by Dr. Cathy Fieseler
(Second in a series)
In the first installment, I reviewed the anatomy of the knee. Refer to Knee Anatomy: The Runner’s Guide as a resource for this Feature Article.
Pain in the front of the knee is a common complaint for runners and is often due to a condition known as patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). With this disorder, there is a gradual onset of pain while running; the pain is usually localized around the patella, but on occasion may be referred to the back of the knee (popliteal fossa). Swelling is not a common occurrence with this problem, though mild puffiness may occur. Pain occurs with flexion of the knee. Sitting for an extended period with the knees bent may cause pain and it takes a few steps for the knee to loosen up upon rising from a chair. Climbing and especially descending stairs and hills are painful.
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by Sandie Orlando
Friday morning at 7:00 a.m. seemed to be the best opportunity to fit in my LSD (long, slow, distance) training run, and I had gone to bed early to be well rested. Despite the freezing rain, I was committed to getting this done. Dressed in every reflective piece of gear I owned and equipped with a headlamp and flashing lights behind me, I headed out into the dark and wind and steady, icy rain.
Taking the sidewalks through the suburban side streets seemed to be the safest choice of routes, but the condition of the sidewalks quickly undermined the wisdom of that decision. It seemed that every few squares offered a new kind of treachery – changing from wet concrete to icy concrete to slush fields to skating rinks to swimming pools. It all looked the same in the dark, so my only option was to relax enough to let my joints become shock-absorbers, engage the core for balance and just keep going over – or through – whatever lay ahead.
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THE ATHLETE’S KITCHEN
Copyright: Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD December 2011
If you are a winter runner, you want to pay careful attention to your sports diet. Otherwise, lack of food and fluids can take the fun out of your outdoor activities. These tips can to help you fuel wisely for cold weather workouts.
Winter hydration
Cold blunts the thirst mechanism; you’ll feel less thirsty despite significant sweat loss and may not “think to drink.”
Winter runners (especially those at high altitude) need to consciously consume fluids to replace the water vapor that gets exhaled via breathing. When you breathe in cold dry air, your body warms and humidifies that air. As you exhale, you lose significant amounts of water. You can see this vapor (“steam”) when you breathe.
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The Athlete’s Kitchen
Copyright: Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD January 2012
What’s best to eat for recovery after a hard workout?
That’s what runners, triathletes, and body builders alike repeatedly ask. They read ads for commercial recovery foods that demand a 3 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein, tout the benefits of a proprietary formula, or emphasize immediate consumption the minute you stop exercising. While these ads offer an element of truth, consumers beware: engineered recovery foods are not more effective than standard foods. The purpose of this article is to educate you, a hungry runner, about how to choose an optimal recovery diet.
Which runners need to worry about a recovery diet?
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(Central Governor Theory)
Conventional wisdom holds that during running and racing, muscular fatigue is caused by the buildup of toxic bi-products and/or muscles becoming depleted of glycogen (running out of fuel). It becomes impossible for muscles to exert the force necessary to sustain the desired speed. Therefore, the runner must slow down or even cease running.
The problem with this theory is that it doesn’t explain what many of us commonly experience:
- An ability to sprint to the finish at the end of a distance race
- Running the last repeat of a tough track workout faster than the two preceding ones.
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Consider the following scenario: Your training schedule includes a weekly track or hill workout. One week, you hit your workout targets right on. You are brimming with confidence. The following week, the identical workout is awful with no apparent reason why. You feel bewildered and discouraged.
Knowing where you are in your menstrual cycle can provide valuable insight into your performance. Let’s examine why and how to use this knowledge to your training and racing advantage.
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Any active adult over the age of 40 can attest to requiring more recovery time from training and injury.
Progressive training causes muscles to break down (on a microscopic level), repair and grow stronger. As we age, muscle fibres decrease in number and shrink in size. New muscle fibres are generated at a slower rate than in a younger person, resulting in a slower buildup and strengthening of muscle in response to the demands of training or the incidence of an injury.
I know this fact of life from personal experience. When I was 44 years old and my daughter was 12, we both suffered mild ankle sprains…………on the very same day. As our sprains were of similar severity, we both underwent identical treatment programs, consisting of physiotherapy and strengthening and balance exercises. Ten days after spraining our ankles, she was hopping and I was hobbling! Nothing beats experiential learning for driving home a fact of life.
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by Rachel Le
I’ve always said that I wanted to run a marathon by the time I turned 25, but truthfully, I never believed it would happen. I’ve always been a “jogger”. I’d go out and run short distances, maybe 2-3 kilometres, but I never thought that I’d be able to run long distances. I don’t have the small lean build of distance runners and I never understood putting myself through that pain. Last year, things changed; I found my motivation!
In April 2010, my 26-year-old brother, Brad, was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Lymphoma, an aggressive form of blood cancer. Initially, he was in excruciating pain and lost a tremendous amount of weight. I almost didn’t recognize him: my big, healthy 6’3” brother weighed less than I did, couldn’t get out of bed on his own, and needed a walker to get to the bathroom. My family’s life was put on hold as we rallied around him. It’s hard to describe the 6 months that he went through high doses of chemotherapy. The emotions, the procedures, the setbacks, the generosity and support of others, and finally the waiting…waiting to see if “it” will come back. If you’ve ever been there, you understand. If you haven’t, I pray that you never do, that we first find a cure for this terrible disease called cancer.
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Hip pain is a very common problem for runners. Occasionally, there is a specific injury that causes the pain. Slipping on a slick surface or stepping in a hole may traumatize the hip. Overuse injuries are a much more frequent source of hip pain in runners. In order to understand hip pain, a brief anatomy lesson is in order.
The hip moves in 3-paired directions – forward (flexion) and backward (extension), inward (adduction) and outward (abduction), and internal and external rotation (rolling the leg in and out). Specific muscles are responsible for each of these movements. Certain muscles, such as the hamstrings and rectus femoris (one of the quadriceps) originate above the hip and attach below the knee. Because these muscles cross two joints, they are more susceptible to injury.
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Many runners have experienced a beautiful run that was brought to a sudden painful end by a side stitch. This sharp stabbing pain in the upper belly just underneath the rib cage, usually on the right side, begins without warning. With each step, the pain worsens, subsiding only when you stop running.
Until recently, the cause of what the scientific community call Exercise-Related Transient Abdominal Pain (i.e. the side stitch) was not clearly understood. Some of the hypotheses to explain this annoying run-killer included not waiting long enough after food or liquid intake before running, lack of oxygen to the diaphragm, spasms or cramps in abdominal muscles and the build up of abdominal gas.
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