Training for a Marathon? Get To The Starting Line In One Piece.

Bill Rodgers is probably the most famous American marathon runner in history, winning both the Boston and New York Marathons four out of five years in the late 1970s. But when asked about the most difficult part of racing, he famously said, “getting to the starting line healthy.”

Why would the greatest American marathoner be worried about just getting to the starting line? Because Mr. Rodgers is very aware that training for a marathon…is a marathon. Because training is a tedious, precarious balance between preparing the body for prolonged stress and allowing the normal healing process to catch up to the stress.

In a competitive environment, the temptation to “put in more miles”, increase the speed work, and accelerate the training regimen, is tantalizing and dangerous.

For the first-time or novice marathoner, the competition is also intense, but the body is the main adversary. That’s why when injuries develop, many runners ignore the symptoms, avoid treatment, and “suck it up.” After all, nobody likes to start something and not finish it. People with the “hero complex” deal with injuries as long as possible until it’s too late to do anything substantial.

Instead of bearing the burden of bumps and bruises by burying them below the surface, runners should be more like an analyst or security monitor, always checking and evaluating. The best runners monitor aches and pains, tightness and weakness, fatigue and energy, always calibrating how intense, how long, and how frequent they can run.

This does not mean run to physical therapy or a doctor’s office every time your calf tightens. It simply means be aware, about how your body feels, keep track of it, and act when something is not right.

Some signs to look for include the following:

·         Pain that alters the way you run. If you have to make a conscious change in the mechanics of your running stride to compensate for pain, you are headed for more pain.

·         Steadily decreasing energy. Watch for two things: too much training or too little nutrition.

·         Pain in the shins that is focused in intensity and location. Diffuse and spread over a larger area usually means medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS or shin splints). Focused and intense pain usually means stress fracture (or reaction), and that can lead to a complete fracture.

Things to do during marathon training:

·         Get a doctor that you can trust for musculoskeletal injuries IN CASE you need to see him or her. Race drivers don’t hire their pit crew in the middle of the Indy 500.

·         Be honest with yourself. You have flaws, everyone does. Some simply compensate better than others. This is the essence of running, repeating the same stride over and over, as long as you can, and then trying to repeat the strides faster and longer, all while dealing with the imperfections of one’s biomechanics. Without knowing your flaws, you will succumb to them.

·         Follow a running program from a trusted source. Resources to turn to include local running shoe stores like Hanson’s and Running Fit, and websites like runnersworld.com. Many other runners like Jeff Galloway and John “The Penguin” Bingham have websites that tout their expert advice. A good running program will steer you away from injuries related to improper training.

·         Get maintenance work on yourself, and that includes REST! Don’t cut out rest days. Your body can’t heal from the breakdown if it doesn’t get the chance. Other maintenance techniques include stretching, massage, manual medicine (adjustments), and acupuncture.

By Steven J. Karageanes, DO, FAOASM, Sports Medicine, Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan.