jump back in to where I left off when I have healed, I need to start slowly and build up my fitness and the pounding on my foot. That puts me even further behind, and it is all assuming I can start training again in a week or so.

It has made me evaluate why I am wanting to do this marathon. If it was in order to receive that Tiffany’s finishers medal then I can walk the course. I know I could finish the 26.2 miles if I walk it. But that’s not why I want to do a marathon. I want to prove to myself that I am up to the challenge, that I can achieve it if I work hard and put the training in. To do that I actually need to run the race, not walk it, and I need to finish close to the 4 hours I had set my sights on. That goal is looking unlikely at the moment.

I’m having to ask myself some hard questions right now. Do I hold on to the goal of running my first marathon in October, knowing that I may set myself up for a bigger disappointment in a few weeks, or even in a few months if I don’t make it? Or do I draw a line under it now and move on to whatever my next goal will be. It’s a tough choice and it is not one I can make alone as it will affect Alan as much as it will me. For now, until I make a decision on my marathon future, I am wandering around in no-mans land.

My first week - by Randi Cantrell

It started a few weeks ago with a short e-mail forward from a friend.

“This couple came to my office and put on a seminar. They mentioned wanting an intern,” she said, “It is at least worth checking out their website!”
So I did. What I found was something worth much more than a passing glance, something strikingly different than the usual gyms, “bootcamps”, and “personal trainer” studios selling sweat and exercise to the masses.

A student at UCSD and currently studying for a personal trainer certification of my own, I’ve spent the last five or six weeks swimming in a flood of hand-written 3x5 flash cards and ambiguous charts and diagrams, reading about anatomy and exercise physiology, and attempting to magically pull a three-dimensional knowledge of the human body out of a two-dimensional explanation. To put it mildly, this wasn’t working. I could read all day long about the muscular system and which muscle was where and what it was responsible for, but that didn’t give me any understanding of how the body really works. Something was missing.

After Day One of my internship with The Wolf Studio, I knew I found that missing “something”.

Alan and Corina started me off with a full postural and biomechanical assessment so I could better understand the type of work that happens in the Studio. I’ve been working out in the big-name gym corporations since I was 11 or so, and I’ve worked with a number of different trainers over the past couple of years, but I have never experienced such a thorough assessment or received such detailed feedback. Simply put, among other things, Alan found that I have rounded shoulders (which explains a recent on-set of intermittent numbness/tingling in my right hand) and that I need to work on reactivating the muscles of my abdominal wall. I was then asked to design an exercise program for myself based on the results of my assessment. Alan wrote one as well, and the next day we compared the two. (I’m sure you can imagine how that went). Overall, I found that I need to be clear and confident about what I want out of myself and my body. “If your workouts are vague,” he said, “So are your results.” I realized that it doesn’t matter how many days I work out or how long my work outs are, if they don’t consist of the right exercises at the right intensity, and they lack a clear purpose, I’m just doing a whole lot of moving around without actually getting anywhere.

As a future personal trainer, this week came with an invaluable lesson for me. The human body is not “one size fits all” and as such, neither is its movement; every client I’ll someday encounter will come with his/her unique bodily quirks and idiosyncrasies brought on by muscle imbalances, injuries, and the like - my job will be to know how best to address, correct, and strengthen these “quirks” - how best to match the exercises that the client needs with the goals that they want to achieve. I couldn’t be more excited to keep learning.

More to come,
Randi

Ouch, my foot - Corina's Marathon Blog

I ended last week hopeful that I was healing up well and would be back on my feet (literally) in no time. I took the rest of the weekend off and went for my first run in a week and a half on Monday. My foot was aching a bit and the 5 miles felt a lot longer than they should have done, but it was OK.

The not OK came after the run when I took my shoes off. When I put my foot down I got sharp stabbing pains on every step. Not good!

I hobbled my way through the rest of the day, resting it as much as I could and still do my job. I had hoped it would be enough and after a night’s rest I would be OK again. Wrong again.

I tried running again the following morning. I could feel my foot hurting on every step and abandoned after just half a mile. Damn. When Alan got home he taped my foot for me and it felt better. That lasted all of a few hours. 

That evening we went to visit San Diego Lions AFL team at their training session. They are awesome. The sport is so dynamic and fantastic to watch. And the players, who were all of different standards, ages and fitness levels, were all working hard throughout the session. It was great to see.

At one point I ran across the pitch to help one of the players with some stretching. Half way across I felt my foot give way. The sharp pains were back and this time they didn’t go away.

Since then I have not managed to recover. The pain is there all the time. It is slightly better in shoes than barefoot, but walking is about the limit of what I can do.

I have an appointment on Monday with Dr Chad Wells, who is a chiropractor specializing in lower limb and running injuries. Hopefully he will be able to work his magic on me and I’ll be back to training in time to still be on track for the Marathon. Dr Chad will be working from our studio soon too, so we are very excited.

For now I am doing more resting and I’ll let you know how I am healing up next week. The long runs are already looking really daunting, having taken 2 weeks off, so I really hope that I will be back running soon before they get downright scary.

Not your usual weight lifting…

Over the last few weeks I have been talking to a lot of clients about the strength of their pelvic floors. The pelvic floor muscles are those that form the base of the pelvis and those muscles that are responsible for continence, sexual function and which keep your insides from dropping down through your pelvis.

I am most interested in the pelvic floor muscles for a few reasons. Firstly many clients suffer from some sort of incontinence at some time, whether it is peeing a little when they laugh or sneeze. Secondly the muscles of the pelvic floor are associated with the muscles of the deep abdominal wall and therefore are involved in core stability. Lastly nearly everyone would like to improve their sexual function. 

Breathing is always the first part of getting both the pelvic floor and the deep abdominal wall to function correctly. When you breathe out you should naturally contract your deep abdominal wall and pelvic floor, most people have this in reverse which is why they pee when they sneeze… we can reeducate this quite easily.

So how do you know that you are doing the exercises correctly? The old advice was to stop the flow of urine when peeing, this is ok once but more than that is a quick way to develop bad habits and urinary tract problems.

We use two devices within the studio to help ladies with their pelvic floor issues. The first is a pelvic floor educator that will help make sure that you are activating the right muscles, the second is weighted cones. Weighted cones are egg shaped cones containing weights that are held in place while you perform daily activity. You must contract the pelvic floor muscles to hold the cones in place and these are particularly useful for those ladies who have had multiple pregnancies.

Over the years we have successfully worked with numerous ladies overcome pelvic floor issues. Let us know if your would like to have a chat about incorporating some pelvic floor exercises into your current exercise regime.

Alan