Get your flu shot

Wednesday, October 26, 2016 · Mike Davis

Good morning!

Apologize for my absence. I have been focused on other things as of late and others things have been neglected. In any event, grab a cup of coffee and pull up a stool.

Do you know of someone that gets the flu and then goes out and gets a flu shot? While we may not know that person, we all surely know people that are reactive to things versus proactive. I certainly can be that person at times, to the point of wanting to smack myself for knowing better!

Running is the easiest part of being a runner and for many runners it stops there. Thankfully Yoga, Pilates and strength training have been discovered by the running community to be beneficial to their running. Sadly, these additional activities or cross training as they are referred to, are not typically considered until an injury occurs. Whether it is on the advice of a doctor, a physical therapist, a running coach or even a knowledgeable friend, adding cross training is usually because something negative forces the consideration.

Runners like to run anywhere between 3 and 6 days a week and it is often difficult to fit in two or even one decent day for cross training. As a running coach, I write a lot of training plans and often when I sit back and look at a client’s week of training I just designed, I question if they will fit in all that I want them to accomplish. If the client were single, without needing to work and free of any other responsibilities, it would be easy to create the ideal training plan that included both running and cross training. I have had one such client in all my time working with runners. What often initially happens with our No Finish Line Running clients is we negotiate what they can reasonably do in a typical week of training. Most every runner that comes to us have an enthusiasm that often leads them to overextend their schedule and that typically always results in cross training being left out of executing their weekly training plan. Runners want to run and believe that to be better at running, they must run.

It makes great sense that if I am training for a 26.1 miles or even a 5K and cannot fit everything into a weekly training plan, I will not miss a run. But I will sacrifice cross training if my schedule is tight. I also get tired during the week and I understand that running is my focus so I will get through my 4 runs and be somewhat pleased but, my strength training is a casualty of a long day at work. I am most definitely that runner that guy at times.

Running strong and healthy requires far more than just running. We utilize many muscles as runners, stretch out many ligaments, beat up so much of our tissue and in general challenge our bodies to hold up to repetitive pounding when we run. All of which comes at a cost. Running certainly strengthens some muscles but overall it challenges our bodies and most runners lose that challenge. Overuse is a term you often hear for a reason for an injury and what that essentially means is our injury was caused by a repetitive action. Running is repetitive and there is no getting around that so how do we avoid “overuse?”

Balance is our best strategy in combating overuse injuries. Instead of focusing on solely running, we are educating our NFLR clients and training groups on the benefits of cross training. More specifically, studies are finding that strength training and or Pilates both help runners to become stronger and reduce the chances of injury. It only makes sense if a runner strengthens their supporting muscles and improves the lengthening process they will better handle the repetitive pounding that comes with running.

We spend a lot of time with our clients negotiating their training and we strongly push for a balanced training plan that might mean less running if necessary. Sacrificing strength training or other cross training should not be the first choice in tough week. We instead try to create a personal training plan that allows for modification to fit in valuable cross training. To be a stronger runner it is imperative that runners have a balanced training plan and not just a running plan. This gives the runner the best opportunity for healthy running as well as improved running.

Another day I will chat about other ways that runners can be preemptive in their running for both health and performance. It is important that we change our mindsets about our running.

Have a great rest of the week!

God Bless!

Mike