A Little About Injury Prevention

Injuries tend to occur for 4 reasons: accidents, poor form or technique, inadequate warmup, or doing too much too soon. Some accidents can be prevent by thinking ahead, being aware, and avoiding dangerous situations. Other times accident just happen and there's not much you can do about that. Poor form or technique can be improved upon. We work on various this on rides, runs, and especially in the water. We only have so much time together so making any significant changes in your running or riding is difficult. Because swimming is so technique-intensive we must do more with that. In addition, strength training can help build muscle balance that also supports the joints and their movements. I encourage you to add weights/strength training to your workout routine - men AND women.

The two most important things you can do are to have an adequate warm up and to carefully progress the time and intensity of your workouts. That's why there is a gradual progression in your training from one week to the next. It's also why you gradually add faster paced training like pickups, sprints, and race pace type efforts.  You do not want jump into a workout without a warmup and then all of a sudden do some sort of all out anaerobic sprint effort. Ever workout needs to begin with a warmup. 

 

Doing dynamic movements will help you warmup as well as help you with balance and with range of motion. But even if you don't do these types of exercises, at the very least you always need to start off slowly to prepare your body for the work ahead. Easy swimming, riding, or running/walking is always the way to start a training session. It's okay to feel a little stiff, or tight or sore during the warmup. However if it persists then you need to back off and possibly stop working out.

If you do get injured you need to stop immediately so that you limit the damage. Listen to your body. "Pushing through" or "toughing it out" is not a smart athlete's choice. Don't lose sight of your long term goal by forcing the short term goal of completing the workout if an injury starts to rear it's head. The words to go by? "Live to train another day."

It's important to know the difference between "good pain" and "bad pain". Good pain is when you experience muscle fatigue, lactic acid burn, or muscle stress from hard work. Bad pain is injury pain. It doesn't feel right and it's a warning to stop immediately. When coaches and athletes say something like "no pain, no gain" they are NOT talking about the bad pain!

I am not a medical professional and can't offer medical advice but if you do get injured consider the RICE method of treatment, depending on the injury of course! RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. If it is more serious, see a doctor (someone who understands sports and athletes is the best option). Get physical therapy. Give it time to heal and make sure it is healed before starting back. Also remember that there are alternative exercises you can do so that you don't lose the conditioning you've worked hard to acquire. I can often help with that.

Water Running

Guidelines for Water Running/AquaJogging:

I water ran for almost all of 2009 due to plantar fasciitis! Fortunately I was able to run the 6 weeks prior to IM Arizona in Nov, my first one. I also water ran before my 1st 70.3 (California) in March '09. Studies have shown that you can maintain your aerobic conditioning with water running for 8 weeks. Why not longer? Simply because they stopped the study after that. I believe it can help you for a much longer time period. It WORKS! So here is what I do:

• Wear a flotation belt around your stomach below the ribs. You can also do it around your waist or around your lower chest and under your arms. No need to overtighten it if it's around your chest; that will only restrict your breathing.
• I like to wear a t-shirt under the belt to avoid any possible rubbing spots. (Ok, I admit that it's also so I don't feel like a wussy. I usually choose my Gatorman 3 mile La Jolla Rough Water Swim finisher's shirt.)
• Run in water deep enough that you won't touch the bottom.
• Make sure you "run" upright or with a little forward lean, just like on dry land. But don't bend over at the waist. I try to make sure to push my hips forward slightly but this may be a personal thing because I need to do that for my dry land running form.
• Do workouts as written in your plan (except I'm not real sure how you can duplicate hill running!) If your training is listed in miles, convert to an appropriate amount of time instead. The number of laps or distance traveled in the pool has little or nothing to do with how much work you are doing. If you have sprints or strides or whatever, try to imitate them as best as you can.
• Do a warmup just like in running. Start with a slower, easier intensity for a few minutes before picking up the pace/intensity.
• The best way I've found to get my heartrate up is by stride rate and arm swing. After a warm up, I try to keep my stride rate at around 84-90 per minute (per leg). When I sprint, say doing 30 seconds on, 30 sec. recovery, I focus on intensity and increase the stride rate even more, to 100 or higher.
• Use your arms the way you would in running. I keep them moving straight and close to my body as I pump them. I only use my hands in a paddling-type position during a recovery effort when I've slowed my legs to recover from a sprint. Or sometimes during warm-up when I want to work my arm muscles.
• If possible, find a source of music to help pass the time. If you are going to be doing this for more than a few weeks I would suggest something from H20Audio or something comparable. If you're at a private or community pool where you can plug in an ipod player or radio, do that. And, if you're out in the sun, wear a hat.
• The 1st couple of times my skin felt a little funny doing this. I think it's because of tensing and relaxing of the muscles as they move in the water. Maybe it's like a vibration thing. It's only there while I do it. Don't know exactly how to describe it but it goes away.

This information is meant for someone who does not use "aquajogging-type shoes". My understanding (not firsthand experience) is that wearing this type of shoe will add resistance and improve the quality of your workout. These should not be mistaken for the type of shoe that protects the feet when coming in contact with the pool bottom. These are intended for use in "deep" water. There are 2 brands that I'm aware of. AquaJogger makes AquaRunners Rx. AQX Aquatic Training Shoes are by ActiveForever and are about 3 times as expensive. Supposedly they "are a shoe designed to be used for under-water running and as a method of rehabilitation from a running-related or musculo-skeletal injury. These shoes enhance range of motion and proper mechanics of land-based running. ...The strategically placed series of gills (hydrodynamic fins) on these shoes add 20-30% more resistance to leg movement patterns in the water."

If you are going to be doing water running for a few months and can afford to purchase a pair of these, I would. Since you don't have to be injured to include water run as a suppliment/compliment to your regular running, a pair of some specialized shoes might be a good option!