Paul Petch

The hardest bit is getting back on my feet

The week after

After the weekends Crater Rim run in the Port Hills and what seemed to be a fairly “tender free zone” physically the day after….things soon turned to ouch walking down the stairs…..damn that 1400M of descent! You know that feeling when the quads are hurting- tender and generally  feeling unloved? Well, double that! Alongside the quads I’ve had amazingly tender arches and ankle muscles too- and in particular the left one. Things were so tender that I put my weekly Monday massage forward to midweek as the thought of anyone rubbing or poking my quads would have resulted in some damage- I’m sure! I’ve been stretching, Icing,”anti flaming” and looking after things though and thankfully by Wednesday I was feeling pretty good. The massage focused mostly on the feet too as the quads and calves were pretty good and as for the hammys/ glutes- they were also in good shape.

Overall I can’t complain really, as I’m plodding along alright and yesterday I was back “into it” & opted for a cruisy speed session in the gym of 7KM and some more deep stretching/ core stuff. Unlike most seasoned marathon/ ultra runners- I have to take it easy after such long runs to safe guard myself against injury and I’m now pretty comfortable with missing a session “here and there” as it means I get onto my feet quicker and the legs want more action. But man…my mind plays tricks with me when the day for the longer run of the week arrives and I’m just just not physically upto it. The first run after a big run is always the hardest I find……as I have to tell my body to not relax to much and “get up & back out there”. It’s a real head fuck actually- especially as at this stage of my training I’m peaking for a marathon distance at nearly 80KM under my feet last week….and don’t my legs and mind know it! It is a bizarre feeling that’s for sure….and I’m struggling mentally a bit….but I’m going to keep things on track. I have too.

Working out the tightness in my Hamstrings

This morning after the speed session yesterday, the right hamstrings/ glutes/ hip flexor are feeling super tight so I’ve been looking around for some other stretches to work it out. It’s really strange, as the weeks pass – the stretching becomes less effective. But I’m now used to the way that one “bit” is fixed up and then another muscle says….”wassssssup?!!” My list of daily stretches are growing……haha!  Anyway, this morning I discovered something called Somatic Stretching” that works on the principal that tense muscles are infact constricted or “firing” so need to be taught “another state” that is less constricted. This makes sense to me!

“Knowing all this, athletes and dancers attempt to stretch their hamstrings. “Attempt” is the correct word because stretching produces only limited and temporary effects, which is one reason why so many athletes (and dancers) suffer pulled hamstrings and knee injuries.

As anyone who has had someone stretch their hamstrings for them knows, forcible stretching is also usually a painful ordeal. In addition, stretching the hamstrings disrupts their natural coordination with the quadriceps muscles, which is why ones legs feel shaky after stretching the hamstrings.

Fortunately, there is a more effective way to manage hamstring tension than by stretching. To understand how it works, one must first recognize that hamstrings that need stretching are usually holding tension — that is, they are actively contracting. In that case, the person is holding them tense by habit, unconsciously. Oddly enough, if one tries to relax them, one is likely to find that one cannot; one may then assume that the muscles are completely relaxed and need stretching. You may not realize that those muscles are contracting “on automatic” due to postural habits stored in your central nervous system. Any attempt to stretch them simply re-triggers the impulse to re-contract them to restore the sense of what is “familiar”. That is why hamstrings (and other muscles) tighten up again so soon after stretching or massage. Better results come by changing the person’s “set-point” — their sense of what “relaxed” is.”

What ever the principle is- it seems to stretch the hamstrings VERY VERY well so I’m going to incorporate this method into my growing list of rituals. What’s next?………

Die! Orthotics. Die!

If you have visited my blog a few times, you will now be aware of my love hate relationship with orthotics – or “correctional inners” as some others may say. Anyway, after months of problems with them I’m now free of the little fuckers and loving it! I’m sure that at first “some support” was needed, but what’s wrong with recommending some good old fashioned exercises to help the arches raise back up? A sensible training plan? And less reliance on these stupid things when training? I’m not getting cynical in my older years- but holy scam batman! And furthermore- who do you know that has managed to get these stupid things to EVER become comfortable? BAH! If I was to pass on any advice from the mere 5 months that I’ve been running it would be to work towards being orthotic FREE from the onset and discuss this with your Physiotherapist and Podiatrist. If they don’t see this as an option- look elsewhere….oh….and most off the shelf sports supports will do the same trick for FAR less money ;) To ensure that I never put those fuckers back into my runners-  I cut my $600+ (yeah!) security blankets into pieces and introduced them to the “bird”.

I feel much better now :) and to tell you the truth, my legs and feet have never felt better too since swapping to SIDAS insoles. THE END!

Looking ahead….

I have 5 days off work and the weather is looking pretty damn good. This weekend is all about biking and a “bit of running” so I’m looking at a “long” road ride tomorrow on my tourer and then Tuesday I’m be back on my feet for a 2hr weekly run which will hopefully be in the Hills. As for the following weeks…..I’ll let you know when they arrive ;)

Happy running. Paul.

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Related posts:

1. First week of Kepler training DONE :)
2. Taking back control of my running
3. Nearly 50% of my target distance DONE
4. Another weekend- another run!
5. The aftermath of peaking…

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 2:26 pm and is filed under Runs & Walks and tagged with brooks, podiatrist, port hills, SIDAS insoles, stretching, Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.