Sick

Have been sick this couple of days due to running nose and sore throat. I think I passed the flu to my wife too who is having a bad throat today.

Hope to get well soon and back to my training again.

I will come back with further updates a couple of days later.

Pounding on Pavement

Running season, many running questions and comments.

One common comment that I heard is that the runner should not run too much on the pavement so that he / she can have less leg injuries such as knee pain or shin splint due to the pounding on the pavement.

This is quite true. Remember your physics lessons? Newton's 3rd law (bet you might have prayed for durians to drop on Newton rather than apples when you were studying physics) states that for every force, there is an equal and opposite reaction force. Thus, for every stride you take on the pavement, there is a reaction force back to your foot. So imagine the impact on your leg.

So how do you reduce the impact? There are a few ways -

(1) Run on treadmill
(2) Run on grass
(3) Run on sand

Although running on treadmill can be boring for some runners, it offers quite a lot of benefits for training. For example, you can monitor your pace closely with the speed control or increase intensity by increasing the gradient. You can also practice 2 training methods on the treadmill - LSD (long slow distance) and interval training.

In LSD training, the exercise continues as long as you are able to maintain your heart rate within the prescribed zone and energy is available. LSD is performed at an intensity less than that normally used so that the duration of the workout can be longer. The goals of LSD training include development of endurance in supporting musculature, and fat utilization within corresponding glycogen (carbo) sparing. Typical training sessions last between 30 minutes and 2 hours. To prevent overtraining, LSD should not take place more than twice a week. LSD is suitable for beginners, athletes recovering from injury and special population such as the elderly. LSD is also suitable for long distance runners or swimmers.

I have talked about interval training or sprint training in an earlier blog. Interval training can be quite tough and I would recommend that you build up a certain level of fitness before you try this form of training, either on the treadmill or outdoors. Interval training is suitable not only for runners, but also other sports such as football, rugby, tennis, etc.

If you still find running on treadmill boring, you can try to run on grass or sand or hilly places. This is a form of training called the Fartlek training. If I did not remember wrongly, it is invented by the Swedish? Swiss? Can't recall, anyway not important for you, right?

Unfortunately, Singapore do not have much lush greens for us to run on grass. Probably you can try Bishan Park or find any football fields and run around it. MacRitchie's ground is actually rather hard. Another place to do Fartlek training in Singapore may be Sentosa Island where you can run on sand or hills. East coast may also be a place for you to run on sand. The sand would absorb much of your impact when you run, thus, you would need more leg power (quadriceps / hamstring / calves) to run.

Don't just run and run, remember to rest and recover properly too.

The Most Expensive Parking Lot in Singapore?

I brought my mum to Fort Canning Park for a Friday morning walk yesterday. While we were passing by car park B, we saw this parking sign depicting S$100 for 1/2 hourly parking! So funny.

Fort Canning Park is a lovely place to walk. You could get up from the steps beside MICA building; or from the steps opposite Liang Court or if you are not keen with steps, the slope is slightly less challenging from the Registry of Marriages. You may see some historical sites and cannon.

The top of the hill is about 7 or 8 stories high. If my mum, 68, can get up there without any problems, you can too! There is a fort which you can climb up to as well at the top of the hill. Find it for yourself if you go there.

The Importance of Stretching

The Stanchart Marathon is on 3 Dec 06 (Sun) and is about 8 weeks away. I met a few runners who have come to me for post training recovery massage and to release tight muscles such as hamstrings and ITB (Iliotibial Band).

I realised that some of them are not aware that proper stretching is a necessary part of the training. One of the benefits of stretching, as many are aware, is to increase flexibility as muscles may be tight after a whole day of sedentary work or after some exercise.

Stretching can also help recovery as to reducing muscle soreness (DOMS or delay onset of muscle soreness), which occurs one or 2 days after a heavy bout of exercise. To verify this, I skipped stretching after my 30 minute run a couple of months ago. For the next few days, I experienced muscle tightness in my legs that I have not had before. I kept stretching and stretching to relieve the tightness. After this verification, stretching reaffirmed as a compulsory part of my routine after exercise.

It is also claimed that stretching may help to prevent injuries. This is not true, stretching cannot prevent injuries, but it may help to reduce the risk of injury. How does stretching do so?

As I have mentioned above, stretching helps to relieve muscle tightness. One less known fact for laypeople is that muscles usually work in pairs. For example, the biceps and the triceps; the quadriceps and hamstrings. In technical terms, we call this the agonist (prime mover, eg, biceps in a biceps curl) and the antagonist (triceps in a biceps curl). This is a wonder of the human body creation that made sure our body movements are controlled. However, I am not talking about movement kinetics in this article. So, back to stretching.

One of the common causes of sports injuries is muscle imbalance. If the quadriceps are heavily worked on but the hamstring are weak(as in the case of many runners), there is an increased risk of hamstring pull or strain. Thus, stretching and strengthening exercises must be done on both the quadriceps and hamstring muscles to prevent muscle imbalances.

Another common injury is the ankle injury which I have talked about in an earlier article. The key pair of muscles for the ankle movements (such as tip toe or plantar flexion) are the calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus) and anterior tibialis (located on the shin). Many people do not work on the calf muscles, not to say the anterior tib which is less known. This unawareness may also lead to another injury called the shin splint, which is pain along any part of the shin.

So if you are running for leisure or for marathon training, what are the muscles in the lower limb you should stretch? These are the more important muscle groups I think you should stretch:

(1) Quadriceps
(2) Hamstring
(3) Outer calf (gastrocnemius)
(4) Inner calf (soleus)
(5) Anterior Tibialis (major muscle on the shin)
(6) Outer Thigh (Iliotibial Band and abductors)
(7) Inner Thigh (adductors)
(8) Hip Flexors (Iliopsoas)
(9) Hip Extensors (Gluteus group or butt)
(10) Piriformis (deeper glute muscles)

Don't know how to stretch? Call me, email me or drop me a comment here...

If you need a rub down (massage) after your training or strength and conditioning advice for your training, contact me too.