Entry bubble Muscle Pains

By: Colleen | September 23, 2009 | Category: Health

Apparently because I've turned 26 my body has started to break down on me. Okay, that's being a little dramatic, but it feels like the truth.

Last year I set a goal to run in and survive my first 10-miler. I did, and it was great. After years of just hitting the treadmill to keep myself from looking like a whale, it was nice to have another purpose for my efforts. After completing the 10, I figured why not try for a half-marathon? It's only 3.3 miles more.

This leads me to today. I'm trying to get serious about this training, but my body just won't let me. On an average day, I like to run about 40 minutes and I can do that comfortably. A few weeks ago my left achilles started to get tender and sensitive. This is not an uncommon injury for a runner, and I've had to deal with it being much worse in the past. I'd let it rest a few days, and then get back to business. It would be fine for that first run back, but only get irritated again as I continued my work-outs. With lots of stretching and icing, I seem to have that under control.

Now my problems have shifted to my right calf muscle. It's very, very tight and is significantly painful enough to not let me get much past 20 minutes of running. As far as I know, I'm doing everything to ease this away, but it won't budge. I stretch, apply heat compression, massage, and you can smell the icy-hot on me a mile away. (Which may have a direct effect on my dating life...)

Since I haven't been able to train the way I'd like due to injury, I've started taking spin classes. Spinning is NO JOKE and it applies a lot less pressure to my joints and calf muscles. Now I'm starting to worry if I'll be able to fit in the proper training I need before the race in November.

Any runners / athletes out there have any similar experiences? What helped / hurt your healing process? Any recommendations?

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Entry bubble Run Off Your Thanksgiving Turkey!

By: Jake | November 24, 2008 | Category: Health

JoggerTurkey Day is this week and Nancy will be here to assist you with all your Thanksgiving needs (you need to provide your own dinner, of course). If you're like some of my friends, you're already wondering how you are going to work that dinner off your body. Might I suggest going for a jog?

It may seem like an odd suggestion coming from someone who's not a runner, but I've noticed recently that running is a good way to work off any meal - big or small. My girlfriend always wanted to run a marathon and she ran the Richmond Marathon last week. After she signed up for it in August she averaged 25 miles of running per week, along with exercises to strengthen her core. She did this in addition to her demanding job as a fifth grade teacher (seriously - not an easy job). I played the role of Mickey Goldmill by cooking, cleaning, and getting a bike to help her train on some of her longer distance runs.

She had a diet she followed during her training, but she was able to eat a lot more than usual. You may not want to train for a marathon but, at the very least, running provides a way to work off those (sometimes) excessive holiday meals. There is plenty of government information on exercise, but there isn't a lot regarding running. I did find information about running by searching Healthfinder.gov from the American Podiatric Medical Association and American Academy of Podiatric Sports. As you might imagine, running causes a lot of stress on your feet and it is important you select the right shoes. In addition to taking a look at those links, you should check with your doctor about how you should approach running to make it a permanent hobby so you can always say yes to that second helping of turkey.

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