Having a running blog can be a lot of fun when things are going well. It’s great to be able to talk about running accomplishments and exciting workouts completed.

However, it can be a real drag when the injury bug hits and running becomes painful. This is why my blog postings have really fallen off and I apologize for that.

The good news is that things are, in fact, getting better. The side-lying adductor exercise has really helped to stabilize my pelvis and my runner’s knee issues are much improved. The balloon blowing routine also seems to have helped my upper trapezius, but it is still not 100% perfect.

In dealing with all of these aches and pains, my training has taken a turn for the worse over the last few weeks, but I’m still planning on running in the hood to coast and race in late August.

Preparing for Future Speed Workouts

The challenge for me right now is to be able to run a few speed workouts prior to the race. As many of you know, it is very difficult to race very well if you only do easy, steady state running.

In order to maximize potential it is so important to run at least a few V02Max and lactate threshold workouts. Of course the problem with these workouts is that they put a lot more stress on the body than easy running and increase the chance of injury.

In order to lessen the injury risk, I am going to try two things when performing speed workouts in the next few weeks.

No More Concrete

First, I’m not going to run intervals on concrete. Concrete is really one of the worst surfaces on which to run. Its inherent hardness increases the stress on the lower leg and feet muscles tendons and bones.

Unfortunately running on concrete is easier for me because I try to do a lot of my running at work during my lunch hour. There are no dirt trails or synthetic tracks near my work. In order to get to a track, I’m going to have to run interval workouts in the evening after work.

Certainly not ideal, as I like to get home as soon as possible and see my kids. I will have to figure out a way to run the workouts as efficiently as possible.

Strengthening Calves

My second focus is to make a conscious effort to increase the strength of my calves. Many runners make the mistake of jumping into speed workouts without sufficient calf strength.

The increased pace of intervals and fast tempo runs forces the calf to do much more work than it is usually asked to do during easy runs. This can lead to a pretty nasty shin splint and achilles’ tendon issues.

In order to increase my calf strength, I am going to take the advice of Coach Jeff Gaudette over at RunnersConnect. He has a great article on prepping the calf muscles for speed work and racing.

One exercise that looks especially appealing is the eccentric heel drop.

I will also use the achilles’ tendon strength program in the Runners Connect Strength Training Program. Hopefully this will lessen the chance of injury.

I really hope that I’m able to get together a few good weeks of interval and tempo run workouts prior to the end of August. It’ll make the Hood to Coast race more enjoyed. I will certainly keep you updated.

Postscript – February, 2015

The 30 Minute Runner experiment ended after this post and never restarted.  The reason? Injuries.

One of the primary concerns I had with running workouts on only 30 minutes per day of running was the chance for injury.  Without higher mileage and long runs, I was worried that my body would not be strong enough to handle speed workouts.

This concern was validated.

When I started doing to 10-20-30 workouts, I simply did not have enough strength in my hips, hamstrings, and calves to handle the increased intensity. This led to multiple injuries and frustration.

I still think that the 10-20-30 workout can be a good way to obtain some high intensity training during a busy schedule, but it is critical to put in some base work – including runs over 30 minutes in length – prior to commencing the workouts.

So, in the end, the 30 Minute Runner experiment ended up being a failure. Unless a runner is blessed with tremendous biomechanics, I don’t see how it is possible to train for a fast 5k race on 30 minutes per day – with sufficient speed training – without getting injured.

Take a look on my new series on using the Egoscue Method to prevent the kinds of injuries that I sustained during the 30 Minute Runner Experiment.

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So my choices are to give up and go back to not running anymore, or making a serious effort to overcome the injury hurdle and get back to running injury free. I’ve chosen the latter path and have enlisted the help of a physical therapist to get me on the right track.

Postural Restoration Institute

The exercises that have been prescribed for me appear to be based on concepts from the Postural Restoration Institute. From what I can tell, Postural Restoration Institute is a approach to treating muscle imbalances in the body through a comprehensive evaluation of movement patterns. One of the focuses of the Postural Restoration Institute school of thought is to use proper breathing as a way to achieve stronger core muscles.

As I mentioned in my prior post, the main exercise for the back pain is to use the 90/90 hip lift balloon exercise. The idea of blowing up a balloon to combat back pain sounds a little crazy, but I have to say that I’ve experienced some progress.

Of course, the “progress” could all be in my head – the placebo effect – but my upper back already feels stronger and I understand the concept of trying to strengthen more core from the inside out.

As for the knee, the physical therapist prescribed the side lying adductor pull back exercise.  I could try to explain this rather complicated exercise, but it’s probably best to watch this video:

The basic idea of the exercise is to activate the adductor and glute medius muscle to assist in the stability of the femur. According to the therapist, one of the reasons for my knee pain is that my femur is basically inward due to the fact that my adductor and glute medius are not firing.

The unstable femur puts a tremendous amount of strain on the inner knee – thus the nasty and nagging “runner’s knee” pain.

Still Hoping for Hood to Coast

I apologize to all of those who have followed the blog over the last few months. It’s been pretty depressing with all of these injuries.  But it’s all worth it if someone is helped by any of my posts.  The biggest thing for me is to keep running and not give up like in the past.

I still have a goal to run in the Hood to Coast relay race at the end of August and also hope to run a tune-up 5k in July. However, I really need to get my body to state that allows me to run some solid tempos and interval workouts.  It is so hard to run a fast race without speed work.

Hopefully the techniques from Postural Restoration Institute can save the day. We will see!

The post Postural Restoration Institute – Hope For My Running Injuries? appeared first on The Runner's Resource.

However, the pain is back with a vengeance, so I decided to take a trip to a physical therapist.

A Surprising Diagnosis

Prior to my appointment, I thought that the therapist would recommend the standard strengthening exercises that other therapists have suggested to me for upper back pain, such as doing overhead shrugs, and “push-ups plus” type routines.

However, instead of suggesting that I strengthen the muscles on the outside of my rib cage, she felt that I should focus on my internal core muscles that assist with my breathing.

She took a look at my breathing patterns and felt that my short, weak breathing was causing all sorts of problems with my upper back muscles. Instead of using the powerful diaphragm muscle to work my lungs, my upper neck and back muscles, such as the trapezius and scalenes were doing most of the work.

These muscles are not designed to be the primary muscles for breathing, so they were getting incredibly overworked.

The Balloon Method

In order to fix my faulty breathing pattern, the physical therapist prescribed an exercise known as the 90/90 Hip Lift with Balloon. This exercise involves lying on your back with your feet on the wall.  After creating a slight hip lift, you breath in and blow into the balloon.

After you have breathed out fully, paused with your tongue on the roof of your mouth.  Don’t let any air from the balloon come back into your mouth, and don’t pinch the balloon to keep air out of your mouth.  After four seconds, inhale and repeat.  This video does a much better job of actually showing how this exercise is done:

Does the Balloon Method Work?

The short answer for me: It is too soon to tell. I’ve only been doing the exercise for a few days. Although I think that my back feels a bit better, this may be the placebo effect. I think it will take weeks for me to know whether my faulty breathing is the reason for my upper trapezius pain.

As always, I’ll keep you updated.

The post Can Blowing Up a Balloon Decrease Back Pain? appeared first on The Runner's Resource.

I ignored the knee pain when it first started – the pain was barely noticeable. It was probably just some phantom soreness after a hard run.

I still wasn’t too concerned when I felt the pain again the next day during a run.  This time it was a bit more localized on my inner knee, but I really did not want to take a day off and disrupt my training.

About 20 minutes into the run on the third day, I realized that I had developed a legitimate case of runner’s knee. The pain was pretty intense. After the run, I had a tough time bending my knee without pain and heard the dreaded “cracking” sound when I tried bending the knee joint.

Since my first experience with runner’s knee about two months ago, I have been working hard to find a way to get over this injury hurdle and get back to pain-free running.

I happy to report that, although I’m not 100%, my knee is feeling much better.  I attribute my improvement to two things:

• Diligently completing the hip exercises from the RunnersConnect Strength Training program twice per day – especially the clam shell exercises and side-lying hip abduction exercises, and
• Speeding up my running cadence. I haven’t spoken about cadence yet on the blog, so let me give a brief explanation.

What is Cadence?

Cadence simply refers to how often a runner’s feet hit the ground.  For example, if your feet hit the ground 160 times in one minute, you have a running cadence of 160.

This number may not seem like a big deal, but a low cadence may signal that a runner is over striding and subjecting his or her lower body to increased and unnecessary impact forces.  Based on research by the famed running coach, Jack Daniels, the optimal running cadence is about 180.

In dealing with my knee pain, I discovered that I had a cadence of about 150. Although I don’t think my slow stride was the sole reason for my knee pain, the increased impact force on my lower leg from the low cadence certainly exacerbated my pain.

After discovering my low cadence, I immediately worked to increase my turnover rate and get up to the 180 number.  It was incredibly awkward at first – I was putting each foot down so fast that it felt like my shoelaces were tied together.  However, by my third and fourth run, my knee actually started to feel better.

How to Measure Cadence

The easiest way to measure cadence is to use a running watch such as the Garmin Forerunner 310xt (with a foot pod).  With a foot pod tied to your running shoes, Garmin and other running watches will give you a real time read on your specific cadence.

Although I have a Forerunner 310xt, I have not yet purchased a foot pod, so I am measuring my cadence the old fashioned way: counting my steps. Here’s how I do it:

1. Every mile or so, I glance at my watch and notice the specific time
2. For thirty seconds, I count each time my left foot hits the ground
3. I then double this number to account for my other foot (i.e. if my left foot hit the ground 45 times, my cadence for 30 seconds if 90).
4. Then double the number for both feet to get my cadence for a minute (i.e. 45 times for my left, doubled to 90 for both feet, doubled to 180 for one minute).

Again, the goal is to be at around 180 per minute.  If I am below this number, I make a conscious effort to pick my feet up faster.

That’s all there is to it.

Unfortunately, my effort to increase running cadence has not helped my trapezius pain, but I hope that a visit to a physical therapist this week will help.

The post Want to Reduce Injury Risk? Increase Your Running Cadence appeared first on The Runner's Resource.

I apologize for not posting in a while.  To be honest, I’ve been really frustrated this past week about an injury situation that is threatening to derail my goals for 30 Minute Runner 2.0.

Trapezius Pain as a Running Injury?

If you’ve been following my prior posts, you know that I had originally scraped my plans during my original 30 Minute Runner experiment after I experienced some serious runner’s knee pain.

Well, the knee pain is much better after following the exercise prescriptions in the Runner’s Connect Strength Training Program. However, an old injury foe has decided to make its presence known in my training: trapezius pain caused (I think) my lack of scapular stability.

I have had trapezius pain off and on for about three years. It is certainly an odd injury for a runner to have…I am mean how much do runners really use their upper backs?

Nevertheless, about 20-30 minutes into my run, I get a stabbing pain in my upper trapezius that makes running super painful.

A Threat to the 30 Minute Runner 2.0 Experiment

I originally thought that I beat this injury a year ago my working on strengthening the trapezius muscle, but the pain is back.  Due to the pain, I wasn’t able to run my scheduled fartlek workout in the Run Faster program last week and had a super painful long run on Sunday.

Over the years I have invested a lot of thought into why my trapezius sometimes hurts so much during running.  I think the main culprit is my terrible posture when I’m working at my desk at work.

Whatever the cause, the injury really sucks.  One real downer is that many runners have experienced common running injuries such as runner’s knee, achilles tendonitis, and plantar fasciitis, but don’t have any problems with their upper backs.

Therefore, it is really hard to get good solid advice on the best way to treat this injury. I have an appointment scheduled with a physical therapist next week and am crossing my fingers that she will be able to help me continue with the 30 Minute Runner 2.0 experiment.

Stay tuned!

Photo courtesy of Galex

The post Trapezius Pain: A New Threat to My Running Goals appeared first on The Runner's Resource.

The more things change the more they stay the same. Although I’m shifting to a different training plan, my running last week wasn’t all that different to my old plan – minus the 10-20-30 workouts.

Training in the “Introductory Period”

As I mentioned in my post explaining the 30 Minute Runner 2.0 plan, I am following the excellent advice in the book Run Faster by Brad Hudson and Matt Fitzgerald.  As explained in the book, quality training plans should always include  3-5 week “introductory period” of training.

During this period, the focus is on building mileage volume and strengthening the body for future speed and threshold workouts. Therefore, I ran an average of 30-35 minutes five days last week. On Monday and Thursday, I included one set of hill sprints.

The whole idea of using hill sprints as a method of injury training is still pretty foreign to me.  However, I’m going to commit to them and see if it improves my bad track record when it comes to running injuries.

On Sunday, I ran a five mile long run – long runs are something that were missing from my original plan. I think they are a key component of building aerobic endurance, strength, and reducing the chance of injury.

Status of My Runner’s Knee Injury

Speaking of injuries, I’m still working on fixing my runner’s knee.  My knee feels much better than it did a few weeks ago. The RunnersConnect strength training routines are fantastic and are helping to strengthen my weak hips, glutes, and quads.

Of course the real challenge is to commit to the strength program.  This can be really tough – especially with a busy schedule – but I am trying to include at least a few of the exercises in the RunnersConnect program after every run.

Another thing that is helping my knee is self-massage on my quad muscles.  After poking around a little, I discovered that my outer quad on my affected leg is super tight. I think the tight quad is slightly pulling my knee cap off its track, which causes pain on the inner portion of my knee.

I’ve been using a foam roller to loosen it up a bit – using the roller hurts a bit, but I think it’s working.

More Introductory Training – And Hood to Coast?

During the next few weeks, I am going to continue to build as much mileage as possible with my busy schedule and continue focusing on hill sprints at the end of some of my runs.

My hope that smart “introductory” training will provide me with a solid foundation for the speed workouts and threshold runs that will come later in the plan.

By now, you might be saying, “This all sounds great, Casey, but what are you training for?” Good question.

A few of the teammates on my old college team are pushing me to run on their Hood to Coast team in August.  If you don’t know, the 200 mile Hood to Coast race is one of the largest relay races in the world.  The course winds from Mount Hood in Oregon to the Oregon Coast.

If I run, I will be expected to run at least three legs of the relay, with distances that vary from 3 miles to 7 miles. I obviously have a ton of work to do to get into shape, but I think I will try it.  It will certainly provide me with plenty of motivation.

The first week of 30 Minute Runner 2.0 is in the books. Onward!

The post Building the Base for Hood to Coast – 30 Minute Runner 2.0 appeared first on The Runner's Resource.

If you’ve been following my 30 Minute Runner experiment, you know that I wanted to see how fast I could race a 5k with only 30 minutes of running per day.  In order to give myself the best chance to succeed, I decided to jump right into high intensity interval training workouts to help improve my VO2Max.

The main workout that I used was the 10-20-30 workout which a recent study showed to be a quick but very effective option for increasing a runner’s VO2Max. Unfortunately, I got a little too excited about this workout and underestimated its intensity.

Long story short – I now have some knee tendonitis that is preventing me from running – not cool!

You can see the sad state of my training by looking at the data from my Garmin Forerunner 310XT in the month of April.  There are far too many days with no running.

This is certainly not a pretty running log, but I want you to understand exactly what I’m going through.  I don’t want to hold anything back because you may be able to learn from my mistakes and avoid the problems I’m experiencing in my training.

I have been following the excellent RunnersConnect strength training program – including the Bia strengthening hip routine and the specific exercises for runner’s knee. These routines have helped to improve my knee pain, but I have a long way to go to improve my strength.

So What’s the Plan Now?

Well, I think I’m done with the 10-20-30 workouts for a while.  While I believe it is an effective workout, they are way more intense than I originally thought due to the constant changes in speed.  My body clearly was not ready for the intensity and I paid the price.

Instead of chasing a secret workout, I think I need to go back to the tried and true methods of periodization and gradual progression used by running coaches for decades. In other words, I should have focused on building a solid aerobic base and then gradually have introduced speed into my training.

Instead, I jumped into some pretty intense speed and am now paying for it. Don’t make my mistake.

Using the Run Faster Principles of Coach Brad Hudson

While I am disgusted with my dumb training plan that got me injured, the 30 Minute Runner experiment is not over.  I’m currently working on a smarter training plan that allows my body to gradually adapt to higher intensity running.

One book that is really helping me think about training plans is Run Faster from the 5k to the Marathon by Brad Hudson and Matt Fitzgerald.  Brad has coached many great American runners, including Dathan Ritzenhein, and details his training principles in this easy to read book.

Run Faster is a fantastic introduction to building a training plan and gives reader plenty of tools to customize plans – even on a very busy schedule.

My favorite training book had been Daniels’ Running Formula by the great coach Jack Daniels.  But Coach Hudson’s book is a bit easier to digest – it is not as scientific Daniels’ Book – and provides some great insights the best way to adapt a training plan to your specific circumstances.  I’ll share more about the book in the coming days and weeks.

Until then, I’m focused on clearing up my knee tendonitis and returning to pain-free running.

Have you ever rushed into a training plan only to get injured?

Do you have any advice for me in coming back from injury?

The post My Training Plan Got Me Injured – What Now? – 30 Minute Runner appeared first on The Runner's Resource.

If you haven’t been following the saga of my battle with runners knee, here is a brief recap.

Last month, I decided to see whether I could run a decent 5k on only 30 minutes of running per day.  My plan was to use high intensity interval training, including the 10-20-30 workout, to maximize my fitness gains.

However, I made a huge mistake of jumping right into full 10-20-30 workouts without getting my body used to speed workouts.  I was fine for the first few workouts sessions, but I soon developed a bad case of runners knee – in my case, pain in the inner knee next to the patella.

Like so many runners, I stupidly ignored the pain and pressed on with my training.  Of course, that only made things worse and I was forced to take some days off and look for ways to treat the injury.

My Initial Runners Knee Treatment Plan

My first idea on how to treat my runners knee pain was to do some strength training to build up my inner quad muscle – also known as the “VMO” muscle. Many running web sites refer to a weak VMO muscle as a key cause of knee pain.

After two weeks, I can report that the VMO strengthening exercises are helping to an extent, but the improvement is very gradual. I also tried to mix in some squatting exercises to strengthen the entire quad muscle, however, I’m just not seeing rapid improvement.

“Frustrated” does not even begin to describe my emotions.

I think many injured runners have given up in my current stage.  There is a common pattern: A runner gets excited adding mileage or additional speed work to his or her training program. The runner then does far too much intensity too soon and develops knee pain from overuse.

The runner may try to few things to treat the injury (i.e. ice, strength training, etc.), but when those things do not provide immediate relief, the runner gives up running for a while.  All prior fitness is lost.

Well, I’m breaking that pattern. I’m not giving up!

My New Runners Knee Treatment Plan – RunnersConnect Strength Training

I have decided to stop watching random knee exercise videos on YouTube and aimlessly searching the web for treatment advice.  Instead, I am making a commitment to use the RunnersConnect.net Strength Training Program.

I have heard a lot of great things about the RunnersConnect Program and actually competed in races against the creator of the program, Coach Jeff Gaudette, when I was a college runner (yes, he beat me every time we raced).  He is a great guy who knows his stuff.

The RunnersConnect Strength Training Program is a comprehensive program for the entire body designed to treat and prevent running injuries. It includes information on speed and form drills, plyometrics, core work, lower leg strengthening and so much more.

To attack my runners knee pain, I’m going to focus on the hip strength routine known as Bia (named after the Ancient Greek Goddess of Force). Based on information I have learned from Coach Jeff and other sources, I really think that my weak hips are the primary cause of my knee pain.

The Bia routine includes 10 different exercises all designed to improve hip mobility and strength.  The workouts only take about 5-10 minutes to complete, but they are intense.

I completed the Bia hip exercises for the first time today and my lack of hip mobility is really eye-opening.  The Bia routine comes with a video in which Jeff and another runner demonstrate the exercises, but my mobility does not come close to matching the mobility of those guys.

Obviously, I have a long way to go.

Follow me on my journey to treat and cure runners knee and get back to my 30 Minute Runner experiment. If you also are battling knee pain, get the RunnersConnect Strength Training Program and do the workouts with me. I’d love to have company and bounce ideas off others.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about whether the Program is right for you.

* Please note that I do earn a small commission if you purchase RunnersConnect Program through the link above. I really appreciate your support of The Runner’s Resource – it helps keep the site going!

The post RunnersConnect: My New Runners Knee Battleplan – 30 Minute Runner appeared first on The Runner's Resource.

So there is good news to report on the injury front.  After taking two days off, I was able to run on Thursday without much pain. I took it pretty easy and paid close attention to my knee to ensure that there was no irritation.  I also tried to keep away from hills and tried to run only on flat ground.

It was great to get in a good run and I now have some hope that I’ll be able to run a (low intensity) 10-20-30 workout over the weekend.

My Runner’s Knee Treatment Strategy

In addition to the VMO strengthening exercises that I mentioned in my prior post, I am also focusing on strengthening my hips and glute muscles though one-legged squats similar to the exercises in this video:

Obviously, my weak muscles were not quite ready for the intensity of the 10-20-30 speed workouts when I first started them. From what I can tell, my hip, glute, and quad muscles (especially on the left side) pretty much failed to hold up to the increased workload and my poor knee joint had to compensate.

If I could rewind time, I would have incorporated lower body strengthening exercises into my routine while I was running nothing but steady easy runs prior to the start of the 30 Minute Runner project.

Important Lessons for the 30 Minute Runner Project

This past week has been a tremendous learning experience for me.  Lessons that I have learned include the following:

1. The 10-20-30 Workout is Intense: It is so easy to be fooled by the 10-20-30 workout due to the fact that the toughest portions of the workout are only 10 seconds.  However, there are a lot of 10 second intervals in each workout and the 100% effort of these intervals really puts strain on the body.

2. The Importance of Strength Training Prior to Speed Workouts: As I mentioned in my first post in the 30 Minute Runner series, my running routine prior to starting the 30 Minute Runner project was to run an easy 30 minutes 5-6 times per week for nine months.  I thought this was enough base training to prevent injury during the transition to speed workouts.

I was wrong.

The easy run base training got me in decent aerobic shape, but it did not do much for my weak lower body muscles.  Instead of focusing only on easy running during the base building stage, I should have incorporated some targeted strength training exercises for my glutes, hips, and quads.

I think that building lower body muscle strength – in addition to building my aerobic base – could have prevented the knee pain that I am experiencing this week.

3. Listen to My Body: As I mentioned in my prior post, one constant pattern in my running career is that I don’t listen to my body very well.  I am so quick to ignore pain and try to push through injuries.

So I’m making a pledge.

For the rest of the 30 Minute Runner project, I am going to do my best to listen to my body and take a day off even if mind pushes me to keep running.

However, I have one favor to ask of you: Can you keep me honest?

If you notice a post or tweet in which I’m taking about feeling pain please remind me: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!

Hopefully my training will get back to normal by next week. Until then, happy running!

The post Strengthening Hips and Glutes to Treat Runner’s Knee – 30 Minute Runner appeared first on The Runner's Resource.

Fortunately, after years of searching, I think I have found what I believe to be the best sprained ankle treatment. It’s called the H.E.M. Ankle Rehab System by Scott Malin.

What is H.E.M. and How Does it Help Treat Sprained Ankles?

The H.E.M. system utilizes three steps to promote healing:

• Healthy Blood Flow: The first step of H.E.M. is to increase the flow of healthy blood and nutrients to the injured area.
• Eliminate Swelling: The second step of H.E.M. is to reduce swelling as quick as possible in order to help the healing process and prevent the formation of scar tissue.
• Mobility: The third and final step of H.E.M. is to increase mobility of the ankle and build strength, stability, and range of motion.

Preventative Exercises to Prevent a Sprained Ankle

Even you don’t currently have a sprained ankle right now, Scott’s System has a number of videos with ankle stretching and strengthening exercises to prevent sprained ankles. If you run on a lot of rocky trails, or simply seem to suffer a lot of sprained ankles, these exercises should become a standard part of your training.

The H.E.M. Ankle Rehab System contains a 100+ page ebook that is packed with information and twenty 3-5 minute videos that summarize the sprained ankle treatment methods. Even better, Scott’s site has a forum in which he quickly responds to any questions. The System is highly recommended.

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