Stuck in a (running) rut? Change!

Dear Dr. Donahue:

I need help. I’ve been training hard for more than a year. At first, I made big gains quickly. For the past three months, I’ve been stuck in one place. I am not improving. I think I might even been losing some ground. What’s gone wrong, and how can I get out of this rut?

Answer:
Every exerciser [and runner] reaches a plateau where it seems all progress stops.

Don’t feel that you are stuck there forever.

In the early stages of training, progress is rapid. That’s because muscles and brain are working together. The brain recruits muscle fibers that were previously unused. Bringing those fibers into action speeds progress. You’re not actually building muscle size. That takes time. Furthermore, the body learns how to do things more efficiently, another spur to progress. Don’t compare the early days of exercise with the later days. In the later days, you are actually building muscle strength and size.

• If you are regressing, take a break.
• Regression indicates that you’re overdoing and you need a rest.
• If you’re not losing ground but not gaining ground, then you make some changes in your program.
• You’re spending too much time doing the same exercises in the same way.
• You have to challenge your body with a new routine.
• If you don’t know how to go about this, visit your local library.
• You’ll find many books on exercise techniques that will help you develop a whole new program.
• Change the sequence of your exercises.
• If you’ve been exercising your lower body first, put those exercises toward the end of your sessions.
• Change the speed of your exercises.
• Change the number of repetitions.
• Change the amount of weight you lift.
• Change the rest time between exercises.

By “change,” I mean either increase or decrease what you’re doing.

Comment:
This article appeared in the newspaper recently, and what caught my attention was the similarity that exists between one type of exercise and another—running in this case—no difference really when you actually think about the physiological processes involved with adaptation, improvement and reassessment.

I believe if an athlete keeps a daily running log, the assessment can be methodically evaluated, and a plan or approach can be efficiently put in place. In any event, if the athlete is training for a consistent period of time, say for five to six weeks, a fairly rapid rise in the training effect, fitness, can be had. Depending on the stress load–how much running, what kind of intervals, Repeats, Tempo, rest intervals, illness, work or school deadlines, or even races–the athlete is under, that improvement often times is incremental or at least a plateau-effect might be taking place. Also, you may be impatient, expecting too much too soon.

If any of those stress loads can be altered, the progress can be upward again. Ergo, it is important to have a tool [running log] to evaluate what you are doing and how you are doing it so your progress or lack thereof, can be scientifically examined.

A couple of devices are usually in place to evaluate progress—and they may be hit or miss at best. Often times, athletes will judge how “easy” a workout is and say, “I am improving because I did this workout earlier, and now it seems easier than before.” The problem with this kind of “evaluation” is that other factors can and often are interfering with the results. For instance, the weather– humidity, heat, cold, wind, even elevation–or training partners can make all the difference. What now seems easier, or harder, could really be the difference in circumstance. One time in cross country, our runners felt they really improved significantly in one week’s time because their 5K times on the same course were so much better from one week to the next. On the whole the team improved 12 seconds, but in reality, the only difference was that the grass was much shorter the 2nd time on the course!

The other “evaluation technique” used is race-time improvement, but that too is misleading. It might be the circumstances are different, maybe more competition, the track itself, the weather, what was done in the days preceding the “race,” illness, or injury. All kinds of circumstances may interfere with a precise evaluation of progress. In the end, it comes back to the log, and for this reason, keeping a daily log is an athletes’ best friend. Remember that the next time you are wondering why you are not improving, or in the circumstance you ran the race of your life, you immediately begin thinking, “how can I repeat this effort?” Your log will give you all the answers, and that only depends on what you wrote, how detailed you were, and whether you go back and read it again.

Shin pain – 3 common causes

My basketball-playing teen has sore legs. They told him at his school that it is shin splints. My husband says this is common, and that my son can play through the pain. This boy never complains about anything. He is complaining about his legs.

The complaint: having lower leg pain in the shin-bone area. The shin is the lower leg bone, the bone between the ankle and the knee. Its real name is the tibia. Shin splints is just another way of saying that there is pain the region of that bone. It’s not a diagnosis.

The precise cause of shin pain ought to be determined. Howev3r, most of the causes result from overuse, and their treatment involves rest and taking anti-inflammatory medicines, like Aleve, Advil and Motrin. Moist heat also helps. And often a change of shoes is required. The boy should definitely not “play through the pain.”

Medial, tibial-stress syndrome is one big cause of shin pain. Leg muscles adjacent to the shin pull on the bone’s covering, the periosteum. That inflames the periosteum and produces pain. If your son bends his foot upward [dorsal flexion] and that increases the pain, that’s a sign of periosteal inflammation. People with this syndrome often have a foot that rotates too much to the big-toe side when the foot hits the ground. A change to a shoe that prevents this rolling over prevents inflammation.

Stress fractures of the shin bone are another cause of shin pain. Again, this situation comes from too much use with too little rest for repair. The pain of stress fractures is usually limited to a single point on the bone. Rest is important. If the bone doesn’t have a chance to heal, a true break can result.

A third common cause of shin pain is compartmental syndrome. The muscles of the lower leg are sheathed by tight tissue, like sausage covering. Overused muscles swell. Too much swelling compresses the muscles’ arteries and leads to leg pain. Pronounced swelling is an emergency that calls for surgical intervention.

by Dr. Paul Donohue