Image by Mitch Mandel (September 2010 Runners World)

Exercising while barefoot is a good way to work on your balance, proprioception (joint position sense) and lower leg strength. Runners World has a fine short article on Barefoot Exercise written by Adam Bean (which I was interviewed for) in the September, 2010 issue and online.

Several Videos of an agile athlete demonstrating the exercises are online and on the iPad app.

The wobble board exercise is particularly good for many ankle injuries as part of a recovery plan. The toe curls and toe pickups can be helpful in conjunction with an overall plan for plantar fasciitis. Overall the series of exercises was set up for a healthy runner. In you have an injury, check with your sports doc or PT for advice specific to your injury.

Toe Curls

Toe Pickups

Wobble Board

One-leg Hops

One Leg Squats

Two Steps Forward One Step Back: Marching To Marathon Success

The 10% rule of limiting weekly increases in mileage to no more than ten percent is widely quoted as the sin qua non of incremental training. In many cases even this may be too much. An invariably rising load of 10 percent each week may not give your body time to recover from the stresses of running.

In marathon training, I believe that for beginners, the long run is the key to successful completion of the marathon. Many years ago, in a very early survey, it was found that if an individual had completed 3 long runs of  18 miles or more (for example two 18 mile runs and one 20 mile run) the chances of completing the marathon were well over 90 percent.

Good questions are: 1) how to get to those long distances and 2) how long should your longest run be. The reason we ask these questions are to both be successful in completing the marathon and to limit injuries and enhance recovery.

I like what I call a “two steps forward, one step back” approach. I recommend this as a guide to the long run, up to about 17 or 18 miles. What this means is that you move up gently in your long distance running mileage for two weeks, than have a considerably easier and shorter long run. Once you have reached a long run of about 18 miles, you take two easier weeks to allow your body a good recovery.  And the long run only has to top out at about 20 miles for a successful completion of the marathon. Two to three other days of running and one to two days of cross training would work well with this approach to the long run. There are some programs that advocate an approach like this, while a good many just keep moving up the mileage. For beginners, I favor this gentle approach with recovery that is built into the schedule.

Weeks until Marathon : Long Run Distance

19: 8

18: 9

17: 10

16: 6

15: 12

14: 13

13: 8

12: 15

11: 16

10: 10

9: 18

8: 10

7: 12

6: 18

5: 10

4: 12

3: 20

2: 12

1:  8

Marathon: 26

• Look for a sport specific shoe.
• Go to a specialty store. Runners should visit a specialty running store.
• Take injury history into account.
• Measure feet each time shoes are fit.
• Wear the customary socks for to be worn for sport participation. Sock thickness affects the sizing and fit of shoes.
• Bring orthotics to fit shoes, if you wear them.
• Fit shoes later in the day since feet expand slightly by then.
• Leave a finger’s width in front of the longest toe.
• Make sure both the heel to ball fit and the shoe length are both matches for your foot.
• Make certain the shoe feels comfortable. It won’t be feeling better in a week, if it doesn’t feel good right away.
• Check the shoe for manufactured defects. It should line up perpendicular to the ground and not wobble.
• Replace your athletic shoes regularly. Runners should replace the shoes every 350-450 miles.
• Remember to forget about the size and focus on the fit
• Don’t wear a new shoe in a race or in a long distance competitive event.

For more information see:

Dr. Pribut’s Running Shoe List

Dr. Pribut on Fitting and Selecting Running Shoes

Elvis: Put On Your High Heeled Sneakers (Master Out-take)

Now that you’ve trained properly after having a medical exam and clearance to run, you are nearly ready for the big day. Prudence should keep you upright for the next 26.2 miles. Some have said “Start slow, and finish slower”. But that may not be your plan. Make sure you run within your means. Be certain to taper for 3 weeks. And let’s make another list:

• 3 training runs of 18 – 20 miles should have you set for your marathon.
• Taper and run much less for 3 weeks.
• You may gently carbo load. Don’t “deplete”. Don’t gorge. And don’t eat new or spicy foods for the 4 – 5 days before the marathon.
• Sleep well the nights before the marathon.
• Don’t drink too much the night before. Don’t use drugs. (In Woodstock the word was to avoid the brown acid.)
• Don’t take herbal diet or stimulant mixes. They are not checked by the FDA and may have unhealthy contents.
• Hydrate wisely. You may hydrate before the race. Don’t drink till you slosh. Don’t overhydrate. For the slow marathoner, hyponatremia (low blood sodium) from taking in too many fluids is a bigger danger than dehydration. Some races have scales for you to weigh yourself on. If you weigh more as the race goes on, you are drinking too much.
• Wear a medical condition and allergy bracelet or have the information attached to your shoe.
• Eat your regular long run breakfast.
• Warm up gently.
• Don’t start out too quickly.
• Pay attention to your body. Dizziness, faintness, chest, shoulder, jaw pain or tightness should be checked with the medical team immediately.
• Drink and eat foods you’ve used before on your training runs.
• Don’t sit down abruptly at the end of the race. Walk around a bit as a gentle cool down. If you sit, your muscles will likely tighten up and you may not get back up again easily.

General Tips

• Wear shoes that you’ve had good success with and shoes that are broken in.
• Make sure the rest of your clothes are also comfortable and broken in also including your sports bra or other sports underwear, shorts, singlet, sweats and socks.
• Use broken in Coolmax socks or another “wicking” fiber for all of your runs and  on race day.
• Try to get adequate sleep over the last month so your body can be as well recovered as possible from all the training you’ve been doing.
• Eat healthy throughout your training. Don’t overeat  or drink much alcohol  on the night before  your  race. Do eat a carbohydrate rich meal for a few evenings before the marathon.
• Wear outer layer clothes you can throw away as the race goes on and you warm up. If you are going to be at the race line early, dress warm for the morning chill, and be prepared to ditch your outer layers as the race draws near or as you go along and warm up.
• Use the same fluid replacement and  gel that you’ve practiced with on your long runs. Beware of under hydration and over hydration. If you are running for longer than 4 hours, consider using weighing stations if your marathon has them available to attempt to avoid hypernatremia.
• Remember to go out slower than you think you should so you can have a negative split and  not burn out somewhere before mile 20.
• Figure out where some of those cameras will be taking your photo so you can  look  good for your marathon portrait.
• Don’t forget after the race that you should rest about one week before running again and then “reverse” taper.

Things To Bring:

1. Race number  and safety pins. Pin this to your clothes two nights before the race.
2. Running Shoes and all your racing clothes
3. Clothes to toss, if it is cold. Long sleeve teeshirts, sweat clothes.
4. Change  of clothes for after the race.
5. Money for emergencies.
6. Body glide, if you’ve used it for areas  that rub on previous long runs.
7. Your own food for after the race  in case the race runs  low.
8. Plastic  container of water  or sports drink to drink before the race
9. Toilet paper to carry in your carry-along, in case of emergency.
10. Very light  weight, miniature camera if you don’t expect to win.
11. Throw away reading material for the  long  wait before the race.

For post marathon recovery, I have some tips on recovering from the marathon and a reverse taper program.

I just came across the following “tips” video performed by Toby Tanser via Mark Remey at RW

Last Minute Marathon Tips: shot with Nikon D90 from Mike Kobal on Vimeo.

This running season has seen the devastating news of several half marathon deaths. Runner’s as young as their 20’s and 30’s have died. While the odds of dying in a marathon are quite low, it can and sometimes does happen. Some of the latest numbers show that the estimates of 1:50,000 marathoners has now lowered to a bit less than 1:100,000. Figuring that each of these runners at the start has run about 100 hours on the average during training, that works out to be 10,000,000 ( ten million)  hours run per marathon death. Clusters are seen in many medical conditions, and often they are not linked to anything but chance.

The marathon is not a pre-requisite to fitness, it is optional. The first 30 minutes are for your body, the rest is for your mind. But it is something many people enjoy and it is safer than driving in your car or sitting for the next 20 years in front of your TV or computer. We’ll examine this again later. For now, since these are quick tips, let’s get to them.

Your race form has a consent form that uses language that requires you to certify that you are medically fit and have trained for the event. Before training for an event as long and involved as the marathon (and the general advice is before beginning any new exercise program) a visit for a physical examination is a good idea. Colleges, high schools and even elementary schools require a medical examination and clearance before participating in sports. A sample college medical clearance athletic form shows the level of detail requested. An EKG can be helpful and most definitely Blood Pressure measurement should be done. Among many things the EKG can detect are signs of cardiomyopathy, enlarged heart, a variety of arrhythmias including Atrial Fibrillation, PVCs, and certain changes in the T Wave that are associated with sudden death.  You should probably set up a lifetime plan to check your blood pressure regularly. Your blood pressure can go up unexpectedly and leave you at risk for serious problems. There are often no signs of this, that is why high blood pressure is called the silent killer. The following are my suggestions and not an official recommendation of any organization. Following my perhaps over exuberant and obsessive recommendation are  more official recommendations.

Suggested BP Checks With Risk Factors

• Over 18 – Under 30 – Every 12 Months
• 30 – 40 – Every 6 Months
• 41 – 50 – Every 3 Months
• 51 – 60+ – Every 2 Months

Several organizations have gentler, less stringent recommendations. According to their web site, the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (see JNC 7 for documents and complete recommendations) strongly suggests “screening every 2 years in persons with blood pressure less than 120/80 mm Hg and every year in persons with systolic blood pressure of 120 to 139 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure of 80 to 90 mm Hg.”

Recommendations for getting your training started:

• Before starting a new training program, a pre-participation physical is a good idea.
• Check your blood pressure regularly.
• Eat healthy food.
• Train within your limits.
• Avoid herbal food supplements.
• Avoid stimulants and be careful with supplements which may contain ephedra, caffeine, etc.
• Don’t short change your energy supply by dieting aggressively while working out hard.
• Increase your training gradually.
• Rehydrate wisely. Use a combination protein-carbohydrate drink after the long run for glycogen and fuel replenishment.
• Pay attention to your body. Note dizziness, excess fatigue, chest tightness or pain, pain in your upper back or shoulder, chest or jaw. All can be serious warning signs. Stop and get checked. In a race, stop and seek medical attention.

Be careful out there. Prepare for the big day. Remember, by the time you get to the marathon, you’ve already run several half marathons in training and more – likely up to 20 miles. You should be ready. But do pay attention to your body on marathon day. Taper and rest up before it. Don’t get smashed the night before the marathon. Toxins in your body won’t help your performance.

Read Part 2 “Staying Alive: Tips For the Marathon”

For Runners:

1. Remember that stretching is not a warm up.
2. Don’t stretch before you’ve moved. Warm up gently first with movement and slow running with short strides. There is no evidence that stretching before exercise is helpful to prevent injury, but it might be useful at the end of a run. Specific injuries or susceptibility to specific injury may make certain stretches particularly useful. (In conjunction with appropriate strengthening exercises for any muscle imbalances.) An example would be gentle calf stretching after 10 minutes of gentle running for those with a tendency towards Achilles tendinopathy.  Empirically this is often helpful.
3. Stretch gently after exercise. Use stretching as part of your cool down after running. And for most people finishing your run with a sprint is probably not wise. A cool down, of continuing to move while going slower at the end of a run helps get your body gently adapted to having a slower pumping heart. This can help lessen the chance of a heart arrhythmia during the immediate post exercise period and blood pressure dropping in those susceptible to such problems.
4. Don’t over-stretch. Overstretching is likely worse than no stretching.
5. Stretch gently for an intermediate length of time, not too long and not too short. 10 Seconds x 10 is a good example of an intermediate time and repetition number.
6. Focus on the posterior leg muscles if you are a runner. The calf muscles and hamstrings are usually tight. For runners, there is only rarely a need to stretch the quads.  Those performing other sports, including strength training, can stretch the quads (and much more) gently. Walking lunges can serve the purpose of stretching the quads.
7. Don’t forget other forms of exercise. Strength training and cardio will help you reach a balance, and a healthy diet will put the topping on your search for fitness. And of course core strengthening is helpful in many ways. So that means we’ll need to have a blog up on a 5 minute Runner’s Core Workout soon.

Additional Information:

More on Stretching

Running Injuries

Running hills has been used for many years as an intermediate step in building strength and endurance on the way to speed work and later racing. Arthur Lydiard included hills as an integral part of his training program.

Long distance training came first. Hills followed. And later speed work was undertaken before peeking for the racing season.
Hills can be begun after you’ve done some distance runs. Ease into them. They shouldn’t start off too steep or too long. A good distance is between 200 and 300 meters. We’ll let you select what slope to run since your choices are likely limited.

Don’t charge up the hill. Move up it steadily. The uphill run is when gains are made. Use the down slope for recovery. People have used a variety of mental imagery to help on the way up long hills. Some have even thought of  “the little engine that could” saying “I think I can, I think I can”.  Whatever it takes is fine.

Don’t run back down the hill. Running down will place unnecessary stress on your knees.

Remember to just start with a few hill repeats. Two to three is fine and every one or two weeks can you add on one more repeat. Work your way up to 6 hill repeats. If you are just starting your marathon distance training now, it is probably not the correct time to start hill work. That time will come a few months from now for the runner who is competitive and fit to do so.

Hills are not for everyone. Be sure you are cleared by your physician for an exercise program and particularly for a vigorous exercise program before undertaking new forms of exercise.

Enjoy, have fun. Start off slow and easy. Build up gently. Avoid injury.

Don’t get the Summertime Blues. You can avoid them by paying your dues. Plan those long runs. Build up, drop back. Let your body adapt to the stresses and strains of going long. Then you’ll be ready to do your fall marathon.

The long run is still the cornerstone of marathon training. If you complete  3 runs of 18 – 22 miles during the 8 weeks prior to the marathon you’ll have a very high likelihood of being able to complete the marathon . The long run is also an important element for middle distance runners. The 10K runner will benefit from runs of 8 miles, 10 miles and even up to 14 miles or more. A 5K runner will benefit from runs of 6 miles, 8 miles and up to 12 miles or so. This isn’t needed by everyone, but by those who are trying to excel. Slower 5K and 10K runners spend enough time on the roads and do not have a need to do 12 – 14 mile runs just to complete a 5 or 10K.

The long run has been emphasized as the building block of training for over 30 years. Arthur Lydiard and many others have made it the base component of training programs for distance runners. All of today’s programs including Hal Higdon’s and Jeff Galloway’s highlight the importance of the long run. Just what magic does the long run do? Long distance aerobic running lays the strength and ground work on which everything else will be built. Lactate threshold training, speed work, and stamina will all come later, but the ability to run long has many benefits.

VO2 max will increase from running within your aerobic training range. Capillaries will grow, enhancing the blood supply to the muscle fibers. Training increases the number and size of mitochondria. The mitochondria are the aerobic powerhouses of the cell. A variety of key aerobic enzymes will also increase. More myoglobin will be found in the skeletal muscle fibers. The significance of the increase in capillaries and myoglobin are the assistance that this will provide to the part of the VO2 equation specifying the difference in concentration of oxygen in arterial and venous blood, these changes facilitate oxygen transfer into the muscles.

We’ll have an updated area on the long run on the running injuries website shortly. In the meantime, here is a rough outline of a beginning to intermediate schedule of long runs. We call this the two steps forward, one step back approach to the long run.

Beginning Marathon Long Run

Weeks to Go/ Distance

19: 8
18: 9
17: 10
16: 6
15: 12
14: 13
13: 8
12: 15
11: 16
10: 10
9: 18
8: 10
7: 12
6: 18
5: 10
4: 12
3: 20
2: 12
1: 8
Marathon: 26

Summertime Blues

George Sheehan said more than once that “We are all an experiment of one”. A favorite quote, of which the original author is unknown, but one I’ve long followed is “learn from everyone, follow no one, seek patterns”. ( Scott McCloud, at TED gave a talk entitled “Understanding Comics“  which seems to have enunciated this well.)  Joseph Campbell’s favorite saying was “follow your bliss”.  Since running is what many of us enjoy doing we need to figure out where and how to get on, stay on or return to the road to success.

I suggest the advice  “read much, learn much, and find trusted guides when you need them”. Even Edmund Hillary used the help of knowledgeable locals (in particular Tanzing Norgay, a Sherpa) when he made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. And Sherpas, guides, and experts are still helpful and useful today.

When starting a new running program or exercise program it is important to have medical clearance from your physician. But the risks involved in a sedantary life style  are so great that you probably need medical clearance to not exercise.

Read the complete post on Potholes On The Road To Success

Pribut’s Top 10 Tips For Beginning Runners:

1. Get the right shoes for your foot and your individual biomechanics.

2. Start off slowly and gently.

3. Gradually increase first your distance and later the intensity.

4. Pay attention to your body.

5. If you are trying to loose weight: Don’t overeat, over hydrate or replace more calories than you have used. Losing weight depends upon caloric balance which means you must burn more calories than you consume.

6. Read and learn about running.

7. Find friends and companions who enjoy fitness activities. Join in and participate with them. Find online areas that provide helpful advise and gentle encouragement.

8. Reach a balance of exercise and fitness that includes strength training, healthy diet, and cardiovascular exercise for optimal performance and health.

9. Find an expert, guide, coach, or doctor when you need them. Find out what their advice is based on. Decide if it sits well with you. If so, do your best to follow it.

10. Enjoy your running and exercise!
Top Ten Ways to Avoid Running Injuries