I've been running for half my life, since high school. One of the things that used to frustrate me the most has become one of my favorite aspects of the sport: injuries. I would prefer not to deal with injuries, but having learned how to better care for my body by discovering and applying solutions to strengthen my weaknesses fascinates me and definitely makes me better than I otherwise would be. I am paused for a while, only to go farther than I imagined.
I have had three babies, and my body has the abdomen gap known as diastasis recti. I didn’t even know it was a thing until our second boy was 2. By then I’d incurred damage with intense exercise I so far can’t heal. But the rest of my body has adapted, and I feel wise and healthy about the solutions I’ve collected and applied to my workouts. The evidence shows strength and fitness. Maybe I won’t run Olympics trials, but I get to have adventures and stay healthy and bring home some bling. Here are some of my favorite solutions. One is for plantars fasciitis from a long time ago, and the rest are for my hips/glutes/IT band. I hope they can help other runners stay in the race.
- I’ve had this one a few years, since my first half-marathon training in the fall of 2015. Plantars fasciitis is when the ligament on the bottom of your foot between your toes and heal is inflamed. This stretch has left me free of any pf symptoms since I discovered how effective it is to sit on my heels with my toes curled under. I do it for 30 seconds before and after every single run, and sometimes when I am getting laundry out or finding a pan in a low cabinet. It feels soooooooo good. It saves time to do it when I’m changing into my bra and running shirt beforehand, and afterward I do it while drinking water through a straw. Seriously one of the persistently effective stretches I have. Don't do it more than 30 seconds, though, or it gets too rough on your toes.
- This is a move from a free Rebecca Pacheco yoga video that she did for runners: Click here to view it. It’s called Figure 4, and it can be done standing or while lying on one’s back. The supporting leg is strong through the glutes, while the bent leg resting on the other knee receives a deeply satisfying stretch through the hips and IT band.
3. Also from Rebecca Pacheco’s video, this move, a lizard lunge with a pigeon of some sort (I know my yogi vocabulary is expert...), opens the hips and stretches the quad. If your back foot can reach your hand, then the stretch is deepened. If not, then pushing against the front thigh adds resistance to increase the stretch.
4. After doing the lizard-pigeon-thing in the last move, this deep squat with flat feet and straight spine is an amazing hip stretch of opening and adjusting proportions. This one took me a while to achieve, and now my hip flexors are much happier.
5. 6. 7. These moves all help me activate my glutes. Each day I always do 20 donkey kicks (and then fire hydrants (not pictured) with a resistance band. Who knew such a simple move could have profound stabilizing effects on my hips and glutes. After these, I choose to do either squats OR lunges, not usually both on the same day. Deep squats and lunges, intentionally using my glutes and hips, not just my quads, have really helped me use my hips as a fulcrum in my form, with help from my glutes. It has really changed my fitness to realize how my glute muscles have to be turned on before I begin my runs. Otherwise, they let my quads do all the work. And that makes my IT band sad. Glute activation—so many ways to Google and explore. In the picture of the squat I have a balance board (from Five Below for $5 a couple years ago). That has also helped me focus on finding my core strength, to do squats while not wobbling.
8. 9. I saved my favorite injury prevention tool for last. Gua sha muscle scraping massage has saved.my.running. I wrote a blog post on it months ago, so I won’t go into detail again. Research it. Pros are using this ancient Chinese blood flow tool to recover injured muscles AND prepare muscles to not get injured. It healed my IT band woes of years that physical therapy and rest didn’t affect. The initial therapy was painful and caused intense bruising (last photo), but after a week or two, the muscles were recovered. Now I do it every day before and after my runs on my IT bands, as well as the tops, bottoms, and backs of my feet— no pain and no bruising, just simple injury prevention through deep tissue blood flow. You can find a range of prices on Amazon for Gua sha blades. This is the one I got : Stickon. The dull side of a butter knife also works well, so know you don’t have to spend ridiculous prices just because those tools exist.
Running is such a blessing because of how it intensely requires a harmony between mind and body, breath and tissue, muscles and bones. Our bodies require lots of warming, stretching, and repair to grow in this sport. As much as aging can discourage a person, I keep praising God for how my body repairs so many parts between each day’s run. My body will last less than my spirit. Scripture tells so much of how Christ repairs and progresses our souls. Running magnifies the glory of that for me.
Isaiah 40:31: "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
1 Peter 5:10: And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
True Peace and recovery to you!
