Please help! I have injured my knee!

"Hi Gary Me again! My old knee injury (sprained or damage to the anterior cruciate ligament & medial collateral ligament) appears to have flared up so was wondering if you could recommend anything to help with the inflammation? and whether you think i should go back to physio?

It is pretty minor compared to what i experienced years ago & was at its worst on Monday but has calmed down a bit thanks to wearing a stocking all day/night. The inside of my knee seems a little swollen & it feels tight at the back to the point that it is hard to completely straighten or kneel. I could still run quite happily on Tuesday but after realising my knee was a bit swollen have decided to stop until its back to normal. In terms of the cause I am not sure as have not had a sprain as such. However, my knee did start to 'click' a lot more (& is clicking quite a bit now) when I started to do single leg extensions where my leg/knee is at a 90degree (sitting on a gym machine) & I lift a 5kg weight with toe slightly pointed out.

This exercise is part of the program that my trainer at the gym (Chek Practitioner with Diplomas in Rehabilitation & in Sports Medicine from Otago Uni) designed & apparently works to strengthen the inside of my knee. She also just started me on a new exercise with the swiss ball where my torso is on the ground but lifted up in the 'bridging' position & my calves are on the swiss ball & i have to lift one leg up at a time & hold it for 5 seconds so as to apparently strengthen my core, butt & hamstring. i have found this exercise really hard & pretty much strain the balancing leg so i can keep the lifted leg up in the air.

The trainer is convinced that these exercises could not have caused my knee to flare up unless i was incorrect in my technique & suggested it might be a hamstring insertion (whatever that is!)& thought i should try antiflam cream & seeing a physio in a few days if it had not self-corrected. but as she has overrided my old physio exercises & your advice to do 1/4 squats (she got me doing full squats with minimal weight)

I'm now confused as don't know if i can trust that she knows what she's talking about or who i should ask....except you! all i know is that my knee has been fine for the past 5 years & now its not!

Pretty gutted as i ran 9k for the first time in 5 1/2 years last week! any suggestions would be greatly appreciated."
"R"
Gary Moller comments:
"R", The swelling is telling you that your knee has been injured somehow and the swelling is your body's way of restricting movement.

Knowing your history of knee injury, it is possible that the damage to your knee ligaments previously and possibly to the knee cartilage makes the joint vulnerable to further damage.

It is possible that some of the exercises that you describe doing could have irritated the knee joint.

Your anterior cruciate prevents forwardsliding of the tibia on the femur, especially when the large quadriceps contract. The medial ligament prevents the knee from buckling inwards. Between all of them, the ligaments hold the knee joint snug and secure. The articular cartilages form a shock absorbing dish between the bones of the knee joint (tibia and the femur). It is possible that you damaged one or two of these cartilages when you sprained your ligaments.

When you are doing any kind of strengthening exercises using the big thigh muscles you should be weight bearing. This is because the knee bones are held firmly in place in the dished cartilages. If you do leg exercises such as leg extensions on a leg extension weight machine, the lower leg will be hanging free, gapping the joint and throwing stress on already damaged or stretched ligaments. The joint cartilage is vulnerable to further damage as the joint is gapped and twisted.

I would be very careful of the Swiss Ball bridging exercise that you describe because the knee could gap and twist. If you want to work the hamstring and butt, do standing dead-lifts with a barbell or dumbells; but make sure you get expert instruction in safe technique, lest you do your back in!

Stick to weight-bearing exercises such as squats and never go beyond right angle knee bends when under pressure. Deep knee bends may strain the ligaments and pinch the cartilages. The best machine in the gym for you for strengthening the quads is the incline leg press. Avoid the hack squat, including wall squats with a Swiss Ball behind your back. These throw excess strain on the front portions of the knee, including the undersides of the kneecaps. You don't need this.

Always get professional instruction by a weights expert and review your technique regularly.

Ice may help with the swelling but I am not a fan of it. Elevation, plus rhythmic exercise is best. Massage the knee, thigh and calf.

Exercise in warm water to manage swelling and to maintain strength, endurance and flexibility.

Take a glucosamine and chondroitin formulation and MSM and take generous doses for as long as there is pain and swelling. Use these in preference to pain killers and anti-inflammatories. Add 2,000mg of vitamin C per day. Copious amounts of fish and flax oil and especially Evening Primrose Oil have natural anti inflammatory qualities while not compromising healing. These natural supplements will assist healing. Continue normal doses for at least three months after the knee has settled.

Contact me if the knee does not settle significantly by next week.

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Stiff Big Toe (Hallux Rigidus) in active people - runners and other athletes

The most common site of arthritis in the foot is at the base of the big toe. This joint is called the metatarsophalangeal, or MTP joint. It's important because it has to bend every time you take a step. If the joint starts to stiffen, walking can become painful and difficult.

In the MTP joint, as in any joint, the ends of the bones are covered by a smooth articular cartilage. If wear-and-tear or injury damage the articular cartilage, the raw bone ends can rub together. A bone spur, or overgrowth, may develop on the top of the bone. This overgrowth can prevent the toe from bending as much as it needs to when you walk. The result is a stiff big toe, or hallux rigidus.

Hallux rigidus usually develops in adults between the ages of 30 and 60 years. No one knows why it appears in some people and not others. It may result from an injury to the toe that damages the articular cartilage or from differences in foot anatomy that increase stress on the joint.

Signs and symptoms

* Pain in the joint when you are active, especially as you push-off on the toes when you walk
* Swelling around the joint
* A bump, like a bunion or callus, that develops on the top of the foot
* Stiffness in the great toe and an inability to bend it up or down

Diagnosing the problem
If you find it difficult to bend your toe up and down or find that you are walking on the outside of your foot because of pain in the toe, see your doctor right away. Hallux rigidus is easier to treat when the condition is caught early. If you wait until you see a bony bump on the top of your foot, the bone spurs will have already developed and the condition will be more difficult to treat.

Your physician will examine your foot and look for evidence of bone spurs. He or she may move the toe around to see how much motion is possible without pain. X-rays will show the location and size of any bone spurs, as well as the degree of degeneration in the joint space and cartilage.

Nonoperative treatment options
Pain relievers and anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen may help reduce the swelling and ease the pain. Applying ice packs or taking contrast baths (described below) may also help reduce inflammation and control symptoms for a short period of time. But they aren't enough to stop the condition from progressing. Wearing a shoe with a large toe box will reduce the pressure on the toe, and you will probably have to give up wearing high heels. Your doctor may recommend that you get a stiff-soled shoe with a rocker or roller bottom design and possibly even a steel shank or metal brace in the sole. This type of shoe supports the foot when you walk and reduces the amount of bend in the big toe.

A contrast bath uses alternating cold and hot water to reduce inflammation. You'll need two buckets, one with water as cold as you can tolerate and the other with water as warm as you can tolerate. Immerse your foot in the cold water for 30 seconds, then immediately place it in the hot water for 30 seconds. Continue to alternate between cold and hot for five minutes, ending in the cold water. You can do contrast baths up to three times a day. However, be careful to avoid extreme temperatures in the water, especially if your feet aren't very sensitive to heat or cold.
Source: American Academy of Orthopaedics
(This article then goes on to describe the surgical options)
_____________________________
Gary Moller comments:
This article is pretty typical of the advice given for arthritic toe conditions. For the athlete, the advice is inadequate, does not get to the heart of the cause and does not offer lasting solutions.

Sore toe joints is a common complaint in active people. It can come about as the result of a joint sprain or dislocation, such as happens when kicking or when the foot is trampled by a sprigged boot. It can also happen as the result of excessive repetitive repetitive stepping back and forth such as when doing Tae-Bo fitness classes. Accidentally stubbing the toe on a piece of furniture is another painful cause.

Joints require movement to be healthy. Without movement, the joint tissues are poorly nourished and they may consequently degenerate, causing a painful arthritic condition. If there has been damage to joint ligaments, such from a dislocation, the scar repair that binds the healing joint shrinks over time. If this is not stretched and mobilised during the healing process, the joint may be bound painfully together. Scar tissue shrinks over time and must be stretched and softened to ensure there is the restoration of normal function.

Wearing shoes all the time can contribute to the development of a painful rigid toe by restricting the natural movements of the feet. Feet, including the toes, are designed to be flexed and extended all the time to be strong and healthy. Shoes are no good for the feet if worn all the time. Lack of natural movement lays the feet open to the development of arthritis.

If you hurt a toe
So long as it is not broken, immobilise it for no longer than about 2 days. Using the healthy toe on the other foot as your guide, gradually work within pain limits to restore normal movement over several days. This should include careful traction to gap the joints.

If you have developed a rigid arthritic toe
This is where the fun begins and where I come into action! Forget about the injections, ultrasound, ice and surgery: By far the most effective way to fix an arthritic toe in an athlete is manipulation without anaesthesia. This can be extremely painful for the affected person. One woman described the pain as being more intense than child birth!

The purpose of the manipulation is to gap the joint that is bound tightly together by scar and unhealthy fibrous tissue, to break up any restrictive adhesions and calcification and to get some circulation back into the joint tissues.

There is no need for pain relief or anti-inflammatories. It may be a good idea to take some glucosamine and chondroitin and MSM to aid the healing.

While this procedure is agonising, the result after just 3-4 sessions is dramatic pain relief and full resumption of normal activity. Over the years, the results have been 100%

Ongoing maintenance of recovery includes getting about daily barefoot. Running and walking on sand is best for keeping the feet strong and healthy.

If you have a problem with a stiff and painful toe, contact me directly.

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How much vitamin C should an athlete take to keep healthy?

It is the common experience of many athletes to finish an exhausting event like a marathon or iron man triathlon and feel surprisingly good; only to crash several days later going down with a virus an injury like tendonitis or feeling very depressed and tired or all of the latter. This may be fully or partially due to the delayed effects of the extreme oxidative stress suffered during the exhausting exercise (This can be either from competition or heavy training). In many cases, such as multiday events there is the added stress of sleep deprivation which hammers one's immune system.

"A practical way to reason is that, if a person carrying out heavy exercise feels that he or she has colds too often, he or she could (should?) try vitamin C.

The doses have been about 0.5 to 2 grams per day in the controlled trials and that kind of doses are safe for ordinary people (and cheap). In the US nutritional recommendations they consider that safe range goes to some 2 g/day. That is a conservative limit in my opinion, but with the current knowledge, I do not think it makes much sense to use substantially larger doses even though I consider them safe.

If we assume that the oxidative stress caused by the marathon would b protected against by higher vitamin C levels in the body, I think that the time scale would be initiation a few days before and continuing a few days after the marathon (one or two times per day I would think)". Harri

(Excerpt from correspondence between Gary Moller and Harri Hemilä, MD, PhD,Department of Public Health,University of Helsinki, Finland. Dr Hemilä is one of the world's leading researchers into the benefits or otherwide of substances like vitamin C and vitamin E).

Dr Hemilä's impressive work in this area makes fascinating reading. Here is an E-pub that summarises some of his work and contains links to substantive work by him and others on this matter.

With what we know about free radicals and how they are generated during exhasting or intense exercise, it would make good sense to anticipate excessive oxidative stress to your body and take preventive measures, if you are doing heavy training or have an exhausting competition coming up. This migh also apply to work and personal situations that may be emotionally as well as physically exhausting.

Using Dr Hemilä's advice as our guide, here is my guidance:

• If you are doing exhausting training take 1-2,000mg of vitamin C per day
• If you have a history of frequent colds, take towards the upper level (2,000mg)
• Take 2,000mg per day over the 2 days before an exhausting competition and for 2 days afterwards
• If you are taking Wagner Ester C, then you could reduce these guidelines to 50% and you will probably get the same protection or still better.
• Regardless of vitamin C supplementation, take a daily Super Smoothie that has red berries and whey protein added and eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Go to sleep before 11pm every night and be out of bed by 7am
• Get plenty of sunlight on your body to boost your vitamin D levels. Get a blood test of your levels.
• An athlete requires more minerals and B group vitamins than most
• Other antioxidant food extracts like high potency garlic extracts could be added to the diet
  
• Have recovery days within your training schedule and take 3-5 days rest after an exhausting competition like a marathon.

I will be posting some guidelines about use of vitamin E which is currently a confused and controversial matter.
Your vitamin C needs can be met by purchasing from http://www.myotec.co.nz/

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Advice sought about post-exercise muscle cramp

"I enjoy hillwalking and a few months ago did the most arduous walk yet. Next day my thighs were tight for a day and next day fine.

However on this second day a knot started in my right calf and progressed to almost crippling status and remained for 3-4 weeks before suddenly disapearing. Whilst there I took anti inflam , asprin and ibufrofen gels without much relief.

I went on almost as hard a walk 3 weeks ago and although filled with trepidation, nothing untoward occurred. I was on holiday this week and played a round of golf and carried my bag. Now 2 days later the cramp has re-ocurred.
Help? Whats going on?"Gary Moller comments:
This 41 year old male appears to be in reasonable shape; but definitely overdid things by doing a hike that appears to have been partially unplanned, turning into a 16 mile hike over and around a couple of mountain peaks. It is understandable that he suffered a quite severe calf strain/cramp that has not resolved.

It may never completely resolve unless dealt with properly.

Here are some observations and advice:

Should one take anti-inflammatories?
In most instances, the answer is "No!"This is because anti-inflammatories may interfere with the processes that lay down healthy collagen scar tissue. If this process is interfered with, the resultant healing may be weak and prone to further injury. Inflammation is healthy: it is the body's mechanism for bringing blood, nutrients and other resources to the injury site. It makes no sense to suppress this mechanism with drugs. These drugs can also interfere with digestion and therefore your nutritional status. While it may have the injured limb back in action sooner (this is questionable anyway) this may be a fool's gain.

The only "anti-inflammatories" that might help are natural ones. Kordel's MSM is one as are Omega oils like fish oil, flaxseed oil and olive oil. Evening Primrose oil is very beneficial. These enhance the healing process rather than interfere with them.

Re-mineralise the body
I doubt there is a 40+ year old male or female who leads an active and stressful life that is not deficient in minerals, principally magnesium. Exhausting exercise chews through magnesium and may result in disabling muscle cramps and failure to recover. In conjunction with the minerals is the need for rich supplies of the B group of vitamins.

So, my advice is to top up with a magnesium supplement and a B group supplement. You can also add a lengthy soak in an Epsom Salts bath which relaxes the muscles while supplying sulphur and magnesium through the skin.

Minerals can be obtained from a bone broth that is consumed daily and this is additional to a course of magnesium supplementation.

Take the guessswork out of supplementation and improve your health by ordering a hair tissue mineral analysis. Although $225 it is well worth the cost.

Massage the injured limb
It is highly likely, if not inevitable that there are still painful knots within the calf muscle that was injured. The uninjured limb may be similarly affected but to a lesser degree. As long as these knots remain there will be ongoing pain and limitations on ability to exert oneself. The risk of further injury is great and rest alone is never the solution. Deep tissue massage is the solution but only commence this 2-3 weeks after the dietary measures have had time to kick in.

Deep tissue massage causes damage to the unhealthy tissue that forms the knot within the muscle. The damage is in carefully controlled doses, stimulating the body's natural healing processes to lay down new healthy tissue to replace that unhealthy tissue. It is painful but highly effective - but only if your nutritional status is healthy.

Deep tissue massage the calf muscle to break down and soften any hard knots and injury-prone spots within the body of the calf. This requires about 30 days to have a lasting effect done every 3-4 days. Get this done by an experienced therapist. If in Wellington I can do this for you.

Do a steady buildup in fitness next time
Recovery includes a steady increase in fitness over about three months and then maintaining a high level of fitness indefinitely through consistent weekly exercise and good nutrition.

Think specificity: If your most challenging past time is hiking mountains, even if only a couple of times per year, then the bulk of your weekly fitness training should be geared towards preparing for these hikes. That means getting outside and doing a lot of walking over tracks and trails. Training in a gym on a treadmill, elliptical and lifting weights are beneficial; but should not be the principal fitness training for hiking. Hiking each week is best.

Read more!

athlete, runner ultra marathon burnout advice

"Gary,
I am 48 y/o and have been suffering from some form of chronic exhaustion the past 6 years. I've had every medical and mental test known to man but nothing shows up defective, and the only diagnosis I've received is ME/CFS.

Just prior to this all starting I was running ultras and my last race put me in the emerg ward, blood work showed me void of electrolytes, although I was eating and drinking lots. It felt like my body was not going through a recovery cycle but I plodded through the race and went straight to the food table afterwards, but felt like it was just sitting in my belly, then I started to cramp everywhere, then I threw everything up. I made it home and drank more Gatorade and lay in bed feeling like I was literally going to die, then finally dialed 911. What a trip!?!?!

This was after a tough year of training, did not feel like my normal self, so not sure this incident was the beginning of the problem or the result of a poor training year. I started tapering down my training but soon realized I was suffering from exhaustion before I even started, recovery was non-existent. "

................"

G

_______________________________

Gary Moller comments:

"G" goes on to detail the longterm health consequences that we might discuss in a later article; but let's start with a general discussion about training and nutrition for ultra distance running.

Recover!

Preparing for and running ultra marathons is all about recovery: recovery following training sessions and recovery after an event.

An ultra distance runner needs only to do three long runs per week and plenty of shorter ones in between including cross training like aqua-jogging. Of those three long runs only one should be of three hours or longer.

Training should go in peaks and troughs over about a 4-6 week training cycle. Each cycle finishing with the longest run of the cycle such as a 4-5 hour pod before having a lazy rest week before doing another build up.

Watch the video here about Lorraine's advice about recovery. For every mile raced, you should schedule a day of recovery. That means 50 days of relative rest if you ran a 50 miler. The video deals with this in more detail.


Mineralise!

Ignore the claims of commercial electrolyte replacement drink, carbo shots and so on - they are totally inadequate for replacing the minerals lost during exercise. Minerals are lost even when not sweating. They are lost as waste products of muscle and other tissue damage and the high metabolism. All that these drinks and gels do is rot your teeth and set you up for early onset diabetes.

The usual refined carbohydrate diet that is promoted to endurance athletes is quite devoid of minerals, let alone the fat soluble vitamins (D,A,E,K). These dietary practices are a recipe for disaster! And the consequences can continue for many years later including the development of seemingly unrelated medical conditions.

The solution is daily consumption of a cup or two of my bone broth recipe. This is the distance runner's best dietary source of minerals as well as providing a rich supply of collagen and protein for repair and recovery.

Protect your Joints
There are plenty of examples of ultra distance runners who have worn their joints to the bone. Some have required joint replacement decades before time.

When training running huge mileage there should be measures to aid the joints with repair. That means taking a joint food formulation daily along with the mineral rich bone broth. Go here for product details and watch this video if you are wondering which one is the best for you.

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A brief chat with Lorraine Moller

By Peter Gambaccini

"Few runners enjoyed the range of success or career longevity that Lorraine Moller attained during her career. When she started running barefoot as a teenager in New Zealand in the early 1970s, women were only allowed to run races up to ... "

Please click on the linked title to go to the Runner's World article.

Photo: Please take note of Mum's vegetable garden in the background

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Link

Video demonstration about how to strengthen weak and pronating feet

This video demonstration shows how to strengthen the tibialis muscles to give you a strong and arches of the feet that are up to the punishement of running sports. This video should be viewed along with careful study of the e-publication: "Correcting Weak and Pronating Feet".

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How one long distance runner found his way

Kevin writes:
Went for a 3hr easy run today, and I feel good.

I began running seven years ago, with a history of hunting, tramping, and working out doors, I thought I would be fit enough to adjust. I remember watching runners doing the Kepler Challenge, and I felt I was getting to old to start at the bottom, so I set my sites high, and decided to do the Kepler the following year. Six months out from race day, I put on my old sneakers, and at a steady pace went for my first run, I arrived back home with blisters on my feet, and for the next week I could hardly walk. After I recovered I bought myself a pair of running shoes, and set off again with my own training programme, throughout that six months, I had lots of injuries, groin, shin splints, twisted ankles, sore muscles, you name it. On race day I made it around, but only just, and I kept saying repeatedly, I would never do this again. But after I learned to walk again, and my body got back to normal, and being a slow learner, I thought I would have another go.

Looking on the net for some sort of training program, I decided on a seven-day on, and two days off, which I ended up with more injuries, frustration, and stress. I did four more Keplers, and then I took a year off, to let my body heal completely. While looking up the Rotorua marathon on the net, I came across Gary’s training programme, and this is where things started to change for me. I rang Gary, and he put me on to some supplements, and we talked about a training program, which involved three long runs and one short fast run per week, it has made a big difference, I used to think recovery was a good nights sleep, now I only run every other day, I feel so much fresher, and I haven't had any injuries. It is much more enjoyable.

I would say to anyone who is thinking of taking up any sport, or just wants to feel better, give Gary a call, don’t be like me, and do it the hard way, start off right. Thank you so much Lorraine, for taking the time to answer my questions, you have been a big help, I shall change my ways and heed your advise, It has been so neat to have two professionals to work with. Thank you.

Here are our video presentations to Kevin's most recent queries.

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Link

Training Advice for running the Kepler Challenge

Hi Gary,
Did the Rotorua Marathon in 3hr 4min 20s just missing out on a sub 3hr, maybe next year. Have a couple of questions for you, if thats ok thanks.



1. My next race will be the Kepler Challenge in early december, which is 60km, how long should I rest before starting trainning?

2. If I do one long run a week, would that maintain my fitness level?

3. Is there anything else I should do for this longer distance, compeard to a marathon?

4.How much fitness would I lose if I took a month off, and how long would it take to regain, at my age 52.

Thanks for any information you can supply. Regards Kevin.

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An interview with Olympian, Lorraine Moller, about her autobiography

An interview with multiple Olympian and marathon bronze medal winner, Lorraine Moller, about her autobiography which is being published in October 2007

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Buttock pain caused while training for and running a marathon

XXXX told me to send you an email to ask if you could possibly let me know any stretches etc that I can do to remedy an area that is sore. The position of it is on the right side of the body below the hip bone and a hand width towards the buttock. I have recently completed the Rotorua Marathon and it hasnt stopped hurting yet. It doesnt hurt all the time, just in certain positions or twists of the body. I read your "Training for a Marathon" guide and I think it came on when I was training in the country and running on the side of the road (bad camber). I do have a weak core (ie because of 3 births), use orthotics and have tight butt muscles (prev unstretched). I think my diet is ok. I would really appreciate your advise.
Many thanks, Caroline
________________________________________
Gary Moller comments:
Caroline, the pain you describe is most likely due to spam of muscles deep in the buttock. It is probably the piriformis that is most affected (But let's not get carried away with the fancy names - it is still just a pain in the butt!). This is probably the most common chronic injury issue that runners ask me about.

Fixing the problem is a three-pronged approach of stretching, nutrition and massage. While working on your core strength is worth doing, it is unlikely to be of direct benefit (As an aside, I think core strength is an over-rated thing that serves mostly to keep a lot of fitness instructors employed teaching and supervising an ever-increasing array of complex exercises).

Exercises
Caroline, you need to get my book on Back Pain (www.myotec.co.nz ) and to do the hip and low back exercises with emphasis on the exercises that you will find on pages 59, 65, 70, 72, 95 and 96. Exercise 72 is the most important and you may find that this really hits the painful spot of the butt muscle. Hold each stretch for several seconds at about the point of mild discomfort, relaxing the body. Release the stretch a little for a second or two and then reapply the stretch and repeat the cycle several times, swapping now and then between legs. One good set of stretching per day is more than sufficient.



Nutrition
You can just about guarantee that you are low in various essential minerals, including calcium and magnesium. It does no harm and probably does much good to do a course of mineral supplementation because one of the symptoms of mineral depletion is muscle pain and spasm. I recommend either a course of Nutra-Lifer Calcium Complete or, better still, a course of Floradix Calcium-Magnesium formula. While Floradix is more expensive, its quality and bioavailability is unsurpassed. You should also take a vitamin D supplement, like Red SEal Cod Liver oil, or Thompson's Vitamin D capsules, through winter because low vitamin D prevents proper use of minerals by your cells.(All available through www.myotec.co.nz ).

Massage
I strongly recommend a course of massage of the affected muscles. A good massage therapist will locate the tender and knotted parts and progressively massage them and the surrounding areas to break the spasm, soften up the knotts and encourage circulation through the affected areas. This can be quite painful and takes about an hour per session and must be repeated several times every fourth day. The first few sessions may leave you sore and tired over the next few days. Done right, along with the nutrition and stretching, you should notice a steady improvement by way of less pain and better function from about the third session onwards. By about 21 days, you should be back to striding freely. I provide this massage service here in Wellington.

Let us know how you get on Caroline.

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How to train for three half marathons and one marathon per year

Dear Gary
I have just completed my 7th Rotorua Marathon and would like some training suggestions.

I am 65 years old and run 3 ½ marathons and 1 marathon each year – the ½ ‘s to keep me fit for the Rotorua Marathon.

I have heard people say that they only do 1 long run per week but my training schedule says 2 long runs per week (I have attached my marathon and ½ marathon training schedules). Do you think that I may be over-training? You will see from the schedules that I run in km’s not “time” as I usually run between 7 and 7 ½ min km and if I run by time I do not run enough km.

I would also like some advice on the time between my runs. I run the Cathay Pacific ½ in February each year, then the Rotorua full in April/May, the Taupo ½ in August (training starts now) and the Auckland ½ in October/November. Most of these training schedules overlap each other and I was wondering if after finishing 1 race, I should go right back to the beginning of the training for the next race? If not, what do I do until it is time to start full training again?I have heard that after one race you should start where you finished off the last – is that correct? I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards Carol
_______________________
Gary Moller comments:
Carol, I think you are right to be doing one long run per week and one shorter long run as well. Just one long run per week increases the possibility that this single run will be too long and exhausting and compromise your final potential fitness.

I do not like rigid schedules. Have a basic structure to your week, month and year and run according to how you feel. Every run should be different over varying terrain and courses. Run by time and how you feel rather than rigid distance. So, this Sunday you might run for about 2 hours over trails. Next week you might do 2.5hrs around the flat coastal road. If you find yourself in a running rut - get out of it. Run free!

You could even add a 3rd long run during the endurance buildup of each training phase. Other than one fast short run of about 5km, you could cut out all the other runs to ensure that you recover sufficiently between training sessions. With age your need for longer recovery between workouts and exhausting races increases, so ensure there is adequate recovery for your stage in life.

Following an exhausting marathon, it pays to have a complete rest with only gentle exercise and stretches and concentrate on a full recovery before resuming a futher buildup over the best part of 3 months to another peak, starting at a level well below where you finished the previous buildup. If the half marathon is not too physically wasting, you do not have to go right back to scratch, instead starting back a little below where you peaked with a further 8 week buildup to your next event.

As you get older, speed training is more important - not less. Rather than just doing 1/2 and full marathons which are a grind on joints and muscles and slow you down, why not go run cross country and 5km road races most weekends? Do them for fun - run some hard and others easy depending on how you feel on the day. Enter Masters Games that are held around the country in places like Hamilton, Wanganui and Dunedin and world-wide and do the 400m and 800m. these are great social occasions and the short events exhilarate without causing excessive wear and tear on the body. These short races will give you the pace and strength to run your longer marathons and half marathons faster and more efficiently and with less distress.

Take a look at my Super Smoothie Recipe and have these daily to aid recovery. You would also be advised to take daily glucosamine and chondroitin to ensure that your joints can handle the daily wear and tear of the running that you are doing. You can get this from www.myotec.co.nz

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Walking a marathon, rheumatoid arthritis and glucosamine

I would like to walk the Rotorua Marathon in 2008, and am trying to find some training advice. I notice that you have free on-line training for a marathon which just seems to be for runners, and I wonder if there is anything more specific for walkers.

I'm almost 62 and started walking when I gave up smoking some 6 years ago. At first I just did it to get fit, but then I started entering events - have done the Wellington Round the Bays a couple of times, and the Waitarere Great Forest walk most every year since 2002, initially just the 10 km event, but did my first half marathon in 2005. I've also done the Harbour Capital half marathon, and generally I've completed in under 3 hours, fastest one was around 2hr 53 min.

I had a bit of a set back towards the end of 2006 when I developed rheumatoid arthritis, and for a while I thought I would never be able to walk any distances again. However, it is now under control and I'm back out there again - did 10k Forest Walk last week in 1 hr 33 min so think I'm getting better again. I hope to do the Harbour Capital half marathon distance in June, and then would like to start thinking about doing a full marathon, and especially the Rotorua Marathon in April.

I don't belong to a club, and have used the training schedule on the Harbour Capital web site to prepare myself for doing the half marathons. However, I think I probably need a bit more help with training for a marathon, not just the schedule, but also some ideas about nutrition, and any tips that might help, both in building up fitness and during the event.

If you don't have specific training advice for walkers I wonder if you can point me in the direction of where I might find some.

....................... At the moment I'm taking methotrexate - 7 x 2.5mg tablets once a week, plus 1 folic acid 5mg tablet two day prior.



When my symptoms first started to appear, my doctor gave me synflex and referred me to the Rheumatology clinic at XXXXX. After quite a wait to get an appointment the doctor I saw there gave me diclofenac and referred me for more test (xrays, bloodtests) before he would make a diagnosis. In January when my symptoms had worsened to the extent that I could hardly walk due to pain in my feet and knees, and was also having difficulty with my hands, I finally went private and saw ......... He diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis and put me on a course of prednizone plus the methotrexate (5 x 2.5mg). The prednizone was like a miracle and within a fairly short time, the pain was gone and I was almost functioning normally again. I finished the prednizone around the 6th March and am now just on the methotrexate. When I saw Dr XXXX again early in April he felt that my arthritis was not as well controlled as he would like and so increased the methotrexate.

As far as any other medication is concerned, I took glucosamine tablets, and Omega 3 Fish Oil for a while, stopped the Glucosamine when Dr XXXXX didn't support it as being of any value, but continued with the fish oil which he said research supports as being beneficial for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers. I sometimes take Codalgin if I've been doing a bit much and find my feet or hands are a bit sore.



Once the pain was more under control I started back walking again, just taking it fairly easy, and also doing a bit of bike riding, as I found this was less stressful on my feet and legs. However, I have gradually increased my walking and have done two 10 km walks now - the Waitarere Forest walk on 31 March (where I managed the 10 kms in 1 hr 33 mins), and the Moonshine Walk on 15 April (did this 10 km in 1 hr 26 mins). I try and walk two or three times a week, using some of the training programes that I've found on the Harbour Capital Marathon web site, and am thinking of building up my training again to do their 1/2 marathon in June.

Dr XXXX has said increasing my walking again is fine as long as I don't overdo it, and ease up if I get more pain at any time. And so, I'm still keen to try and do a full marathon, and this was what led me to contacting you after I found your training for runners, when I was looking for some infromation about walking training for walking on the Rotorua Marathon web site.

I still intend to go and see my GP Dr XXXXX to see about getting my vitamin D levels checked as you recommended, and will let you know the results of this.

Regards
"C"

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Sprained ankle while adventure racing

Hi Gary,
I sprained my ankle just over four weeks ago during an adventure race and continued to race for a further 2 hours to finish with my team.

I have not been able to run on the ankle but have been back on the bike quite a bit since then. The ankle is still a little swollen and is tender to walk on first thing in the morning. Does a sprained ankle require any specialist intervention or will it heal just as well without? I guess I am saying “should I get it looked at”

?

Also are there any good exercises that I can employ to aid recovery and strength?
Wayne

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What can be done about sore feet from new running shoes?

Dear Gary,
I have purchased a new pair of Addidas running shoes. They look and feel very nice but I am getting very painful soles when I run. It is agonising. Please help!
"R"
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Gary Moller comments:
Dear "R", I know all about the distressing discomfort that you describe. I purchased a new top of the line Nike shoes a few weeks ago and suffered the same painful problem during my first run in them. The culprits were the inner soles that came in the shoes and the problem was solved in a few moments.

Picture: Rip out the stock inner soles and replace with Formthotics.

The problem you describe is very, very common and is most likely due to local ischaemia. Now, don't worry about the big word: Ischaemia means lack of blood to an area causing burning pain, cramps and sometimes much worse.

When you run, circulation of life-giving blood is enhanced by the "muscle-pump": Each time a muscle contracts, stale blood is forced out and back to the heart, thus augmenting the work of the heart. When the muscles relax fresh oxygenated blood flows into the soft belly of the muscle - and so the process goes with with each cycle of contraction and relaxation.



Where the muscle pump effect is interfered with, such as when lifting and lowering weights without a breif break in muscle tension between lifts, the muscles will quickly tire and the ischaemic "burn" is felt by the lifter.

A similar pumping effect happens in the feet while running. Each time the foot strikes the pavement the blood engorging the sole of the foot is forced out and upwards by compression of the tissues. Fresh blood flows into the foot during the recovery phase of the running phase. Now, the runner gets into big trouble if the foot is firmly encased in a shoe that does not allow the foot to fully decompress during the recovery phase. Failure to decompress the foot does not allow fresh blood to flow into the bloodless foot. The consequences can be:

• Burning painful soles and feet
• Rapid tiring and failure of the foot muscles causing
• Loss of foot posture causing
• Loss of running form and efficiency causing
  
• Injury to the feet, lower legs, knees and even the hips and low back

Prevention centres around enabling the foot to decompress during the recovery phase of the running action:

• Carefully remove the inner soles of the shoes and replace with Formthotics Active and fit carefully according to the instructions that come with them (Available from www.myotec.co.nz)
  
• If the shoes are tight or low cut, such as for cycling, then use Forththotics Low Profile instead.
• Formthotics mould to the shape of your foot while allowing the foot to decompress - something that few sports innersoles allow to happen.
  
• Toss out your thick and juicy sports socks and replace them with a pair of thin cotton socks that do not encapsulte the feet like a pair of embalmed mummies.
• Lace the shoes so that they are loose over the forefoot while being firm about the upper foot and ankle area.
  

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Shin pain and only a week to go before the marathon!

Hi Gary
I have been training to do the Rotorua marathon and trying to stay with a
basic programme ie not an advanced runner.
Last Sunday I ran 26 Km and experienced pain in the shin area (both front
and rear) of my right leg. I have not run since but have had a leg massage
which eased the stiffness and reduced the pain.
I have done a fair amount of training and wish to do Rotorua, is there
anything you can suggest I do at this late stage to overcome this setback ?
Thanks for your help,
"A"
_______________________________________
Gary Moller comments:
No need to panic: Your body is telling you it is in need of a rest. You have done your training and it is time to freshen up for the marathon.

First of all, take as many days off running as is necessary to be able to run freely again. All runs from now must be close to home so that you can cut any short if there is an increase in calf pain. Be careful of long out and back courses because the law of nature dictates that you will seize up at the furthest and most remote point!

While the initial couple of jogs may be on grass, you should continue to run on pavement since the marathon is on pavement. All runs must be easy, not exhausting and cause no residual strain on the legs. The work has been done - ok!

Do an easy jog early in the am partly because you need to be used to being up and active in the morning in preparation for running the marathon. The early jog is also your opportunity to carefully test the leg before doing anything substantial later on in the day. If the leg is niggling, then rest up.

Always run tall. As one tires, the knees and hips bend and the body gets lower and lower to the ground. This is an enormous strain on the legs, including the calf and ankle areas.

Stretch the calves, thighs, hips and hammys. Do so once daily. Best in the evening after a log hot bath when you can take your time and be really thorough. Strong flexible hips allow better use of the big butt muscles when running, thus taking stress off the smaller calf muscles that are further from the heart and therefore less well supplied with blood.

Read these guides here:
Mobility Exercises
Running Stretches
Do not over stretch the calf muscles before the marathon start! Just do a few quick and gentle stretches and then use the first 10km to warm into the race.

Have another person thoroughly massage both legs once daily, concentrating on any tender spots. Use a quality massage cream, such as is available from the selection at www.myotec.co.nz. Any massage within 3 days of the marathon should be gentle.



Begin a course of magnesium and B vitamin supplementation and continue up to the day of the marathon. Magnesium and B vitamins help relax muscles and promote circulation through them and improves strength (If you are deficient). I would also add a glutamine supplement to your daily regime, including on race day. Glutamine is the muscle amino acid that is most damaged and depleted during extreme exercise like happened during your past big training run. Adequate glutamine intake may reduce muscle soreness, speed recovery and improve endurance. Fish oil with vitamin E may improve circulation. These are available from www.myotec.co.nz

When you are running Rotorua, bear in mind that it is a 42km circle and you could end up running the whole way on a shoulder camber which is a huge strain on the legs and even the lower back. Vary which side of the road you are on during the sections where the roadd is closed. The best place to run may be the middle of the road. When you are running on the side, pick the flattest spots, including the gravel edging, but be carefull of large stones and pot holes!

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Running a marathon: How to prevent chafing callouses and blisters

Chafing callouses and blisters are synonymous with the word “marathon”. Areas most affected are the soles of the feet, the sides and insides of the toes, back of the heel, inner thigh, groin, armpits and the nipples.

Any material that slides and rubs be it shoes, socks, shorts or a singlet will eventually rub the skin raw, as will any skin that rubs on skin. Wet skin or material; be that caused from sweating, plashing water on the body or from rain will accelerate the rate of damage.

Thickened hard skin, in the form of callouses is the body’s protective mechanism against repetitive rubbing and pressure and is typically seen on the side of the feet toes and back of the heels. Unfortunately, callouses are prone to further rubbing and consequent irritation because of their prominence relative to surrounding healthy skin.

Prevention of damage to skin consists of several measures, depending on the problem. These centre mainly about reducing rubbing and irritation by careful selection of clothing, socks and shoes, ensuring proper fitting of shoes and protecting vulnerable areas like the groin and the nipples.

• The first thing to do is to ensure that your running shoes are the correct size, both in length and width. Get your shoes properly fitted by the shoe store. Be aware that one foot may be larger than the other. Wear the type of sports socks that you intend to run in when you are selecting a new pair of shoes.
  
• Socks should be a good quality sports sock that wicks away excess moisture, provides some cushioning, is the right size and is resistant to bunching up and crinkling.
  
• Ensure that running shoes are flexible at the mid sole. If they are not, rubbing pressure will be placed on the heel regions of the feet.
  
• Do your main runs in your old shoes while you take a week or two to run in your new pair. Always have two or three different pairs of running shoes that you alternate now and then.
• Keep your old shoes that should still in good condition, in the car boot on race day just in case you misplace your new ones.
  
• Fit a pair of Formthotics Active inner soles (Available from www.myotec.co.nz). Formthotics Active soles are heat moulded to the shape of your foot. This can be one of the most effective measures you can take to prevent callouses and blisters because your foot is held snugly in the shoe, reducing slipping and sliding about.
  
• If you have weak feet, the feet will tend to collapse and spread inside the shoe as muscles tire. If you think this is happening, fit Formthotics Active inner soles and you must do the foot exercises described earlier in this book.
  
• If you have thick calloused skin, sand paper or very carefully cut off the excess thick dead skin. If you are going to do this, do so a month before the marathon and not the day before!
  
• Properly lace the shoes. The most important part of lacing is to ensure that the upper laces by the ankle are pulled firm, otherwise the foot may slide forwards when running downhill, slamming the toes into the front of the shoe. Furthermore, the shoe may lift at the heel when running uphill, rubbing the back of the heel. This can be a real problem if you purchased shoes that are of limited forefoot flexibility.
  
• If the forefoot is laced too tight, you may suffer numbness and burning of the sole of the foot, especially if you have thick sports socks, so take care with your lacing.
  
• When you run, consciously think of relaxing the toes as you push off. Some people have a bad habit of aggressively clawing the toes hard into the sole of the shoe.
  
• Use liberal petroleum jelly for underarms, groin and any other areas that may rub.
  
  
  
• I recommend Chafe-Ease which is more effective and much more pleasant than petroleum jelly. Chafe-Ease contains various beneficial ingredients including antiseptic tea tree oil (Chafe-Ease is available from www.myotec.co.nz).
  
• I would advise caution about applying any kind of lubricant to the feet that may inadvertently cause slippage within the shoes while running.
  
• If your inner thighs rub, experiment with thigh length lycra underwear that fits snugly against your groin and thigh with your usual running shorts on top. This causes fabric to rub on fabric, rather than fabric on skin or skin on skin.
  
• Wear a quality sports bra and make sure that you have put it to the test in training, especially to see if it chafes when damp.
  
• Tops and singlets should be of a soft fabric without pronounced seams. Tags and labels may be removed to prevent irritating rubbing.
  
• Avoid tops that are tight across the back of the neck. The armpit area should be low cut.
  
• For those wearing only singlets or shirts, band-aids placed over the nipples will save a lot of pain and even some blood!
  
• Trim your toenails regularly with the last trimming being no less than a week before the race.

Happy running folks!

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Is she too hot or too cold when she runs?

"Hi Gary
I have a question re body temperature changes when running. Occasionally when doing training runs I get to the 8km mark and my body goes cold (goose bumps/ I feel cold) - I don’t seem to be able to warm up after this. I thought initially it might be a drop in outside temperature (and maybe hypothermia) so made sure I hard thorlo socks for warmth and dri-fit shirts to keep moisture away – but after this happening on a couple of nice days I don’t think that’s the problem. Also I feel quite fatigued when it happens – although I finish the run its not a comfortable finish. Any advice appreciated.
Thanks".
"D"
_____________________________________
Gary Moller comments:

While you may feel that you are cold the possibility is that you are overheating and this gives symptoms similar to that of a fever – you shiver and get goose bumps and you certainly will feel wasted after. So, it may not be a simple case of getting cold and putting more clothes on might be the worst thing to do.
Hyperthermia, or overheating (As opposed to heat exhaustion), is easily initially mistaken for being shilled because the person may appear pale and the is skin damp with goose bumps. The person may have a headache and the skin hot to the touch by another person. Core body temperature may be 40c or higher.

The timing of suffering the symptoms at about 8km is about right for hyperthermia.



Confirming what is going on requires you to measure things carefully then we can analyze the data. Can I suggest that you get any kind of accurate body temperature thermometer and carry it with you when you run. Take a measure before, during and after, including when and if you suffer the chills. Once you have this information, please get back to me with the results.

If it is in fact hyperthermia, then we will discuss preventive and first aid measures in another article

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Great running videos page added to this website

With the assistance of running, hiking and health enthusiast, Wayne Clarke of Auckland, I have created a new page that has a growing collection of the best middle and long distance running races available on the net. We are trolling the internet searching for the best (With a slight Kiwi bias - of course!).

If you have video clip that you would like to submit for possisble inclusion, please let us know: gary@myotec.co.nz

Here is the direct link to the video page.

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Link

Driver deliberately hits jogger - Wellington Police

"The driver of a car that struck a jogger near Shelly Bay in Wellington this morning allegedly drove across the centre line to deliberately hit the woman.

Jolie Dickson was jogging in a southward direction along Massey Rd, in Maupuia, just north of the Shelly Bay Naval Base about 9.35am. She ran past a parked vehicle where she saw a man rifling through the boot of his car.

Shortly after, she was hit from behind by a vehicle, which threw her on to the grass on the side of the road. She stood up and made eye contact with the driver, recognising him as the same man she had seen earlier, before he drove off towards the Naval Base.

Constable Layton Sanders said the driver would have had to cross the road into the oncoming lane to collide with Ms Dickson. Ms Dickson was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

She had been wearing an iPod so did not hear the oncoming vehicle.

The man was described as Caucasian, in his mid to late 30s, with a fat build, and fat legs, dark hair cut straight across the fringe, wearing a T-shirt and black shorts. He was driving a silver sedan, possibly a Mazda, with a crack on the drivers' side of the front windscreen and damage to the front driver's side panel. "


_________________________________
Gary Moller comments:
Running or cycling on the road is hazardous to one's health at the best of times. Add nutters, inattentive drivers and angry and stressed people who will do harm at the slightest provocation and the life of the pedestrian and cyclist is definitely at risk. Part of staying safe is being acutely alert. Acute hearing is your first line of defense. Massey Rd is a winding coastal road and one is easily startled by speeding cars coming from behind or around corners. Its a lovely, quite isolated road to run or cycle; but you must be alert at all times.

The huge marketing push of iPods and other personal sound devices at runners and cyclists is causing a road safety problem.

It is the sound of a truck or car coming from behind that is your warning to move to the side and prepare for the blast of wind that follows. Hearing is your first warning of a person coming up from behind or of a no-gooder lurking in the bushes ready to pounce.

Just last month I was almost taken out when riding my bike by a female jogger who stepped out to cross the road right in front of me. She was wearing an iPod and was unable to hear my warning cries. Fortunately, I was able to stop just centimeters from her.

Stay Meerkat safe!

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Caffeine Helps in Sprints and Endurance Events

It has been established for more than 50 years that caffeine helps you exercise longer in events that require endurance. Recently researchers at Christ Church University in Canterbury, UK, showed that caffeine also helps you in much shorter events. Trained cyclists raced one kilometer (0.6 mile) on three times, in random order, after taking 5 mg of caffeine, taking a placebo, or taking nothing. Their speed, mean power and peak power were more than three percent higher after taking caffeine (Journal of Sports Sciences, November 2006).
Most athletes know that caffeine improves their performance. A recent study from Griffith University in Queensland, Australia shows that 90 percent of triathletes used a caffeinated substance immediately prior to or throughout a competition (International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, October 2006). They used cola drinks (78 percent), caffeinated gels (42 percent), coffee (37 percent), energy drinks (13 percent), and caffeine tablets (9 percent).
Caffeine increases endurance by preserving muscle sugar, causing your muscles to burn far more fat. When your muscles run out of their stored sugar (glycogen), they hurt and are difficult to coordinate. Caffeine causes your body to produce more adrenalin that moves fat from your fat stores into your bloodstream and causes your muscles to burn more of these fats. Caffeine also helps you move faster in shorter races because adrenalin makes you more alert and more aggressive. Source: Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine April 1, 2007
______________________________
Gary Moller comments:
Dr Mirkin, like most medical and physical conditioning experts has been sucked in by the over supply of caffeine industry-driven research to believe that caffeine is not just OK but good for athletes. What this "favourable" research fails to tell us is that the majority of test subjects are already caffeine addicts and all that the caffeine shots are doing is restoring a sense of "normality" to the subjects and their performance. Already feeling low due to the addiction, the subjects and the researchers perceive the consequent lift as a performance gain. Without the constant topping up with caffeine during the testing the subjects would feel like shit and perform accordingly, as one would of course expect when dealing with addiction.

One only needs to be an observer in the back offices of a typical law firm first thing in the morning to understand how important a few cups of brewed coffee are to get the legal wheels turning for the day! The same applies to the addicted athlete.



Caffeine addicts its users within days of use, causing a let-down in energy and mood if not used daily in increasing strength. For these people, the majority, the purpose of a shot of coffee is to restore normality, let alone give the user a more than normal boost to performance.

When I was in the 2006 Commonwealth Games village, I was struck by the gallons of strong coffee, including straight caffeine shots, being consumed by the athletes from the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada as compared to the black African and Caribbean athletes who consumed little if any other than tea. The lack of consumption of caffeine by the African athletes did not seem to disadvantage them in any way as they generally kicked the butts of all-comers in the sprint and endurance contests!

A caffeine free athlete who has trained properly over many years, like a Kenyan has, for example, will outperform the caffeinated athlete in terms of consistency and overall performance. Please read my article here about how to determine if you are addicted to caffeine and how to wean yourself off it.

Train your ability to efficiently metabolise fat. Read the chapter beginning page seven here to get the idea of how to do this.

Above all else, have faith your your training and your own ability. You have no need for artificial stimulants to get you through.

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Why does running ruin flexibility so much more than does cycling?

If you do a lot of distance running you may be aware that there is a progressive loss of flexibility of the running muscles. This is a progressive process that slowly reduces the long flowing stride of adolescent years to a painful looking middle-aged hobble that looks more akin to a tip-toe through the tulips than an awesome display of sustained athletic prowess. No matter how diligent one is with stretching, the battle to maintain flexibility seems to be a lost cause.

Although cycling is a highly repetitive and restrictive action, there is little consequent loss of flexibility (Mind you, some of the worst sporting posture one will ever see are found in cycling; but this is mostly due to muscle imbalances and sloppy habits).

The differences are due to the differing effects of concentric versus concentric exercise on the body.

All exercise is a combination of concentric and eccentric exercise. What varies is the content.

Concentric = shortening muscle by its own contraction

• Muscle relaxes while lengthening
• No tearing of muscle tissue – no muscle soreness
• Blood flow through the muscle is enhanced
• Risk of muscle and tendon injury is very low
• Recovery is 24-36 hours

Eccentric = contracted muscle is forcefully lengthened

• Blood flow is occluded
• Contracting muscle is forcefully lengthened
• Causes delayed onset muscle soreness
• Risk of muscle and tendon injury is high
• Recovery is 3-5 days

When the tissue that was damaged from eccentric exercise is repairing, fresh collagen is being laid down. The tendency is for this to cause the muscle to lose elasticity and length.

Cycling is close to 100% concentric exercise, as are sports like rowing and swimming. Running, on the other hand, is probably 50% eccentric and this rises to almost 100% when running downhill. Walking is much less eccentric in nature than running, so it is much safer to do.

Eccentric versus concentric explains why a cyclist can ride hard day after day without apparent ill effects and why swimmers can train for hours every day of the week. Because running is highly eccentric in nature the damage to tendons and muscles is high necessitating great care with ensuring adequate recovery between training sessions. This is why a good running programme seldom has you running hard or long on consecutive days.

How do we prevent this progressive loss of flexibility and painful knots (trigger points) in muscles and tendons?

How to maintain flexibility when running a lot

• Do not run hard on consecutive days - do other activities in between that take the muscles and joints through their full range of movement. This can be Yoga, dancing, gym work or simple calisthenics, for example
• Do not run hard out downhills, especially on hard pavements - this is just too damaging to the muscles and tendons
• Do running drills at least once a week in running training that take the muscles and joints through their full range of motion (Running goach, Arthur Lydiard, made good use of hill bounding and other drills to produce athletes with awesome strength and power)
• Stretch daily, preferably after a long hot bath and do so Yoga-style. Refer to these exercises. And these ones.
• Ensure your body has plenty of antioxidants, including vitamin C inside to soak up damaging free radicals that are produced by damaging eccentric exercise. Additional omega oil in the form of flax seed and fish oil may assist with prevention and repair, as will joint food formulas which are beneficial for all connective tissue of the body
• Take supplementary magnesium and B vitamins to assist with relaxing the muscles and nerves.
• Have a deep tissue massage of the running muscles up to three times per week, concentrating on softening any hard and painful knots

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Exercise and cancer - is too much exercise bad for you?

"She won the New York City Marathon from 1978-80, 1982-86 and 1988, the London Marathon twice (1983, 1986), was world marathon champion in 1983, a five-time world cross-country champion and won silver in the marathon at the 1984 Olympics.
So now Waitz has been diagnosed with cancer. Not too different than Lance Armstrong, one of the most talented endurance athletes of all time who came down with testicular cancer.
Exercise is absolutely necessary for high-level wellness, but if you exercise too much it is clearly harmful and cancer seems to be a possible adverse outcome. My guess is that one's antioxidant threshold is exceeded or micronutrients are consumed at a level that cannot be easily replaced. Either way, they both add up to a major problem."

Quoted from an article by Dr J Mercola in response to the news that runner, Grete Waitz, is undergoing treatment for an unspecified form of cancer.
_____________________________
Gary Moller comments:
While much disease is still "luck of the draw", there is still a lot that we can do to reduce controllable risk factors so that the odds of the draw are more in our favour. Too much exercise is not good for us. Having spent most of my life in sporting circles I have been well aware that exercise does not necessarily make one healthier.

Longterm studies such as the Framingham Study, show that moderate exercise improves life expectancy; whereas excessive exercise reduces it. Excessive, exhaustive exercise can deplete immune function and increase the risk of colds (This can be countered to some extent by taking additional antioxidants, principally vitamin C) Please refer to my earlier article about this.

The first defense against disease, including cancer, is a strong immune system that is bolstered by dietary antioxidants derived from foods such as berries and brightly coloured fruit and vegetables. Adequate vitamin D derived mostly from sunlight is essential for a robust immune system.

We need to reduce exposure to toxins such as environmental pollutants and numerous chemicals in products like cleaners; burned, stale and rancid foods, food additives and even excess alcohol and various medications. As sports people we should not ignore the cancer risks of anabolic steroid abuse which is popularised by high profile athletes and celebrities (Refer my article about Arnold Schwarzeneggar).

One of the best predictors of future ill-health is stress and that includes events like getting married, divorced, changing jobs, a promotion/demotion, travel and running a marathon. We sure can do a lot about exercise; but what about the people who overdo it and do so year after year?

As many doctors know, an obsessive-compulsive addiction to exercise is one of the most difficult sports medicine problems to deal with. There are numerous examples of compulsive exercisers who continue to exercise to excess, despite badly worn joints. A doctor's advice to "rest up" is seldom heeded. Refer to my earlier article about excessive exercise here. In such cases, a combination of referral to counselling services and being placed under the caring wing of a knowledgeable sports coach may be the best course of action.

While exercise is good for you, too much of a good thing is not. Maintaining good health is all about balance in life and moderation of all things good while minimising all things bad.

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Link

Feedback about chronic stitch problems

"I emailed quite a number of weeks ago about chronic "stitch" as a beginner runner. I have followed your advice and have been taking 400mg of Magnesium and a decent multi-vitamin every day. Just thought I'd pop in a follow up email as you encouraged.

Ive managed to find my "running style" finally and although I wouldnt go so far to say I run crouched over, I have found that running in a more controlled manner by tightening my gut muscles and belly breathing has really helped - I find Im restricting the movement of my stomach muscles and keeping my wobbly bits from wobbling ;o)

After completing a Triathlon in early March, I found a few muscles I didnt know I had and was getting the stitch just wondering around the shopping centre and put the cause down to strained muscles. I am working on strengthening my core muscles starting with 50 sit ups a day and working up every week - I can take some motivation from Oprah who does 300 a day ;o)

Im very pleased to report that I managed 7.5km last night - probably doesnt sound like a lot, but considering I could only manage 0.5km around Christmas, Im really happy with my progress. The next step is to get fitted into running shoes after suffering from sore feet after the last few runs. Still aiming for a half marathon in October.

Thank you very much for your help and advice - I am really enjoying your website."


__________________________________________
Gary Moller comments:
I doubt it very much if Oprah is consistent with her 300 situps/day! It may be a case of her doing a Donna Awatere, if you get my drift. 30 situps done properly each day is just fine.

As is usually the case, there is never a single solution to conditions like cramp and this is why single factor solutions, like a quinnine prescription, seldom provide lasting relief.

A good place to start with understanding core exercises is to read these articles.

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How do I determine how much and what to drink while training for a marathon?

Hi Gary, i"m a first timer doing the marathon (Rotorua) having trouble with the fluids, how much is too much, how much is too little? On my longer training days would a camel back be the answer as I run in the country, nowhere to get water on the way, my last long run [2hrs] came back feeling sick, light headed , not great, obviously not enough fluid, water or sports drink? your advice would be grateful.
Cheers Anon.
_______________________________
Gary Moller comments:
The first thing to do is to have a method of feedback to determine if, in fact you are getting dehydrated and to determine your needs.

Weigh yourself immediately before you run and immediately after. What you have lost in weight is water. So, if you lost a Kg then that equates to 1 liter of water. Drink 1 1/2 liters over the next hour or so to make it up. Weighing regularly before and after runs gives you an idea of how much you are losing on a typical run (depending on factors like, temperature, humidity and pace, of course!) and therefore how much to drink during a run.

Learn to listen to your body signals. The weighing will help you to become sensitive to your body. Thirst is very useful - as long as you know how to listen carefully and respond early. Most people have no idea how to listen and therefore must resort to rote formulas for fluid consumption which I detest.

If you are suffering nausea and light-headedness after a long run, it could be worthwhile to purchase a blood pressure and heart rate monitor and take regular readings to determine what is happening to heart rate and blood pressure before and after a run. If you do so, then write to me with the reults to assist interpretation. Read these giudelines here for a good explanation about blood pressure.

When we lived in Putaruru all of our long Sunday runs with our Dad were in the forests of Tokoroa and the Mamaku. It was 2-3 hours before breakfast with no fluids. While this was tough I can assure you that I am still alive and in excellent health! My kidneys are fine. It seems the body does adapt if given the right nudging and time. In my sister Lorraine's case, being able to run very fast for 2.5 hours in heat and humidity with little more than a cup of water along the way was essential for winning an Olympic marathon medal in stinking hot Barcelona.

However, getting deathly dehydrated is probably not necessary in training for most and drinking a liter or so of water along the way is a good idea especially if the runner is a heavy sweater and the conditions warm.

I am not keen on carrying water when running. The risk of leg injury is high enough as it is and adding a Kg or two more onto the legs is adding to that risk. It is better to plan the course so that there is a drink station, like a tap or bottle along the way. This could be done by doing a couple of laps of a course from where the car is parked, or planting a bottle of water at the 1/2 way mark before you commence the run.

I do not recommend using a sports drink or similar when training. Water is best. You are using your long runs to stress your body's energy reserves and swigging sweet liquid is not going to allow this to happen. The sports drinks should be reserved for the actual race - not in training. However; if you are going to be running at pace, then you must ensure that you can tolerate sweet electrolyte drinks. Practice drinking your sports drink during some of your short, fast runs and see if it stays down. I have found that water is best when running; whereas sports drinks are fine for sports like cycling where there is less problems with jiggling and jostling of the gut. I prefer to make my own using Balance Elite but any of the commercial powders are fine. I have even taken to adding a teaspoon of Balance Glutamine to the mix to assist stamina and recovery and it seems to work. Read my e-book about training for a marathon which has plenty of training information.

When mixing your drinks, err on the dilute side. If the weather is hot and humid, then you need more liquid and less of the sugary stuff. If it is cold and wet, then you need less water and more of the sugars. If you are running very fast, then you may only tolerate a little fluid in your gut which is why having a good tolerance of dehydration is important for elite runners; whereas when running very slow, or walking, you should have no trouble drinking and your main risk might be death from drinking too much.

During the marathon, there are more than enough drink stations by the organisers so there is no need to carry your own. Run light. Drink early and listen to your body signals and respond accordingly.

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Sunlight makes athletes stronger, faster and more precise

"If you are vitamin D deficient, the medical literature indicates that the right amount of vitamin D will make you faster, stronger, improve your balance and timing, etc. How much it will improve your athletic ability depends on how deficient you are to begin with. How good an athlete you will be depends on your innate ability, training, and dedication. However, peak athletic performance also depends upon the neuromuscular cells in your body and brain having unfettered access to the steroid hormone, activated vitamin D. In addition, how much activated vitamin D is available to your brain, muscle, and nerves depends on having ideal levels of vitamin D in your blood - about 50 ng/ml, to be precise". Quote from Dr John Cannell.

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Gary Moller comments:
To relate Dr Cannell's recommended levels to the usual NZ blood tests, here is the information you need.We have known for years that vitamin D deficiency in the elderly leads to muscle and bone weakness and poor cognitive performance that results in poor balance and stumbling, dementia and so on. It is therefore little surprise that boosting an athlete's vitamin D levels to optimum will bring about an imtprovement in strength, speed, agility, concentration and stamina. It also stands to reason that such athletes are more resistant to injury by having stronger bones and muscles.

To date, not a single sports person (Or anybody else for that matter) who has consulted me about a chronic health or injury problem has returned a blood test for vitamin D that is anywhere near optimum.

If you are in serious training and if you want to produce your best and most consistent performances then it makes such good sense to boost your vitamin D levels to optimum and then to keep it there year round. Here is one of the most important nutritional supplements and it is completely free!

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I am currently a sophomore in a US high school and on the brink of breaking the 5 minute mile barrier. To break the barrier and then some, my winter track coach, who is also the director of XXX Accademy in XXX, strongly reccomends weight training. My coach provided an 8 week program. My only question is, should I continue my hard track training while proceeding with the program simultaneously?

Photo: a young Peter Snell running at a meet in Wanganui and smashing a mile record
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Gary Moller comments:

Well, do you actually need more speed to break your 5 min barrier?
Run 200m as fast as you can and then multiply by 8. If the total time is less than 5 min then you have mostly an endurance issue and not a speed/strength one.

If you can already run 200m significantly faster than your one mile pace, then you can do all the core exercises in the gym you like, plus leg presses etc and you will go no faster over a mile as a result of all that extra effort.

Having said this, I am not averse to lifting weights and doing various gym drills - I do some myself most days because it is important to have a strong, supple and well-balanced body to run efficiently and to remain injury free. Read this here. However; the fact of the matter is the only way to get better at running is to get out and run - smartly of course.

Strength training can be effectively done by doing various running drills. These drills develop the muscles and reflexes that are specific to running.

One of the greatest losses in modern running is that athletes have forgotten how to do drills that develop strength, balance and posture that are specific to running.

Please refer to my earlier article on this topic

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Please help - I want to run a marathon!

"Dear Gary,
I am a 27 year old male who is currently living in XXX. I am desperate to run a marathon and have never done any excessive long distance running before. I find it hard to motivate myself to run, even though I am a keen sportsman. Last year I trained for a half marathon in XXX, however I got shin splints and could not attend. I was running around 12km a day when this happened. I am in a state of unrest as my fitness is poor and I am putting on weight. I eat rather healthy but tend to drink with mates on the weekend.

I was wondering if you could give me some motivational goals and techniques to encourage me to achieve my ultimate goal of a marathon. Would the Rotorua Marathon be out of the question and would I need to set a target for a future date?"
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Gary Moller responds:
First of all, it is far too late to prepare for this year's Rotorua Marathon but not too late to start focusing on 2008. Make that your long term goal.

I find that the best way to get really fit and hardened for running an event like a marathon is to commit to a whole variety of lesser events that are no more than about a month or two away. Right now New Zealand is awash with mountain runs, 5 and 10km fun and charity runs and even events like the Oxfam 24 hour 100km wlk/run. There are also duathlons that anybody can do and these are often held in exotic places. For example, I am doing the 10 km run section of the Mt Holdsworth mountain duathlon this weekend while a mate does the cycle sections.

Events that grab my imagination are now getting promoted on this website and in various e-pubs, so keep an eye out for these. You can also find events by going to the various sports websites that are listed to the left of this article.

Frequently entering these events keeps you focused and motivates like nothing nothing else. They are not so punishing as to leave you injured and otherwise overly wasted.

You do not need to train hard daily. I would never run 10km every day nowadays because the fatigue and injury risk are excessive. It is much better to do three longer, steady runs per week with relative rest in between and to do an extra session preferably in the form of a shortish race that does not completely waste you. Please read this training guide which has just been substantially updated.

Shin splints hint that you have been doing too much running too soon and probably without sufficient in the way of recovery days. You probably have pronating feet. Please read this e-pub and do the exercises diligently.

If you start doing this right now you will find that your fitness steadily improves and you will be excited and motivated by each event as it looms on the horizon

Perhaps you can interest your drinking buddies in entering a few adventure races!

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Question: Will speed training improve her 800m time?

Ponder this:
A talented sprinter turned 800m runner, her PB for 200m is just over 26 seconds.
Her PB for 800m is 2m 9s.
When in an 800m race, she has no "kick", being left behind by the winners over the last 150 or so metres of a race. Her usual finishing position is 3rd or 4th place.
Seeking a solution, her fahter and coach consulted a sprint expert so that they could learn more about speed drills and anaerobic work to improve her kick. Will this work for this talented 18 year old?

The answer is "No!" of course. Her problem is a stamina one - not a lack of speed or anaerobic capacity. In theory, she has more than enough speed to run way under 2 minutes for an 800m. Training to sprint 200m faster will do nothing to lower her 800m time. Concentrating too much on speed and anerobic training might even cause her to run slower.

Athletes like Peter Snell and John Walker were never the fastest sprinters in the fields, yet they both posessed the most stunning kicks over the last 200m of a race, be it 800m or 1500m. They had aerobic stamina, the oxygen uptakes honed from years of distance training and racing events like road and cross-country - as well as a good measure of speed training, of course. This stamina meant they were able to conserve their anaerobic reserves more than their speed-trained opponents. When it came to the winning sprint, they had more gas in reserve for firing their after-burners than anybody else. They consistently won.

Stamina is what wins races that are longer than about 4oom.

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Here's a mountain duathlon worth doing

If you are training up for an event like a marathon or just wanting to get really fit, a good strategy is to do a variety of challenging events that:

• Makes training varied and interesting,
• Gives you a really good incentive to get out and do the training,
• Makes life an exciting challenge,
• Gets you into the great outdoors and:
• If you get injured or fall ill the day before the big event of the season, all is not lost - you had a damn good time getting there!

Wairarapa Multisports Club in conjunction with the Masterton Tramping Club presents the 20th Annual Wairarapa Mountain Duathlon Sunday 4th March, 2007 10.00am Start from Clareville Showgrounds.



The race consists of a bike to the base of the mountain and then a steady 10km out and back run and then cycle to the finish. There is a short course option. Although I am pretty good on a bike, I am teaming up with a mate who is doing the cycling and I will concentrate on the run. Great fun, great training and great country-side!

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About core strength for endurance athletes

This article is going to get me off-side with the strength and conditioning experts; but here goes.... Much is heard nowadays about "core strength". It appears that just about every sporting injury has the lack of core strength as a root cause and it seems every exercise programme must include a complex series of "core exercises" that are so difficult to do that the ongoing services of a personal trainer are required to do them safely. In the context of endurance sports like running and cycling, I believe the need for core strength is over-promoted to the point where it is detrimental to athletic performance.

Photo: Light weight, wiry strength and no bulk are key determinants of who wins

While an endurance athlete needs strong abs and back muscles, there is definitely no need for a thick "core" of trunk muscles that do nothing to improve forward propulsion and serve only to add excess weight that is an added strain to the heart and the legs.

What makes a middle and long distance runner, swimmer or cyclist faster is time spent doing the actual activity - time spent in the gym lifting weights or teetering on large balls for longer than about 30 minutes three times a week probably does not contribute to athletic performance. If the athlete has the time and the energy to spend longer in the gym then he or she is probably not doing enough of their "core" activity such as running.

My previous business partner (He was a nationally ranked runner with a 4min 01s mile PB) in the gym business and I were constantly bemused by all the hours spent by aspiring athletes doing advanced Swiss Ball exercises. It was a pity there was not an Olympic event for Swiss Balls!

Sure: Strong, mobile joints and muscles about the hips are essential for running and strength is needed about the trunk to maintain posture and to balance and transfer pushing, pulling and torsional forces between the upper and lower limbs. But it comes down to how much strength and bulk is needed and how it is developed and maintained. The best way to develop core strength that is sport-specific is resistance forms of the competition one is training for - so in kayaking, that might involve drills towing a bucket or sack; a runner may do hill bounds; a cyclist might do hill climbs -stomping a big gear and a swimmer might use hand paddles.

I have put together a guide for core exercises to develop core strength and good posture - exercises you do not neeed a university Degree to do safely. These exercises should require no more than about 30 minutes in the gym 3 times a week, including warm-up time. Any longer and you might be doing too much and you should be outside doing some real training!

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I get restless legs and can’t sleep - Please help me!

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a horrible condition that is poorly understood and for which there are few medical treatments other than sedation and muscle relaxants. An athlete in training does not want these. The condition may also be associated with or confused with night cramps.

RLS is more common in older people and may be associated with poor circulation and poor nutrition and as a side effect of medications for other conditions like high blood pressure. Excessive caffeine, red wine and chocolate before bedtime might be factors. Symptoms include feeling like something is crawling about inside the legs, an uncontrollable urge to tense and straighten the legs and cramping feelings in the legs and feet. This can be intolerable and renders sleep next to impossible.

Little has been written about RLS in athletes despite it being quite common. In the case of athletes, RLS is probably the result of over training, over-indulgence in caffeine and nutritional deficiencies, especially magnesium and B vitamins depletion. Here are some suggestions that might help bring some relief:

• Do the bulk of your training early in the day, rather than late afternoon or evening so that recovery is well on the way before sleep.


• If you notice the symptoms abate during your recovery weeks you might be over-training. You may benefit from reducing the overall volume of training and doing a more graduated build up.


• Get off caffeine and other stimulants and avoid red wine and chocolate in the evening and any other foods or substances that you think might upset sleep. If you have been a habitual caffeine taker, it may take up to three weeks to get through the withdrawal symptoms, so you must be strong.


• Have your last big meal well before sleep so that you are not digesting a full stomach while trying to sleep.


• Do not eat heavily spiced meals, such as hot curry and chilli peppers in the evening.
  Try a course of magnesium, calcium and B group vitamins supplementation to reduce cramping. Take one of each of these supplements about an hour or less before bed. Take with a warm cup of milk.
  Have a Super Smoothie with whey protein. Add some creatine and take before and after exhausting exercise.


• A glutamine supplement in the evening might assist.


• Have a relaxing bath with Epsom salts and a gentle massage of the legs before going to bed.


• Sleep in a cool, dark room without excessive bedding so that you do not overheat the legs. The legs should always be several degrees cooler than your core temperature.

If symptoms persist, or if you want assistance with refining this advice to suit you, give me a call.

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Here's a couple of running events to challenge you!

If you have been following my advice about training for events like the Rotorua Marathon or the Karapoti Classic, you will know that I encourage you to enter various buildup events that keep you focussed on training and also to help develop that high-end performance that can only come through competition. Whether you are out to win, or just to finish, you will benefit enormously by entering other events that challenge mind and stamina during your preparations.

What better to enter than events that get you into really spectacular parts of New Zealand!

Well here are two events that are just ideal for the fitness fanatic and the timing could not be better: the Mt Lowry and Mt Lyford mountain runs. Go here right now to learn more, otherwise read on....

Mt Lowry overlooks Eastbourne and is 12.5km of scenic hills that will have you blowing. Mind you, you don't have to race these events: Plenty of people enter just to participate, walking the distance and soaking up the views and the atmosphere. The Mt Lowrie event is on 25th February, giving you just enough time to prepare. Here is the link to the Mt Lowry page

The Mt Lyford race, overlooking the Kaikouras, is a scenic and stamina blowout for sure. The main event is 17.5km with a 1282m climb; but there is the option of a 5km version and even one for th kids. That's on 11th March which means you have plenty of time to train up for it. Here is the link to the Mt Lyford race

I have just entered the Mt Lowry race and so has my partner, Alofa; although she does not know this yet. Hmmm - just a couple of weeks to get running fit - now that is a challenge!

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Is it iliotibial band syndrome - or is it Wobbly wheels syndrome?

"Hi Gary
I did my first marathon in July last year and had very tight ITB bands afterwards. I had a few weeks off then starting running again. When I did my first few runs I developed a shooting pain around my knee. I have been for physio treatment on and off and had a big break from running but I’ve just tried starting back again and the knee pain has come back. It is where my ITB band joins my knee on the outside of my left leg. Do you have any suggestions/advice on how to overcome this injury so I can get back to running again.

Photo: Here is an example of useless therapy in action - Get the cart after the horse please: This patient needs to improve nutritional status first before any kind of physical therapy can be expected to give lasting benefit.

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Gary Moller comments:
Further discussion with this 30'ish very active woman revealed that this injury is just one of a whole succession of injuries over the last few years, all of which have been pushed, prodded, massaged, manipulated or exercised in various way, including the near mandatory fitting of the dreaded orthotics. I have concluded that she is suffering "Wobbly Wheels Syndrome" (WWS). "

I clicked to WWS several years ago because I kept getting inquiries like this: "Gary, I get a week into exercising in the gym and my knee flares up. I rest for a couple of weeks, and go see the physio several times and then my hip goes and then its the knee again. Then its my back and and then my doctor tells me I have blood pressure! I feel as if my body is falling apart. Am I just getting old? Should I just give up and go buy a rocking chair?"

No, it is not really about getting old and this person does not need the rocking chair - But his wheels and other part are getting loose and worn. Time to put the body into the Body Workshop for some major tender loving care.

WWS has little to do with getting old. I think it is a case of the body getting exhausted and depleted. The body needs to recharge its batteries. This means a physical and emotional rest from the rush of modern life and a diet with some supplements to restore depleted stocks.

The therapy that I usually recommend for conditions like recurrent iliotibial band pain, glandular fever or high blood pressure is a combination of corrective exercises, rest, sun and nutrition. This may include advising the person to take a lenghty holiday in the sun in a place like the peaceful and isolated Cook Islands and living on the locally grown fruits and vegetables. This advice works without fail. Their injury and health problems resolve within a few weeks and the person is able to resume exercise later on with energy and enthusiasm and without recurrence of health or injury issues.

I have thought often about setting up a health resort in a place like the Cooks as an alternative to the costly, wasteful and mostly ineffective medical treatment that goes on for conditions like cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression and anxiety, chronic fatigue and arthritis (to name a few). Unfortunately, all the health money has been sucked up by these wasteful therapies, leaving little over for the therapies that actually work.

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How much training should a marathon runner do in the gym?

I get many variations on this question and the answer is this: "Very little". About 15-20 minutes, including the warm up and no more than three times a week.

Running a marathon is an extreme activity and the only way to prepare is to get out on the road and the trails and grind out the miles day after day, month after month. The specificity principle of athletic conditioning dictates that the closer you replicate the activity or event that you are aiming for the better prepared you will be. So, if you are going to be running on pavement, then most of your running should be on pavement and certainly not on a stepper, cross-trainer or even a treadmill. If there are hills on the course, then you must train on hills. If there is soft or uneven ground then you should be running on similar surfaces a good deal of the time.

Photocourtesy of: Nobby Hashizume

It is often argued that the gym is used for "core conditioning". Well, you don't neeed a gym and again the specificity principle says that a runner would be better off doing exercises and drills that condition the body's core specifically for running. This can be done by doing running drills like bounding up slopes (refer photo), stride-outs, accelerations and various agility drills. Done right, these drills superbly condition the body without adding unnecessary muscle bulk.

All that you need to add to the training mix is the following in the order given:

• Chinups off a tree or bar - about 5 reps will do
• Press-ups - about 10-20 is fine
• Hanging from a bar and pulling both knees to your chest (for the hips and abdominals) - about 10 will do
• Lifting a modest weight from the gound to above your head - 10-20 is fine

Move quickly from one to the other and, if you feel enthusiastic, do up to three sets and do this 2-3 times a week. If you feel like doing a fourth set, my advice is to go for a run around the block. You are training to be a marathon runner - not a weight lifter. Believe me, Arnold was never a good runner - it was all special effects.

If you have a gym membership, this is your 10 minute workout. If you worry about all that money you are paying on gym fees and not making much use of the gym then do your runs from the gym and use the showers. Better still, run to the gym and back.

By far the most important thing is you must get outside and run if you want to finish a marathon in reasonable shape.

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Mobility and toning exercises for runners

A distance runner needs to have good total body tone and mobility while not building excessive muscle bulk which is energy sapping weight when running.

Hot off the press is my latest work-out fro runners. It is a simple weight-free routine that covers the essential bases of a distance runner’s toning and mobility requirements. These can be incorporated into your pre-run/race warm up and cooling down routine. Make this routine a training session for easy exercise in the evenings and during rest days.

You can easily incorporate some of the other runner’s stretching exercises into this routine to make it even more comprehensive. Further exercises can be found in my book on Back Pain which is available from my online store here.

Here is the direct link to download this E-Publication

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Should an endurance athlete take creatine?

"Gary,

Do you have much experience on the use of creatine? perhaps you could make a post of that, I heard of an aquaintance who was taking it, his body bloated up as a result! I understand it only helps anaerobic performance as its used in the energy pathway for glycolytic independant energy pathway, since anaerobic is actually a misused phrase, anaerobic energy is what is used in throwing and jumping, for a maximal quick surge of power, more sustained maximal output is the glycolytic independant pathway that is commonly referred to as anaerobic"
Wayne
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Gary Moller comments:
Good question Wayne. There are no easy answers. All the energy pathways contribute to a greater or lesser degree whether sprinting or exercising steady state. It is just a question of degree. So, even during steady state our "anaerobic" processes are still at work. And they sure are whenever there is a surge of pace

Cycling is a good case in point: during a 100km race, there may a thousand micro-surges and a hundred longer ones. Seldom is it steady state. Surge-gasp for air-surge-gasp- surge and on and on and if you are lucky you still have enough left in the tank for a final sprint! Having optimum creatine stores for such events makes good sense. Low creatine levels will reduce muscle power and slow recovery from these bursts.

I have always been reasonably good on a bike and there are few mountain bikers my age who can beat me up a long hill. This is partly because I weigh just a little over 60kg. Now, I have good lungs but it is lack of leg strength that limits me. I have no sprint and I have to work very hard to hold onto a surge. I can chug along with my partner Alofa for a good three hours or so; but she always kills me on that last sharp hill when those strong Samoan thighs get pumping. My chicken thighs are no match.

I have been experimenting with adding about 5 grams of creatine to my recovery Super Smoothies because it is strength and power that are my limitations. I might have put on a Kg of body weight but this may be attributed more to my eating more and doing less overall activity. What I can report is I am riding just about the best in memory with no problems with failure of the thighs so far this season. The test will be this coming weekend when we do the 80km bone rattling Gentle Annie through the Central Nth Island.

Although I am running hard right now I would be concerned, as a runner, about possible weight gain from creatine supplementing and would probably take less than 5 grams per day. However; I have the impression that significant weight gain may be offset by the natural leaning effect from endurance training of 2-4 hrs depending on it being running or cycling.

There is also the factor of body type. If you are a heavily muscled mesomorph, just thinking about lifting weights will see muscle growth! If you are like me - a lighlty muscled ectomorph - then no matter how heavy the weights you lift and the supplements you take, you will be lucky to put on a kilo or two. Especially if you do endurance work as well. If an athlete has any tendency to gain excess muscle in a sport that favours light weight, I would be cautious about anything more than creatine supplementation of up to 5gm per day - no more. Whereas a "skinny" might benefit from a little more - up to 10 grams.

Athletes need to identify their strengths and weaknesses. A runner like Peter Snell needed to work on his endurance because he had strength to burn. Alofa is like that - her weakness is her lungs and not her legs. My weakness is my leg muscles - or the lack of them.

If you are taking creatine, it is advisable to spell the body by having a month or so off it every three or so months. For leg strength, endurance and recovery other nutritional factors such as optimum supplies of magnesium and calcium may be of greater importance.

Oh - and despite the current creatine experiment, Alofa continues to thrash my arse on that last hill!

Creatine can be purchased from here

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Recipe for producing a champion performance: Just add Baking Soda

Baking Soda May Help Exercisers
Sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda, is used as a medication to neutralize stomach acid in ulcer patients and as a home remedy for stomach distress. Now researchers in Greece have shown that it may neutralize the acid in muscles during intense exercise and helps athletes to exercise longer (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, October 2006).
If you run or cycle as hard as you can, you start to breathe hard, and suddenly your leg muscles start to burn because your muscles have become acidic. Its the burning in your muscles that forces you to slow down. Muscles get the energy to move your body from the food that you eat.
Carbohydrates are broken down step by step in a chain of reactions to release energy for your muscles. Each step requires oxygen. If you have enough oxygen, the carbohydrates are eventually broken down to carbon dioxide and water that you can blow off from your lungs. However, if you cant get all the oxygen that you need, the series of reactions stops and lactic acid accumulates in your muscles and spills over into your bloodstream. The acidity in muscles caused by the accumulation of lactic acid is what makes your muscles burn.
When acid is exposed to an alkaline or base, it combines with it to neutralize the acid and form water. What would happen when an athlete takes the base, sodium bicarbonate, before he competes? He would be able to exercise longer if the bicarbonate got into the muscle and neutralized the burning caused by the acid. The authors of this study showed that higher doses of sodium bicarbonate were more effective in preventing burning.
This exercise aid is still experimental, so we will have to wait for further research to see if it really works. Source: Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine January 21, 2007
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Gary Moller comments:

This is not new. Athletes have been playing around with baking soda since 1980 and probably much earlier. Experienced athletes gave it the short shove very quickly because its benefits are minimal for the properly prepared athlete and the stomach upsets from the bicarbonate neutralised any theoretical benefit. Quite simply; when you are competing at extreme intensity, like running 1500m track the last thing you want to be taking is anything that upsets the stomach and intestines. Researchers are hoping this old trick will gain some new legs. No doubt it will eventually end up as an expensive wonder additive in sports drinks.

As far as recipes go for producing champions there are no short cuts short of doing a Landis or a Schwartzeneggar. Even if baking soda works one must question its use just as one should question the use of large doses of caffeine. With regards to the burning feeling in the muscles that Dr Mirkin describes the solution is as follows:

• Eight to ten years of endurance training including a weekly 2hr + run or 3hr + cycle on nothing but water. This trains the ability to use fat and encourages prolific capiliarisation of the muscle.
• Ensuring an alkaline wholefoods diet that is high in antioxidants, the B vitamins and minerals including magnesium and calcium. There is a good case for supplemetning with these to boost natural intake.
• Periodically developing one's anerobic capacity to its maximum prior to seasonal peaks in competition.

Fifty years ago, athletics coach Arthur Lydiard, got the recipe right. The performances of his athletes would still be competitive today, if one were to factor in improvements in track and shoe technologies and the widespread use of rabbits nowadays. Oh, yes - and rampant cheating (you could include the rabbits here)! With a few minor modern adjustments and the application of modern nutritional stategies and the old recipe is as robust as ever.

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Heart Attack – One runner’s story

“Hi Gary,
I had a 'health challenge' over 11 years ago' at 43. I was lucky to survive the initial episode. Had my wife not decided to have an extra few minutes sleep-in one Saturday morning, she would have been in the shower and I most probably would not have survived it. Some CPR, (not perfect - but just enough before the ambulance guys arrived) helped and a helicopter lift off the flat roof of our house and I was in hospital within the golden 1hr.
I never had any warning symptoms. I had run everyday for 5 & 1/2 years. Was 5th in my club's xc champs masters grade the weekend before when club was strong with masters. The anaesthetist said I had the best set of lungs he had seen. Probably the fitness was also a factor in me surviving.
Of course there have been other runners who did not have my luck in similar circumstances, a number come to mind.”
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Comment by Gary:
Heart attack can strike the unwary without warning - sometimes while still quite young. The very fit are far from immune and the fitness itself may lull the person into a false sense of security.

Often, there is prior warning that may go on for as long as several days; however, this can be so subtle to be ignored, or easily mistaken for something else, like a touch of the flu or a pulled chest muscle, a strained shoulder, or just a feeling of being a “little under the weather”.

One of your best tools for assessing the health of your heart and circulation is using a digital blood pressure and heart rate monitor. A set of unusual readings of blood pressure and/or heart rate, as compared to your regular norms may be your first and best warning that not all is well - that it is time to seek medical assistance. This could be as simple as a quick phone call made to your doctor.

See your doctor while you are healthy: Have regular health checks, including blood profiles. The fit person who thinks they have a heart like a sturdy Diesel engine and a “good diet” is liable to neglect these with the result that an underlying disorder like excessive cholesterol levels or heart defect may go undetected for many years. Men are the worst when it comes to these matters, including ignoring the obvious hints of a poor family history.

Arrange for you, your family and friends to undertake training in basic CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation). The one thing for sure is this life-saving skill will be called upon when least expected.

As is nicely illustrated in this letter modern emergency medicine is a wonderful life saver.

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When can I run my next marathon?

This is a question that I am asked often. Here is my best effort to provide some guidance:

It is best not to run more than 4 marathons per year, preferably fewer. Two is about right as you will gather as you read on.

Look after your body; especially the joints, which can only take so much wear and tear – look after body and it will give a lifetime of faithful service. Abuse it and your running days will be over before you know it. And let’s face it – running a marathon is tough on the body no matter how you do it!

Each marathon should be followed by a period of three to four weeks of recovery after which you start a fresh graduated build-up to the next performance peak.

After this initial period of recovery – and only after you are able to one again run freely and with energy - it is time to commence another build up to your next big event. Review your previous training schedule: Begin at about half way through where you started and where you peaked during your most recent build up of distance and speed. Gradually add a little more each week just like before, faithfully adding in your recovery weeks and do not get too far ahead of yourself by piling in too much extra training even if you happen to feel great. No big jumps please – keep progress incremental. The idea is to finish this new build up with the peak just a little higher than the previous one.

Here is what you are aiming for:

• 12 weeks of steady increases in distance runs each week, breaking these up with some short, fast runs, including 3-10km races (no further please!)
• 4-8 weeks if you have time of maintaining a steady mileage and competing in short distance races.
• 6-8 weeks of gradually cutting back on total training volume while quickening the pace.
  • Keep one long relaxed run per week going of 2-3 hrs (No longer please).
  • Do one ½ marathon about the 1st week of this phase, recover for about 7-10 days with relaxed running and then get back into the training.
  • Put all of this stamina to the test by running approximately weekly 3-12km races. Do these even if you regard yourself as being a bit of a plodder. These will get you up on your toes and used to running at pace and they will toughen your body and mind. Join a club and participate actively in their training and racing programmes.
• With 2 weeks to go to the marathon, do not any more races.
  • It is time to enter your freshening phase to peak for the big day.

So, to train properly and consistently, you need about 24 weeks, or almost 6 months of undisrupted training between each marathon. Keep this consistent and progressive training and competition pattern going for as long as you feel the inclination to do so.

As a general rule of thumb, run no more than 2 marathons per year hard out. Any extras may be taking the edge off you and you may find that you will never beat whatever time you are going for; be that a sub-4hr, sub-3.30 or under the magical time of 3hrs.

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Stretching Exercises for Runners and Cyclists

I have created a simple little E-Publication that contains what I think are the most important stretches for a runners and cyclists to do. These are suitable for incorporation into a pre-competition warm up routine; but mainly for doing daily, such as in the evening when you are warm and relaxed.

Here is the direct link.

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Why don't people join running clubs anymore?

Wayne, a keen runner wrote: "Why does the number of participants in any organised sport fall?
Because the sport fails to adapt and market itself with the changing times, the gyms are capturing a lot of the market of the physically active, there sporting teams people can get a great variety with less commitment required to a particular code.
The rise of sports centres that allow ad hoc teams to be formed by social groups for one off games or regular social games without the commitment to training that mainstream sports require I look at the harrier club i was involved with:
· not interested in runners slower than 5 min k pace,
· not interested in meeting at times that were more suitable for other runners looking to join the club,
· not interested in providing childcare,
· rigid and relatively unchanging
· I had people who were interested in harriers, but their rigidity lost them at least three new members,
· These people found more flexible people to train with.

I've seen people come and go from the club, the interest is there, to be active in some form of organized sport but a lot of it is now bypassing the major sports codes
If a lot of the clubs are like this then we will never recapture the halcyon days of running in NZ the talent is gone to other sports and more power to those codes and the people,
I haven't been able to find a running club in Auckland that meets my needs yet after nearly four years in Auckland."

_________________________________

Gary Moller comments:

While it is not just running club in NZ that have been on the decline for decades (Tennis clubs are an even more endangered species), it is a sad reality that running clubs are in serious decline in the face of stiff competition from other quarters. "Adapt or die"; the Darwinian rule of thumb applies perfectly to sports clubs.

About 15 years ago, I was devastated to learn that our home town's (Putaruru) running club had closed down out of lack of interest. This club produced no end of winning athletes over the years from the population of just 6,000. The head of the Putaruru club was also the President of Athletics NZ at the time. This was one of the first signals to me that all was not well in the world of running clubs. My new running club, Victoria University, which was a regional powerhouse during the 1970's slowly sputtered its way into oblivion, despite the best efforts of a hardcore of ageing die-hards. With its death death went a hundred years of history and tradition.

What is perplexing about what Wayne describes is this decline in running clubs is still happening when participation in marathons and half marathons is on a roll. Wayne does suggest the solutions if running clubs want to survive more than a few more years. To date, the clubs that have survived have done so by amalgamating with others; but this does not resolve the basic problems with lack of appeal to newcomers and poor retention strategies.

On the other hand; who really cares if running clubs die off? In the end, they are replaced by services that cater better for modern needs, some of which Wayne lists. People will go where the services that they need are provided. Where the service does not exist, some enterprising person will jump in and provide it.

I wonder what happens to the amazing collections of old trophies, photos and club records that many of these clubs have accumulated over the decades?

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New Page added: Training advice for running, including walking or running a half marathon or marathon

If you are planning to run or walk a marathon or half marathon; or just wanting to get outside and get fit, this new page on my website is a good place to start. What I have done is create a feeder that searches out all of the artilces that I have written that have anything to do about running and aggregated them all onto a single page.

Why not go there now and have a read?

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Link

The ten most important rules for training for running or walking a marathon

Give yourself time and be consistent. You need at least three months of training to have the stamina to complete a marathon. So, whether you have three months or six months to go before the big day, get your shoes on and start your training now! Be consistent. Have a training plan that progressively increases the mileage covered and stick to it week after week, month after month.

Get time on your feet. It’s not so much the mileage or speed; but time spent running and walking that prepares you for completing the marathon. Very gradually build up to doing one weekly run that is up to three hours duration; or, if you are walking, your goal is four hours on your feet. This is your goal about 4-6 weeks out from the marathon, after which you ever so gradually reduce so that you are fresh and raring to go on race day!

Make your journey to the marathon interesting and fun. Try making every training session different from the last one. Explore new places. Organise mystery runs with your mates. Get lost and get very fit. Play “chase” now and then. Do the occasional day-long or multi-day hike (Even if you are a runner, a long hike in the bush is wonderful physical conditioning).

Do not over-train and ensure you recover. You only need to do three long runs or walks per week (Plus one short, faster one, if you are really serious). While you should be active on the day in-between, you must ensure that you are as close to fully recovered before the next long training session. Make every fourth week a relatively easy “recovery” week. Have your regular training partners; but do the majority of your training on your own so that you go at your pace and distance and do not risk being constantly dragged along too far and hard too often by others. The risk of injury and illness is too high.

Run or walk mostly on trails. Training on roads and pavements is especially hard on the legs; especially if there is an unrelenting off-camber. Train on trails that vastly reduce the impact shock and which vary the stresses on the legs with every stride. You will find you can go longer and faster and still recover in time for the next session.

Eat a nutrient rich diet. Your body cannot recover properly or build strong, healthy tissue if your diet is lacking in essential nutrients. Have a home made Super Smoothie that contains proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, essential oils and antioxidants within an hour of finishing each training session.

Keep hydrated. Weigh yourself before and after a training session: If you lose 1kg then you must replace this by drinking 1kg of fresh water (1 liter), plus an extra ½ liter for good measure over the hour of finishing. You will later be able to dispense with the weighing because you will have learned to listen to your body signals. Got the idea?

Get plenty of rest and quality sleep. Ideally, you want to have a sit-down job, rather than one that has you on your feet all day. It is during deep sleep that your body produces its daily peak of growth hormone that stimulates repair and growth. Be in bed and asleep by 11pm every night and get 7-8 hours of sleep.

Treat injuries before they incapacitate. Unless you fall over, or are run over by a bus, running and walking injuries happen slowly. Cut your training short and take a compulsory four day rest the moment there is a hint of an injury and then gradually work your way back into training. The same rule applies to illnesses like colds. Follow this rule, and others, and you will never have to visit a health professional about a training related ailment.

Listen to your Inner Voice. The most important rule has been saved for last. You are a living being – not a mindless automaton. Learn to listen to your Inner Voice. If it is telling you to stop, then stop; if it is telling you that you can go further or faster, then do it; if it is telling you that you need more water or food, then give yourself some; if it is telling you that you need a few days break, then do it. Ignore your Inner Voice at your peril – illness, injury and mental staleness are the inevitable consequences. Listen carefully to your Inner Voice and you will thoroughly enjoy your training and you will complete the marathon with a personal best.

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Running - Being good racers in training and losing the plot

I don't think a lot of NZ coaches have really grasped the finer points of Lydiard’s coaching, I’m seeing young runners grinding out over the Waitakeres most weekends going flat out, I'm not hearing the message train don't strain, I'm hearing a message of mileage instead of time spent training.

A group of young adults goes out over the Waitakeres whether they are bent on competing I’m not sure, they go out together but come back down at one hang of a pace spread-eagled possibly racing each other back down. Their best is being given on the Waitakeres.
Our best results are coming from athletes trained by overseas coaches.

It’s the problem when a few coaches have all the talent under their wing, if they don't do a good job all the talent isn't developed properly.

There needs to be a message of balance, knowing when to ease off and listening to your own body rather than religiously following a coach.

Wayne

Photo: 1970's Canterbury, New Zealand Korean training camp when NZ was the Mecca for runners: the long sunday pack runs were part of a carefully managed buildup plan. There were no heroics.

______________________________
Gary Moller comments:
Wayne, These observations and comments are right on the mark and get to the heart of one of the reasons why New Zealand has lost the running plot after having been consistently at the top of the running world.

If you read my articles about Kenyan running, you will realise that Kenyans commence their running from a very early age, with brief bursts of intensity when playing games like soccer. This very much describes my own upbringing in rural New Zealand of the 1950's. It is only after a decade and a half later that the Kenyans, as young adults, are subjected to big running miles at pace and gut-heaving anaerobic work.

Lydiard alway worked on the basis that it took 8-10 years to build a champion. How right he was and how right he still is.

To take teenage boys and girls with the best of just a few years of running behind them and have them racing the lenght of the Waitakeres is really dumb. It is a recipe for disaster. End of story!

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Commute your way to fitness

If you want to get really fit and time is against you, commuting to work under your own steam is the solution.

My partner, Alofa, is very fit. By commuting to and from work, she has reduced her resting pulse from 80 beats per minute to 40 beats per minute. That’s an extra 40 beats to play with when running, meaning she can run with ease a lot faster and longer. She either rides her mountain bike to and from work or she runs with a small back pack. At the beginning of each week, she takes her clothing and her breakfast (muesli) to work where her employer has supplied a wardrobe and shower. This is good time management.

She gets to work early, faster than driving or taking the bus, has a quick shower and breakfast and then she is down to work. No need to waste time with makeup due to the healthy start to the day!

If you live too far to commute and you think you can get out of it, think again; use public transport to travel only part of the distance, then run the remainder of the journey. Extend the distance run as fitness improves. There should be no whimping out when the weather is foul. There is no such thing as bad weather – just bad choices of clothing.

Commuting disciplines you into a twice daily workout that quickly builds enduring fitness. It makes very good use of time that is otherwise wasted on mindless and stressful commuting. It can save you thousands of dollars per year and is good for the environment. When building fitness by commuting, all you need do further in training is a long run on Sundays with the occasional race thrown in here and there.

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Even more feedback from happy campers - running and iron man

"Hi Gary,
You probably won't remember me but last year I emailed you for advice about training for my first marathon at Rotoura. You got me started in plenty of time and gave me some valuable advice about supplements being a 'mature' starter. Anyway I made the journey in a good time of 5hrs with no injury and a big smile on my face loving every minute of it. It's only as I started to look for the date of next year's marathon that I realised I'd never said thank you.

After Rotorua I decided to follow my real passion triathlon and 10 days ago completed my first Iron Man in WA in 13hrs 49mins 45sec. Despite having a coach in tow now I still follow much of that initial advice you gave me which was invaluable on the big day, temperatures reached the mid-30s and heat and me just don't go, but with all the good advice I survived, in fact more than survived, I was buzzing.

I still don't consider myself a natural runner and I'm not fast, but good advice such as yours has made me a very happy runner who can sustain reasonable speed and fitness over long distances and remain relatively injury free. I just wanted you to know how greatful I am for your advice."
"A"

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Training advice for running Rotorua Marathon

Gary,
I've done quite a few Rotoruas & intend doing the 2007 also.
BUT from 12 Feb to 9 Mar I'll be away on extended overseas trip (skiing).Great fun but lttle opportunity for safe running - from previous experience won't manage more than 1 to 2 hours per week - weather and underfoot snow limited.
I should be up to the 3 hour ++ runs by beginning of Feb.What should I try immediately on my return?
Some background :age 65 in March,Last year did 4.35 with not much training.Expect a bit under 4:30 this time if I don't bend myself skiing!Skiing in Colorado so some beneficial altitude effects anticipated - staying & skiing @ 9000ft & above.
Regards "Peter"
_______________________
Gary Moller comments:

Peter, with your years of running behind you, and with a few months to go upon your return, you should have no problems with being ready to run Rotorua.

The altitude will help with keeping the heart and circulation going. Why not try x-country skiing every 2nd and 3rd day? There is good x-country skiing where you are going. This will really work the legs and the lungs.

If possible, you should still try to do a regular jog, even if it is very short at the end of the day. While skiing is very good conditioning, it still is not running.

Upon your return, restrain the tempatation to launch right into the running. Give yourself time to adapt to the new time zone and for the leg muscles to get used to running again. Run trails to start with and bear in mind that your cardiovascular fitness from all that time at altitude may be a tad ahead of the legs. So take care not to injure the legs during the first few weeks.

Finally, you do not need to run longer than 3 hours in training. If you can run 3 hrs nice and steady - don't go longer or faster - concentrate on the shorter runs during the week and do one or two of them faster and enter a few 5-10km races.

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How do Kenyan runners train?

This is an interesting website page about how Kenyan runners train, including what is done with older school children.

The general gist of it is this: If you want to be as fast as a Kenyan then you have to train at about the lactate threshold (Don't worry about what this means, other than that you need to hike along most of the time!).

If you carefully read my earlier article about Kenyan Training Secrets, you will see I have a different angle on their training. It is what they (Kenyans) do from birth that produces the adult champions. As we can see from the current state of affairs of athletics in soft countrys like NZ and the US, our trying to copy them by following what is published by the "experts" is a disaster. We could learn a few lessons by reviewing Arthur Lydiard's pioneering work. When viewed macroscopically Kenyan training is very similar to Lydiard's structure that steadily builds an athlete to peak performance over 8-10 years .

If we want to beat the Kenyans then we need to start by toughening up our kids from birth by making them run and walk everywhere, preferably barefoot, doing chores about the yard and lifting heavy weights in between (This is low intensity endurance and strength work). When they have time off, they can play typical kids games like soccer and scampering away from adults with big sticks! (Speed and agility training).



After 15 or so years of hard labour they are then ready for all the fancy speed work - and who cares in what form that is because it is the early years that is the foundation of Kenyan running performance.

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Link

Starting running for the first time

Before you run out the door, let’s get real about running:

• Running is a high impact activity:
  
• it has high injury rates as compared to low impact activities like swimming and bicyclingNot everyone is suited for running
• Just as there are “horses for courses” the same can be said of people.
  
• The person best suited for running is a lightly muscled, light boned person with little body weight.
  
• Most durable runners are less than 75kg body weight
• Get fit before you take up running
• That means ensuring that you have a strong heart and circulation
• That you have strong, flexible foot and leg musclesThat you are not carrying too much excess body fat
• Start injury free
• If you have any injuries affecting your lower back or lower, then deal with them before you take up running

How to get fit to run

• Do at least three months of a mix of the following:
• Walk before you run
• Brisk power walking for 30 minutes 3 times a week (this is your most important exercise)
• As fitness improves, jog a few minutes, gradually increasing the jog in relation to the walking.
• Swimming 2-3 times a week
• Aqua jogging using the combination of Kermitts and Aquafins
• Bicycling
• Gym workouts, including weights and cardio equipment – go for a hydraulics circuit workout if you can find a gym with it
• Stretch yoga style each evening

Seek professional advice about any injury or health issues (You may contact Gary Moller to discuss any injury or health issues)

Footwear and clothing

• As a general rule of thumb, if you have good feet and weigh less than 75kg, you can go for a lighter shoe that has less shock absorption
• A heavier person needs a shoe that has more shock absorption
• Ensure that the shoe has a flexible forefoot and not an inflexible board (the most common fault in running shoes), otherwise the Achilles tendon and calf will be under enormous strain
• Seek a firm heel counter that cups the heel bone securely and does not slowly collapse as the weeks and months pass
• Wear a soft fabric against the skin on very long runs to reduce chafing of sensitive part like the nipples and armpitsIf chafing of the inner thigh and crutch are a problem, try wearing a pair of bike pant style lycra underwear against the skin

Nutrition on the run
Start early with good nutrition to build up your body's reserves before the big distances and high intensity training kinck in.

• Read the pages on this website about nutrition and the various training guides and E-publications
• Consider taking a quality sports multi such as Nutra-Life Sports Multi
• Contact Gary Moller for more specific advice, if need be.
  

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Are you looking for a great marathon to run?

The Rotorua Marathon has to be the iconic New Zealand marathon. Lake Rotorua is almost exactly 42 km in circumference with some nicely undulating hills midway to add some extra challenge.

I have run it a few times myself and my father, Gordon, ran it almost every year without fail for what seemed about 20 years. Each time he ran, it was an obsessional gallop to break the magical 3 hour barrier, which he managed several times.

If you are thinking about running it, now is the perfect time to make that decision and the commitment that goes with that decision. If you go to the training pages on the marathon's website, you will find some basic advice that I have written and you should refresh your training plans by reading our Guide to Running a Marathon.

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Lorraine Moller still feeling the force

"It is almost impossible to tell the Lorraine Moller life story without mention of her legendary coach and mentor Arthur Lydiard - and now Moller is bringing Lydiard's techniques to colleges across the United States.

Now 50, Moller, like many of Lydiard's devoted students, attributes her lifetime of running success to his innovative coaching. Moller was a secondary student when she met Lydiard through middle-distance runner John Davies. When she was introduced to his now legendary methods as a 15-year-old she never looked back. "
(Click on the linked title above for the whole story.)

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Derek Turnbull dies aged 79

"Derek Turnbull, QSM, athlete, farmer. Died aged 79

Derek Turnbull, a Southland farmer was the subject of a book called The Fastest Old Man in the World. This veteran of veteran athletics held age group world records for the 800m, 1500m, 10,000m, cross-country and the marathon.

But running was always "just a hobby" for Turnbull, who started athletics at Southland Boys High School. He was in his own words "well down the track" in New Zealand open athletics."
_________________________________________
Gary Moller comments:

I first met Derek when I travelled with the first New Zealand team to compete at a world veteran's athletics championships. That was in 1977 and the Games were in Gothenberg, Sweden. I was the team's first aider and trainer. That was an amazing experience with three athletic stadia in full use for a week. It was a big event and I got to meet many of my childhood sporting heros, like the mighty Al Oerter, who were still going great.

Derek was the young boy of the team and I don't think many of us quite knew how good he was. My main recollection was the look of shock (or was it disbelief) on the faces of the entire team, including Derek, after he cleaned up just about every event he contested. Derek was a sensation!

When you look at him, he is the perfect athlete - a cross between a greyhound and a hare. The perfect body type for running.

A lesson we can all take from Derek is the fact that most of his training was intuitive: No rigid training schedules; Derek ran according to how he felt and this was mostly over farmland, thus sparing his muscles and joints. This is at the heart of his longevity as a runner.

I last met Derek earlier this year while I was running a workshop in Invercargill about Lydiard training methods. He had suffered a devastating stroke. While he was looking quite good considering what he had just been through, he was nevertheless clearly unwell. His passing is most premature, given his immense athletic talent, which should have carried him along for many more years.

Derek, we miss you.
(I am presently reading Derek's book "The fastest old man in the world". It is autographed by Derek with the advice "Never give up"). Order the book here; Turnbull website here

technorati tags: derek+turnbull, new+zealand, invercargill, running

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Marathon: "hardest physical thing I have ever done" - Lance Armstong

Armstrong, 35, stepped over the finish line in Central Park just under his goal in 2:59:36. His dark green shirt soaked in sweat, the superstar cyclist admitted that the last few miles of the race were a struggle. “Even after experiencing one of the hardest days of the Tour nothing has ever left me feeling this bad,” he said at a post-race news conference. “[My shins] started to hurt in the second half, but the bigger problem the last 7 or 8 miles was the tightness in my calves and thighs. My calves really knotted up. I can barely walk right now.”
Armstrong called the race “the hardest physical thing I have ever done.” While he competed in triathlons as a teenager, Armstrong had never attempted a marathon.
_______________________
Gary Moller Comments:
Cycling is almost 100% concentric exercise; whereas running is highly eccentric in nature. While they have an aerobic commonality, concentric exercise does not prepare the muscles and tendons for eccentric exercise as Lance Armstrong found out.

This also explains why the lifespan of a runner at the elite level is usually so short as compared to that of a pro cyclist.

If you would like to learn more about this, go to my E-Book on training for a marathon and read the sections that explain concentric and eccentric exercise and their implications for training, competition and recovery.

technorati tags: lance+armstrong, new+york+marathon, marathon, running, eccentric+exercise, concentric+exercise

concentric exercise

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Exclusive: Kenya's Training Secrets Revealed!

Two weeks spent mixing with the African powerhouses of international sport, including the Kenyans was a coach's dream come true! That was my experience as the cycling coach in charge of the Cook Islands cycling team (1 cyclist) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

What astonished me was the modesty of these world beaters. On one occasion, the head of the Kenyan running team asked me for advice about what he could do to be a better coach. Fortunately, I was sitting down at the time, otherwise I would have fallen over! My advice to him was to keep doing the basics well and to never lose sight of them. So, what are the Kenyan basics? Here they are - revealed for the very first time:

• Be born at altitude and into poverty
• Be raised on a low calorie whole foods diet
• Have no shoes
• Run or walk several miles to and from school
• Carry heavy water containers several miles a day
• Till the fields by hand
• Round up the goats and cattle
• At 18yrs, win a scholarship to train with a running squad in the city where you are mentored by current and past world champions
• Do a few months of hard interval training then;

Race for your life!

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New York Marathon results

Nina Rillstone of Auckland finished a creditable seventh in the New York marathon on Sunday in a time of 2h 31m 19s.
Rillstone was 11th at half way in 1h 15m 11s.
Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia won in 2h 25m 5s.
Rillstone debuted over the marathon distance in April recording 2h 29m 46s in Nagano, Japan.

Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil broke away at the 30km mark and held off late challenges from Stephen Kiogora and Paul Tergat of Kenya to win the event
in 2h 9m 58s.
____________________________
Gary Moller comments:
As a matter of interest, Nina worked for me about 8-10 years ago when she graduated from university. Her talent as a runner was obvious back then. I don't think she ever fully clicked to my connection with Lorraine Moller, the runner. More recently, Nina has been receiving guidance and inspiration from Lorraine, including staying at her home in Boulder Colorado. Go here for details.

Nina helps reinforce my view that talented runners should take their time to mature and strengthen before tackling events like marathon racing. To do these gruelling events too early risks shortening their running career. They should concentrate on short races that hone speed and stamina while sparing the muscles, tendons and joints from lasting damage until ready to handle the punishment of the marathon run at pace.

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Ankle pain in older runners

Gary
I have been running since I was a boy; I won my first school title when I was 10, and since then I have run ever since. In April this year I turned 40, so have been running for 30 years, reasonably consistently.
Whilst I've had my share of reasonably serious injuries (many self-inflicted, but a number being managed as I get older), my biggest concern is after a 1 hour plus run on hard surfaces, my feet and/or ankles just hate it, and I spend the whole run, waiting until it's over. I did a easy 75 min flat run with my mates yesterday, and I just couldn't wait until it was over. In terms of shoes, I wear Asics 2110 at home and work, so a reasonable shoe.
I am actually worried for the first time ever about how this might affect my running. Any suggestions of what I can do? Likely treatment or supplements?
Regards
"B"

Photo: sometimes, foot and ankle problems are easy to spot; more often, the trouble is not so obvious and, unfortunately, there are no single, quick-fix solutions.
___________________________
Gary Moller comments:
Thanks, "B", for consenting for this going onto the web: The problem you describe is one of the most pressing faced by "ageing" runners. If not resolved, the runner may be forced into giving running away and we can't have that happening, can we?

The best approach to dealing with foot and ankle pain is to tackle the problem from several different angles and hope that one, or a combination of the following suggestions have a beneficial effect:

• Run, step and bound barefeet weekly in sand. This is what the great coaches of old, like Percy Cerutty, always had their athletes do as part of their training. When Otago athletes of the 1970's were at their height of national prominence, coaches like Alastair McMurran had regular bounding sessions up the massive sand dunes of the Otago Peninsula (I had the dubious pleasure of doing a couple). This type of training helped develop and maintain strong, flexible feet and ankles. This type of training is all but forgotten nowadays and much to the detriment of runners. This type of training is all the more important as we get into our 40's and older. Joints, muscles and tendons thrive on being flexed and extended through their full range of movement. On the other hand, repetitive and restrictive movement, such as running on pavement is not good for feet and ankle joints.
• Try different shoes and fit semi-orthotic inner soles. Although I prefer Asics myself, an obvious measure is to try a few different makes and models. The change can be remarkable when it comes to ankle pain. I have 4 different pairs that I rotate, including a pair of Asics designed for off-road running. The semi-orthotics I recommend are Formthotics Active which can be purchased here. A measure as simple as an inner sole change can give relief.
• Do your ankle and foot exercises. If your feet tire as a long run progresses, the arches begin to drop, shock absorption diminishes and the outer borders of the ankle joints may be bruised which you may really feel upon getting out of bed the next morning! Here is the link to the E-Pub on the subject. Of course, these do not replace sand dune running!
• Get your leg pulled! Yes, get a strong massage therapist to get stuck into your feet and ankles, working on mobilising all of those tight sinews and joints, including the main ankle joint. Manipulate a child's supple feet and the contrast with a typical runner's feet will shock you. So get into it and don't neglect the sand running which flexes the feet better than any masseur.
• Take Glucosamine, Chondroitin and magnesium daily. Joint food preparations help guard against arthritis and may even help reverse the process. If the feet and calf muscles are tiring prematurely and cramping, this may be partly due to magnesium depletion which is a near universal problem with older runners. If the muscles tire, then the feet cease doing their stability and shock-absorbing work, thus throwing abnormal strain on the structures of the ankles and feet.
• Run off-road. Buy a pair of shoes designed for trail running and do all of the long runs on trails. The soft surface and constant adjusting of foot and ankle placement is what those feet were designed for and they love it! Take care at first: your lack of flexibility and dulled reflexes from all that road running means you need to take care initially not to stumble or trip. The foot and ankle pain may be stirred up initially; but should diminish and disappear as the feet and ankles strengthen and regain flexibility with regular trail running.
• Do cross training. Aqua-Jogging done properly and cycling are my favourites. These enable the ageing runner to continue to develop a huge cardiovascular reserve while sparing muscles and joints that have already given more than a lifetime of faithful service!

(For more about this topic, type "ankle" into the search box to the upper left of this page and search this blog.)

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Is he overdoing it? – You decide

The manager of the swimming pool told me that there was a man aqua-jogging daily for 5-6 hours a day. He was concerned that this fellow was over-doing it and could I talk to him. I said that I thought I knew the person and would have a quiet chat with him.

“Fred” (not his real name), I asked when I next caught up with him about his worn out knees; “I hear there is some guy aqua-jogging 5-6 hours a day. Is that you?” “Oh no, that can’t be me”, he replied trying look innocent; “I’m only doing four hours a day. If I do more than that I end up rubbing all the skin off my back”.



Over-training – The Signs

• If you are overdoing things, you may have one or a combination of the following:
• Consistently elevated morning pulse.
• Irregular pulse
• Unusually slow pulse associated with light-headedness and unusually low blood pressure
• Tired, draggy feeling.
• Grumpy, hyper-emotional and overreacting to stress.
• Poor quality sleep.
• Craving for chocolate, caffeine and stimulants, indicating that your adrenal glands are stressed.
• Lowered immunity resulting in infections such as a sore throat, cold, or breakout of cold-sores.
• Sore, hard muscles; cramps and aches.
• Loss of form. Overworked muscles are “turned off” and your body awkwardly tries to recruit others that are inefficient for the job at hand.
• You find yourself stumbling over your own feet and your nose seems to be closer to the pavement than usual.
• Loss of motivation such as feeling like quitting workouts or procrastinating to do your training.
• Slow, disappointing times in workouts and competition.

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Aquafins for effective cross training

“Aquafins are addictive! Besides providing an excellent strengthening workout they feel so naturally good in the water that pool running takes on a whole new dimension.
I have always been an advocate of pool running for athletes as a low impact, full-body resistance cross-training exercise. Aquafins enhance every aspect of deepwater workouts and shallow water exercising. They are a valuable aid not only as cross-training for serious athletes but also to those looking to increase their fitness, strengthen, tone, lose weight or who are recovering from injury or surgery. I recommend Aquafin water workouts as an essential inclusion into any fitness programme.”

Lorraine Moller, Running Coach, Boulder, Colorado (Four-time Olympic Marathoner representing New Zealand; Bronze Medallist, Women’s Marathon, Olympic Games, Barcelona 1992; Three Time Avon Women’s World Marathon Champion; Boston Marathon Winner)

For more information:
Gill Gray and Don Christe, Aquafins New Zealand, 50 Glen Road
Wellington aquafinsnz@xtra.co.nz
04 479 7474 or 04 970 1188
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Gary Moller comments:
Lorraine and I don't have any financial ties with the people who sell these training aids, nor are we being paid to say this: We simply think these are great for cross-training for sports like running and for general fitness, including weight loss and muscle toning without the usual wear and tear.

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The zen of running

GRASSHOPPER, BE YOUR SELF. AND NEVER FEAR THUS TO BE NAKED TO THE EYES OF OTHERS. YET, KNOW THAT MAN SO OFTEN MASKS HIMSELF. THAT WHAT IS SIMPLE IS RARELY UNDERSTOOD. THE DUST OF TRUTH SWIRLS, AND SEEKS ITS OWN CRACKS OF ENTRY. AND A TREE FALLING IN THE FOREST, WITHOUT EARS TO HEAR, MAKES NO SOUND. YET IT FALLS - Master Po from the original Kung Fu TV series.

I get a nasty headache whenever I hear some expert advising athletes that they must eat so many grams of this and that per hour and drink xyz Mls of water with various ingredients added to make it completely indigestible.

Sure there are some basic rules of thumb for how much to eat and drink on a run or ride and in certain conditions; but this this is almost as bad as trying to paint a masterpiece by numbers. Training and competing are as much an art as it is a science. Gosh! Why don't we just turn off our senses and hook oursleves up to intravenous drips, open the tap, turn up the iPod and run mindloessly until we drop!

Even though I have worked my way through the academics of sports nutrition (An excruciating experience) I have never gotten off on measuring how many grams of this and so many mls of that - I have always gone by the philosophy of learning to listen to my body and this is what I teach athletes to do. This is something I learned early on from my sister, Lorraine, who applied the concept with artful precision to have lasting success when running marathons very fast in extremes of weather.

Would you know it! - Humans have two little known sensory feedback systems that outperform the best of modern rechnology hands down - one is called thirst and the other is called hunger. "Now, little Grasshopper, listen to your body". This is something the modern urbanised human has long forgotten and since replaced with fancy machines, mathematical formula and white-coated experts. Thirst and hunger are extremely sensitive mechanisms that tell us what to do well before there is a decline in performance - if only we would sensitise our minds and listen and respond early enough to the subtle signals.

Listening to our very own in-built feedback systems has served us well since time began, enabling man to survive and even fluorish on next to nothing in the harshest environments. Our problem today is that we are forgetting how to use them.

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Pushing the limits - Too far

"The most important of the neurotransmitters from a sports performance perspective are Dopamine, Epinephrine and norepinephrine and acetylcholine. As Dr John Berardi explains “Some evidence exists showing that when neurotransmitters like acetylcholine, dopamine, and norepinephrine get depleted, physical and cognitive performance suffers. Since these neurotransmitters can be depleted from intense repeated bouts of strenuous exercise, this is bad news. " Read the whole article by clicking on the title link above.
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Gary Moller Comments:
This is an interesting article that is put out by the people of IRule. While I can see where they are coming from and while I do not have a problem with the science, I do worry that many multisports atheltes rely too much on various performance supplements, ranging from energy drinks, to caffeine to ephidrine-type chemicals. This especially so for ultra endurance events that sometimes go for days on end.

Why, oh why does the good doctor believe the depeletion of neurotransmitters is "bad news"? I think it is good news.

The need for sleep and the tiring of nerves so that muscles begin to fail is natural and there for a purpose: without periodic breaks for repair and replenishment, the body breaks down. The consequences of ignoring Nature, or trying to circumvent her can be catastrophic. Muscles and tendons like ropes eventually fray and break; joints like bearings will seize if not resurfaced and lubricated; and the brain becomes hopelessly muddled if not rebooted now and then. This is not rocket science. The body's parts all interact perfectly. To fiddle with one part of the body or its physiology in order to get an artificial performance gain risks acute and lasting damage.

What I am beginning to see nowadays is "mature" multisports athletes who are suffering early onset of arthritis and permanent muscle and tendon damage. Without question, this is the result of overdoing events that go on and on and on, well past the point where one would normally call it a day. I would like to see a shift back to events that last just 3-5 hours. Like old elephants whose time has come, the multisporters who have worn themselves to a standstill, quietly slip away unnoticed into the shadows. I would like to see some research of the musculoskeletal health of multisports veterans.

I competed in the very first multisports races back in 1977. They lasted 3-5 hours and the courses were determined by the rugged terrain in which they were typically held. Many of those who embraced this new sport did so partly because they were sick and tired of over-regulated sports like athletics and cycling and the cheating that was going on with performance enhancing drugs. It was a sport that was one with nature and almost without rules. Has it lost the plot?

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Link

Runner's Knee

"Hi Gary
I was hoping you could help me. I did the XYZ Half Marathon last year and I finished it feeling great however I thought I would then go on and help a friend of mine finish the marathon (just the last km) however I suddenly got a bad pain in my left knee – since then I have had physio, acupuncture, pediatrician, I even had my leg measured and found my left leg was 4mm longer than my right leg so I had orthodics put in. I did rest for awhile (about a month) however it seems that when Im running I can get to the 10k mark then the pain starts and gets worse as I go along – going up hill seems to help it but its going down hill or on the straight that it is really bad. The physio said that it was runners knee however not sure what that problem is. The pain seems to start on the outside of my knee then goes further under my kneecap and sometimes above my knee. Im usually sore for the rest of the day and depending how far Ive run it may even be a bit sore the next day. I am trying to strengthen it up at the gym by using weights and sometimes even swimming or cycling to help.

I am at my wits end and I love my running and Im sick of this problem, do you have any other idea as to what my problem could be or what I should try next.
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Gary Moller comments:
You can now see why marathons and 1/2 marathons are a huge windfall for therapists of all persuasions - even pediatricians! The aftermath can be both financially and emotionally expensive.

If the injury is what you have described and what your physiotherapist says, then you have damaged the very delicate under surface of the knee cap. This is not good; but the good news is you will recover – eventually.

First of all, I think you can throw away the orthotics and replace them with a good quality innersole like Formthotics. I have never in 28 years seen an athlete benefit, other than briefly, from these and you are unlikely to be the exception. Your feet are shock absorbers; if they are not allowed to do their job properly, the energy gets transferred further up the legs to structures like the knees. They can actually cause worse problems down the track by accentuating weaknesses and imbalances. You need strong feet - not weak ones. Read the relevant sections about shoes and foot care in here. And do the exercises that you see in the last few pages of the Guide – the ones that stretch and open up the runner’s hips. Do these every time before and after a run. Tight hips throw huge strain on the knees, especially when running downhill. If you have a short leg (most of us do), (or is it a long leg??) the cause is most often in the pelvis and not the leg itself. The attention of a chiropractor might be beneficial along with regular practicing of the hip stretches recommended here. Consider purchasing a new pair of running shoes if the ones you have are worn, or are in any way uncomfortable.

When you go for a run
When you go running, keep the knees warm before, during and after. A long hot bath and a self massage about the knee caps is wonderful and will help healing.

• Stay off hard pavement, especially during winter. Run on trails, that twist and undulate, thus eliminating the relentless pounding monotony of running on pavement.
• Keep close to home by running in circles rather than out and back. Murphy's Law dictates that you will seize at the most remote point far away from Home!
• STOP running before your knee hurts and gradually build minute by minute, run by run no matter how long it takes to fully recover.
• Do not run every day. Have a rest day between runs (rest days can be active - go and swim or lift weights).
• Do fartlek and intervals that stretch, strengthen and get the run over and done with quickly; rather than your runs being a sucession of bland drawn out plods.
• Before you do your next marathon, or anything over 15 km, do a proper buildup of at least 12 weeks, as outlined in our marathon training guide along with plenty of races over short distances no longer than 10km. Join a running club, so you can do their race programme, even if you consider yourself a completly social runner (You will not be alone).

Doing strength work in the gym might help; but you must be very careful with the weights exercises not to stir the injury up. Make sure that you get instruction from an experienced instructor who has the appropriate qualifications. The key is to eliminate ongoing harm and to assist your body’s healing processes - not to stir it up.

You need to do the exercises in here whether you have weak feet or not and take a good, long look at your posture – how you place your feet, how you stand and how you walk and run and sit. If necessary, go do a few sessions with a posture expert like a person qualified in the Alexander Technique.

Go and see a sprint running coach who you can find via your local running club and get some lessons at the running track on doing running drills including bounding. Learn how to run tall, lightly and strong. Even if you consider yourself a social runner, this is one of the best actions any runner can take to have a long, enjoyable and injury-free time running life.

Nutrition to assist the body with healing itself

• Purchase some joint food here and take 6 teaspoons per day until finished.
• Also take 3 teaspoons of this daily until finished.
• And take 2 per day of these until finished.

These will help your body get its healing processes ahead of the ongoing damage that is happening. Take all of these with food and spread throughout the day, rather than all at once.

• Take a course of magnesium – one daily until finished.

Low magnesium may cause the muscles to be slow in relaxing, causing the thighs to pull on the knee cap when they should be relaxed. This is one reason for the painful seizing up towards the end of long, hard runs. Read this latest article on the subject.