Stretch It Out

Previously, I talked about staying hydrated and used big words like "Electrolytes" and "Quadriceps". 

I know. I know. Not that bad. Or maybe it was. 

Either way, the first part of this cramping issue to address is that, in the words of my father-in-law: 

"Hydration Is Key."

He is right. Staying properly hydrated is crucial to the entire enterprise, but it is not the only piece of the puzzle. Muscles need to be properly limber in order to function at their highest capacity. Or, in my case, to allow me to finish a race without becoming "stove up", as it were.

So, what to do about it? 

  - Well, I mean, it is pretty simple really: Stretch.

Okay, yeah, but when? 

  - What're you doing right now? If you have 5 minutes you can get a decent stretch on your legs. Even if you don't have 5 minutes you can still get a decent stretch if you add certain moves into your day. Granted, small stretches here and there throughout the day won't leave you feeling as relaxed and stretched as right before or after a run, but it will help to alleviate some issues over time.

I have found that through just some simple stretches my knee soreness and issues have greatly lessened. The reason for this is pretty simple. You remember that old song about the knee bone being connected to the thigh bone? Turns out that that is totally true. (weird, I know right?)

If you take a look at ol' Bonesy up there, you can see the muscles on the left (your left as you are looking at the screen) and the bones on the right. The femur, patella, and fibula/tibia happen to be the leg bone, knee bone, leg bone sandwich that we are particularly concerned about. At least, in the beginning of our understanding of the leg.

A quick 3 minute stretch for the legs can be found here. 

But, wait. There's more. 

See, it turns out that just because that song is right about the knee bone and it's connections, it doesn't really give us the whole story. Sort of like a real general introduction to anatomy for 5 year olds, you don't want your orthopedist to know that song, but nothing else about the inner machinations of the human body. So, without getting TOO into it, let's introduce some new knowledge for you. I give you the ITB.

The ITB, or IllioTibial Band, is a ligament that runs along the outside of the femur from the hip to the shin. The reason I mention this is the simple fact that ITB Syndrome (ITBS) is only THE MOST common injury for runners (and a whole bunch of other people who bend their knees in action). Characterized by soreness on the outside of the knee, it is commonly referred to as "runner's knee." The simplest reason for it is over use, but that's just a cop out, really. I mean, who "over uses" their knee? Craziness. So the soreness comes from inflammation. The inflammation occurs from irritation of the ligament because it is being stressed in a weird angle. 

How? Well, I don't know. Lots of reasons, really. Maybe you're running in worn out shoes. Maybe you run on a slope in the same direction. Maybe you never change the direction on the track in which you run. Maybe you run the same route day in and day out for weeks at a time. Maybe you aren't properly stretching your core and hip flexors and it is causing you to hunch over or have a limited range of motion when you do your chosen activity and this is causing the irritation to the ITB. Whatever the reason your knee soreness, it is always advisable and usually best to get a Doctor's opinion on the issue (I am not one. SURPRISE!) 

So where does this put me? Squarely in the ITBS category. I had all of the symptoms:
  1) Soreness to the outside of my knee.
  2) Pain or "fiery" burning when I bent my knee (thankfully not when I urinated).
  3) Some swelling of my knee.

I also had many of the issues in my life that could lead to my "injury":
  1) Worn out shoes
  2) Running the same route
  3) high mileage
  4) Running downhill on banked surfaces
  5) Poor stretching habits

All of these factors lead up to my knee soreness. Since having identified my issue, causes, and factors, I have been able to alleviate some of the soreness through a proper warm-up routine or phase before my actual runs; some stretching after my runs and on rest days; and some new shoes (of which I will discuss later). I do stagger my routes and try to avoid running the same loop everyday. This has provided a few benefits, not the least of which is meeting new neighbors, but, again, I'll talk about that elsewhere. ;)

PRE-PUBLISH UPDATE: So I write all of this and then on the Runner's World website I come across this timely article. So maybe Dynamic Warmups are the next big thing. We'll get into it all next time, Dear Runner. Thanks for sticking with me and coming back to read some more of my thoughts of running and stretching and me just addressing my issues. 

Aqua Team Quad Scream

In a previous post about my 2013 Half Marathon, I had mentioned that I had some basic issues regarding my legs and equipment that needed some addressing. Basically, I had cramps in both quads, my right knee was F'd in the A, and my feet were just pain platforms upon which I lamely gimped along. So I need to fix THAT stuff.

Well, time to start a fixin', so let's start with that first issue: my massive quads and their awful cramps. Or, I suppose: My awful quads and their massive cramps. Either way, enough jawin', more fixin'.

It is true what they say when they say something like "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." I don't know who They are (I never really have, actually) but They know a lot about a lot of things. And their vague statements usually fall right in line with real world experiences. Like my legs:

Okay, so, step one in this quadricep quagmire of a solution process, is to identify the issue and the cause of that issue. The issue is pretty simple to identify: like a Tree House of Horror, my quadriceps muscles gnarled up and went all scary painful. Not good. When this happens you're gonna have a bad time. The hard part comes when we look at what TYPE of cramps I was having. Being able to identify the cramp types helps in their treatment.

Cramps from running usually come from one of 2 sources, but can be a combination of both: 1) Poor Hydration and Sodium Exhaustion or 2) Under Training and Improper Stretching. 

Alright, before you call "manure" on me, let me say this: I know it looks like I threw 4 things into 2 categories, but trust me. I sort of did.  Those 2 things in each category go hand-in-hand with each other, so let me explain the first one in this post and then next time we'll talk about Training and stretching better for longer runs. Okay? Okay.

Poor Hydration and Sodium Exhaustion

So, when you run or are hot, your body's way of cooling you off is through the process of perspiration. What the hell is that? Easy. you sweat. When you sweat it makes your skin wet or damp and then when a nice breeze comes by the sweat evaporates causing a momentary cooling effect through the dissipation of the heat from your hot skin into the atmosphere. You get cold because you air dried off. 

It really does work in areas of the world where the relative humidity level is low enough so that the moisture on your skin is absorbed into the cooler surrounding atmosphere. Where I live in St. Louis, Missouri, we're not usually that lucky. We end up just getting wet clothes, being sticky, and having to shower a few times a day when its hot enough. Its rough. We know. 

Back to the topic at hand, however, the majority of us still sweat the same. Since we all sweat the same we all have the same basic make-up of sweat which is typically sodium (Na +), potassium (K +), calcium (Ca 2+), and magnesium (Mg 2+) ions and some assortment of other minerals and nutrients (chloride, sulfate, etc.) in varying degrees of concentration. All of these things are in your sweat and are called: Electrolytes. 

Now, without going too science-y on you, the "+" or "-" denotes the electrical charge of the ion which is what helps the muscles in your body, ultimately, to do the work and regulate some trivial things like water in the muscle cells, which helps to control the contraction and expansion of those cells, which helps you to run or lift or throw or hold or let go or do any of the movements you do. Since we're concerned with running, let's just stay focused on those movements being running related.

So when you run and you deplete your electrolyte balance through sweating you get cramps because your muscles can't control their contraction rates properly since there isn't enough electrical potential and water movement across the membranes to do so. 

"But, wait," you say. "I was drinking water the whole time. Every liquids table I passed on the Gatorade and went for the water." Great. I did that too. I was all: "Psssht, Brawndo don't got what I need." My cramps were awful, honestly. Yours will be too I imagine. When you exercise and sweat for more than an hour or so you're going to seriously deplete and 

Let's breakdown the flaw in our plans through this hydration cycle, shall we?

Awesome. So, you know how you have your car, or, for those of you that don't own a vehicle, you know there ARE these things called cars, right? Well, like a car, it takes more than one thing to make it go properly. Now bare with me because this is a metaphor and metaphors usually over-simplify things to a ridiculous point, which is what is about to happen here. To make a car go it needs fuel to drive the engine. But it also needs motor oil keep the engine parts well lubricated and moving freely. 

So think of the system like a 2-cycle engine, if you put JUST gasoline in the 2-cycle engine it will eventually lock up and not function anymore because there was nothing to lubricate the moving parts and then my dad will yell at me because lawn mowers are expensive and why don't I pay more attention and blah blah blah. Now, if you put the proper fuel-oil mix (like Gatorade or some sports drink for us) into that 2-cycle engine, the fuel AND the oil gets pushed throughout the system preventing lock up or freezing of the engine. Same basic thing here. Drink water and yeah, there's plenty of water (fuel) in your muscle cells for doing all the work you want them to do, but if there are no electrolytes (oil) in the process, there's no regulation of the expansion and contraction of them so they lock up or cramp. 

When I ran my Half I had a backpack full of 2L of water, which is really not all that much and it was kind of stupid of me to bring anyway. I looked like a weirdo. Next time I leave it behind and only bring it on training runs or hikes with the kids. I had been drinking plenty of water since the month before, so I was well hydrated. I had had A banana that morning, and I had one on the course, but that clearly wasn't enough. While I was running though, I passed the hydration stations because I had the backpack of water. Looking back on it, what I should have done is pretty clear.

Step 1: Ditch the Backpack - It was unnecessary weight since they have hydration stations along the course and I really wasn't carrying anything but water.

Step 2: Get some Sports Drink from the hydration stations - There are all these volunteers standing there aching to give you as many cups of sugary, electrolyte balancing drink as you can handle. Do them a favor and drink it. They would rather pick up a couple thousand empty cups than carry you to the hospital or ambulance. 

Step 3: Eat a Better Breakfast - A banana and half A cup of coffee do not constitute a good pre-race breakfast and I knew it. 

Those 3 simple things would have vastly helped my race finish. These weren't the only issues I had, but these are the larger 85% of them, to be sure. In the next post we will examine cramps coming from under trained and poorly stretched muscles.

Until then, Dear Runner, do you have any outstanding muscle hydration scenarios you run through when you race? Have a specific brand of Sports Drink that works best for you? Feel free to leave me a comment below telling me all about it.