Any advice on running while pregnant after a month or so without?

By Alix J. Shutello

Over the past few months there has been a fury of activity on my blog I am happy to report. And after almost two years the most popular post is my story on running while pregnant.

One of my readers asked about taking up running again after not having run for a month. My advice to you is to go ahead and start off slow – there are a few things to remember when you begin.

In the case of the particular runner who asked me about this – you had some sort of blood clot in your uterus. I would not run unless you cleared that with the doctor. I know this is your third child but the safety of the baby comes first and you can always walk to relieve stress and get some exercise. Trust me, walk for two hours and you’ll feel like you ran 6 or 7 miles at a swift pace.

One month of limited to no training during pregnancy is a lot different than one month when you are not.  In one month during pregnancy, a lot happens to a woman’s body. Depending on what how far along you are, you may have gained a lot of weight or remained stable, but either way, that baby grew!  Also, your body’s physiology changed. Your blood became thicker, your ligaments loosened, and your center of gravity has changed. All of these are factors – and say you are moving into your second or third trimesters, that extra ten pounds you’ve gained hopefully by now will affect your knees especially. Your running posture will be different, so you will need to be extra careful.

I think that while it’s great to say you ran through your whole pregnancy – and many women do – you need be extra careful when you start up again because of the changes in your body. You also have to consider your running career after the baby is born. Is it worth it to run now? You’ll be putting all this extra stress on your bones and ligaments so just think about this before starting up again.

Most importantly, know that running during pregnancy can be great for many women. Each woman needs to judge their situation and reasons for running. It won’t kill you to walk instead of run; in fact, you may be more fit after pregnancy if you chose walking over running.

At the end of the day, the baby’s safety (and yours) comes first, but if you are feeling good, and the doc says it’s ok, then go for it!

Why Active Stretching is Important Before You Run

Why Active Stretching is Important Before You Run

By Campbell McCormack

Given the nature of endurance sports, it is not surprising that runners cringe at the notion of spending extra time stretching before a workout.  You plan to go out for a nice 5 mile run, but who has the time or patience for a boring, time-consuming warm-up?  Besides, after a mile or so, you’ll be plenty warm, right? 

Consider if you will an alternative.  An effective round of mobility drills that target every part of the body, that cover balance and that even hit the core, called dynamic stretching.  Sounds like a complete workout in itself, doesn’t it?  Now what if that the drills can be done in a little as 5-10 minutes!  An investment like that is surely worth it considering the alternative: suffering lost mileage or training time from injury.

There is a significant paradigm shift happening in the performance and rehabilitation industries about what is considered effective warm up and warm down exercises and movements for athletes.  Clinical studies have shown that traditional static stretches — stretching exercises that elongate the muscles, performed while the body is at rest — may be detrimental to sports involving powerful movements such as running. 

For this reason, many coaches now advocate dynamic stretching, which incorporates a full range movements with nothing more than a short pause, to increase range of motion, and dynamic stretching prior to performing for injury prevention and preparation. More imporatntly, dynamic stretches are effective at reducing muscle stiffness, which is thought to increase the likelihood of muscle tears.

Dynamic stretching is meanth to loosen joints, stretch muscles, use core muscles, and to excite the nervous system.  Think of a pre-flight checklist at the airport.  The technicians do not just look at the engine or the tire pressure.  They check every system to make sure the plane flies under optimal conditions.  Same thing with dynamic stretching…runners engage all the body’s key mechanisms before starting a run and its all systems go!

If it sounds like this whole thing is getting more and more complicated, don’t worry.  It’s much easier than you think.  Below are two simple moves that cover almost every muscle group in the body.  A few reps of each and you’ll be surprised to find some limitations you did not know that you even had.

Hand Walk.  Beginning from a push-up position, slowly walk your feet in toward your hands, without allowing your knees to bend.  The movement should be coming from the ankles only.  Once you reach a point where you cannot come in any closer, stop, and start walking your hands forward.  Keep walking them out until you feel as if you would collapse if you moved any farther.  Now, continue this sequence for anywhere between 5-20 yards (more if you feel extra stiff that day).

Lunge to Instep. This sounds more intimidating than it is.  You will not find a more all-encompassing drill for the legs than this one.  Start in a long lunge position with the opposite hand next to the foot in front.  Make a full shoulder turn away from the front leg and pause for a second.  Immediately after that, drop the same side elbow down along your shin toward the instep.  Again, just a brief pause.  Finally, place your other hand on the outside of your foot and raise your front toes and hips up into the air.  Anywhere between 5-10 repetitions per side is usually sufficient.

The big question is, “Does it work?”  Mark Lacianca, Head Coach of the Unionville High School girls cross country team, has become a believer.  Somewhat resistant at first, he now implements a structured Active Dynamic Warm-up before every workout, practice, or meet. 

“Dynamic Stretching has really benefitted our older runners.  We are a much healthier team and I have also seen great changes with coordination and correcting muscle imbalances,” says Mark. 

Mark knows a thing or two about running.  His team currently has a seven year unbeaten streak, five straight top 10 finishes in the state, and a state title in 2004.  Mark is on the leading edge of training a new generation of endurance athletes.

Charlie Mengers, a long-time distance runner, has been using dynamic stretching for over a year.  Prior to that, “stretching was not part of my running routine, until my hamstring injury!”

Fortunately, Charlie has not only overcome his injury, but has also integrated dynamic stretching into his daily routine.  “They are so quick and easy to do, I even use them on an as-needed basis if I cramp or tighten up at any point during the day.”  Charlie acknowledges that his current running times have not gone down, but he finds success in a different way.  “Success for me is measured by still being out there running with no new or recurring injuries.”

So where does static stretching belong? In a nutshell, static stretching is better used after a run or workout, rather than before.  It helps to calm the nervous system, bring the heart rate back down, and to restore flexibility to normal ranges.

A wide variety of dynamic stretches exist.  Those in this article are two of the more comprehensive ones.  I would encourage you to explore what’s out there or contact me, cmccormack@excelphysicaltherapy.com, for some additional examples.  Until then, enjoy the road!

Campbell McCormack is a Senior Staff Therapist for Excel Physical Therapy & Fitness in Glen Mills, PA.  He also serves as the Manager of Fitness Services which includes management of a Parisi Speed School (the nation’s premier youth performance and conditioning program).  He is also certified in Functional Movement Screening and is currently pursuing his Russian Kettlebell Certification.  He can be reached at: cmccormack@excelphysicaltherapy.com

Resources:

Dynamic stretching, Yale Daily News, January 2009

Why Sleep is Crucial to Experiencing a Healthy and Injury-Free Winter Training Season

You wake up and mark your calendar – I don’t care if it is the Boston Marathon, the Cherry Blossom 10-miler, or a myriad of other races you are planning to run before/during/after winter, you’ve committed to a race and you are going to have to train for it.

And, as we watch our friends pig out on brie, red wine, cookies, and other foods – because while we love these things (or whatever your food downfall is) the reality is that while everyone is indulging, the training must ensue. This in itself is a good thing, for it allows us to eat more of the brie!

So as the days grow shorter and the temperature falls there is a lot to be excited about. For those of us who live in the northern half of the United States, the falling temperatures mean more comfortable running conditions (for now), the turning leaves of autum and the fresh scent that cooler air brings. In the southern half of the US there is a cooling trend that happens there as well. Even states like Florida experience cooler temperatures which can bring relief for those states, even mine, that experience a hot gooey stickiness that eventually subsides as summer turns to autmn.

But with that change in weather brings a lot of stress – the holidays in particular are a particulary stressful time for many of us for a myriad of personal reasons. Training through the winters sometimes makes things easier, and sometimes harder. The holiday season and it’s flu seasons, cooler weather, and shorter days include lots family obligations, expenditures, and planning.

And through the pain of the season – whether we are stressing about what to buy people for the holidays, or in this economy, if we can afford to buy them at all, or if we are thinking of people we wish were still with us, like my parents, for example, the fall, while a beautiful time of year, is also one full of more activity, stress and sadness than any other time of the year.

Running sometimes cannot cure everything, and if we are not carefull, we are the ones who can get sick easily or get injured. 

So with all the parties, school obligations, parties, office events, parties, family visits, and more parties, it is easily to fall into a pattern of sleep deficit.  Also, for those of us missing our loved ones, it is not uncommon for people to drink more, feel depressed, and therefore, become fatigued. The fatigue leads to stress and the stress leads to injury.

Therefore the biggest thing we can do to fight stress and keep strong this winter (and all year) is to merely:

Go to bed

I don’t care how much sleep you think you need. Go to bed.  I have made it a habit to try and get to bed an hour earlier every night of the week if I can. This rule is broken for CSI Miami on Monday nights but the rest of the week I am in bed w/lights off at 10 PM.

Here are the reasons more sleep is good for you.

1. Injury prevention: you are physically stronger and more aware when you sleep more, and, more importantly, glucose metabolism can be affected by sleep deprivation. This is bad on many fronts as glucose metabolism is the main biological activity that we (whether you realize you are doing it or not) are enhancing while we are training – and if this is affected by sleep deprivation then we are only making training more difficult because recovery then becomes more difficult.
2. Better decision-making: when we are not sleep deprived we make better decisions – poor decision made by being tired can only add stress to our lives.
3. Improved mood: We all see what happens when a child is sleep deprived – he/she become irrational and crazy and if you think that does not happen in adults you better go back to bed and sleep on that!
4. Better immune system: the well-rested person is better able to fight disease – there are numerous studies to support this fact – see the list below.
5. If you are stressed you will not sleep well – but if you get in the habit of nurturing yourself before you go to sleep you may be able to prevent insomnia, which affects all of us.

Research Articles

1. Psychiatric research builds link between sleep, stress, cancer progression
2. The connection between sleep deprivation and mental illness
3. Scientists Find Brain Areas Affected By Lack Of Sleep
4. Sleep Deprivation Can Hinder Sports Performance 

SIDE BAR:
Proper Hand Care

1. Hand Sanitizers Must Contain Over 60% alcohol to be Affective.
   According to SecurityWorld.com we Americans spent over $540 million on hand sanitizers last year but this did not prevent illness per se.   That said, if we remind ourselves to be overly cautious in the area of hand washing and other acts of sanitation, I am all for it. During flu season, one cannot be too careful.
2. Touching Doorknobs and Light Switches (even in your own house)
   It cannot hurt to wash and dry your hands with a paper towel and then use the towel to shut off the light and open the bathroom door and let yourself out. Just deposit the paper towel in the nearest trash can.
3. Hand Sanitizer
   Go ahead an use a hand sanitizer if it makes you feel better. Just remember the minute you touch ANYTHING else you have a new set of germs. See: http://www.securityworld.com/ia-220-antibacterial-products-do-they-really-work.aspx.
4. Washing Hands
   This should not merit an explanation.