Running & Flexibility Help

[Kelly]

I recently bought your book Stretching and Flexibility and am currently on chapter 5. I am a runner (70 miles + a week) and bought it to improve flexibility for my running.

Due to the volume of running I do, I find the 2 sessions a week that you feel is best for the best improvements, to only really maintain a certain level of flexibility and not go beyond it.

I have a very tight left ankle - I pulled my hamstring about 10 years ago when I asked my sister to push me into a stretch but she did it too vigorously - and feel this has contributed to the tight ankle. I did experience a tightness in the front of the ankle but using your youtube foot sequence and going back to number 8 (in this post http://kitlaughlin.com/forums/index.php?/topic/174-super%E2%80%93duper-ankle%E2%80%93soleus-stretch-routine-essential-for-the-squat/page__hl__%2Bankle+%2Bflexion - I have also followed this through with my Husbands help)...but there is a lot of work still to do on it. I feel like my running holds me back from improving and was wondering if doing my sessions a week would be helpful. Before I purchased the book I did follow the routine in the link above every other day and felt this was helping the ankle somewhat but stopped when I started following the book.

Generally though I have spent the 2 sessions per week working through the book.

I was wondering if you had any advice for me is as a runner and whether I should approach this a different way.

Thanks for your help

[Kit_L]

Welcome, Kelly.

I used to be a middle distance runner; so I know what 70 miles/week feels like in the body. For me personally, running slowly tightened my body over time, until (to be completely honest) I was tight and sore most of the time. This, basically, is the effect of long-term stress. So, with that as background, let's look at Kelly's question.

There are many reasons potentially for a plateau to have been reached (Kelly's second paragraph); a common one is that the body is close to, or has reached, its capacity to handle more stress—and this is not generally realised, but stretching is just another stress the body has to have the energy to adapt with, if you want to make major changes. If, as a counter example, you had taken up weight training (and still maintained the 70m/week workload) then I would expect your progress in this new activity to be slower that you might expect, too, and for the same reason.

Talking about the ankle now: the best way to get that mobility is to hold yourself in a full squat position, with feet flat on the floor. If your ankles are not loose enough for that, hold on to something that will let the feet (parallel) keep the heels down, and make sure the ankles do not collapse (pronate). Work up to 10' daily (I read in this position), and take all the time you need to reach this goal.

An alternative (shown to me by Craig Mallett) is to have your heels one foot length away from a wall you can slide down, then squat; the wall will press on your glutes and hold you in position. Wriggle your butt and back down the wall occasionally, and pul your trunk forwards from time to time, and again work up to spending ten minutes daily in this position—in time, your glutes will be rest on your Achilles' tendon. The ankles are stretched in the process. An aside: for non-industrial humans, this is a position of rest. Not for most Westerners, though. Much else is stretching in this position, too. And it's all good.

This kind of mobility work will only make the body feel more comfortable, in time, and will not stress the system any further and will positively impact the stretching.

One more thing you might try is stretching properly every four days. We only say twice a week for convenience; if you are training pretty hard (and 70 miles a week qualifies) then allowing slightly more recovery should leave the body feeling a bit more stretchy the next time. Let us know, please.

[Kelly]

Thank you for the feedback - my left ankle does prevent me from doing a full squat unless I am holding hands with my son! Thank you for the suggestions I will work on these and let you know how I get on. Every 4 days for a stretch sessions sounds good and easy to work into the schedule.

I didn't really think about the stress factor on my body with the mileage I do - not sure why that didn't cross my mind but is something for me to really keep in mind when it comes to prioritising.

Thanks again and I will let you know how I get on

[Kit_L]

As I mentioned, I used to be a distance runner, and one of the most interesting things about runners is that they do not consider their standard mileage to be a stress at all. If you look into that though, there is a big literature on this and running 70 miles a week, over time, definitely is a major stress, even if you enjoy it and you do it relatively easily. The body still has to adapt to the workload. And the other thing that most people don't realise is that the body's capacity to adapt is finite (and unique to each individual) and this is why we get things like cold sores, colds, tummy upsets, and the like when we increase our training load or have some major upset at work or something like that—the system simply reaches its capacity to further adapt.

And that really is the guts of the famous book by Dr Hans Selye, called the Stress of Life. That book started a major revolution in western medical theoretical perspectives and in fact is the longest lasting revision to western medical theory in its entire history. Everything he says in that book is current today. So the second lesson is simply to be aware of the total stressors in your life and simply adjust the overall loads according to life circumstances. You will know that you are adapting to all of your stressors when you sleep well, your skin is clear, you're happy, and you wake up feeling fresh most days.

I have not mentioned this up to this point, but keeping a daily record of your basal pulse rate (that is, your normal resting pulse rate when you first wake up in the morning) is far and away still the best insight into the extent to which your body is adapting to the stresses that you're subjecting it to. When I was an athlete my couch made me do this over all the time I worked with him.

Here's how it works: if my pulse rate (which used to be 42 beats per minute) was any more than three beats a minute up on that I decreased the load planned for the day and if it was still up three or four beats higher the next day I had to take the day off. I didn't realise how smart he was then, but the pulse rate is still the easiest proxy for seeing how the body is handling what we have chosen to do. And the pulse rate is global to meaning that all stressors are summed there, and can be interpreted by this simple number.

[Kelly]

Its interesting that you mention heart rate as over the Winter my mileage has increased as I have taken a new approach to training - I have started using a heart rate monitor so measure my heart rate most mornings before getting up and then on every run now as most of my running is easy I like to make sure I am don't push it . I do only 2 sessions a week of "work" which pushes me up at a higher heart rate but still leaves me at the end feeling as though I could do more (even if I wouldn't want to). I will probably eventually cut back on the running but I wanted to just reach a particular goal before I did...which should be by the end of the year or sooner as the Winter training is really proving fruitful.

I am also in the fortunate position to have very little stress in my life - I get plenty of sleep (I can lie in and wake up naturally with the light 99% of the time) and eat well too.

The only thing I do have issues with is my stomach but this has been an ongoing problem for the past 10 years and unrelated to running. I have tried many different things to overcome it (even a fruit diet at one point!) but generally I find it pretty random. I have pinpointed a couple of triggers. I may go to the doctor again about this but I went when it first occurred and they told me it is something I have to live with...but 10 years have past so maybe things are different now! It may also be the reason my skin is 100% clear even at 29.

I have been working on the squat though. The left ankle is definitely holding me back so I have been using the wall one and sliding up and down now and then. It ankle feels tight and irritating in an emotional way more than anything (if that makes sense). It reminds me of when I went through some of my "rolfing" sessions so maybe there is some store emotional stuff there too.

[Kit_L]

Hello Kelly; +1 to heart monitors. So, what's your resting pulse, out of curiosity? The big point about monitoring it is any significant change, as I am sure you know.

Good to hear about the Winter training, too (I hated it; we used to run 100 miles a week for three months...).

Issues with my stomach:

Can you be more specific? In oriental medicine, stomach problems are often related to anxiety, and not all anxiety is recognised by the owner of the body in question. Clear skin, though, is always a good sign.

It ankle feels tight and irritating in an emotional way more than anything (if that makes sense)

perfect sense, and could be related to the sister, still. If some part of the body has a relation to another person, and that deep relation is not altered (as you are trying to do now), the injury is still present in the body, like a limp from a broken leg that in reality healed 20 years before.

Stick with it and try to get some fascial release on the whole of the posterior line. And have a look at this vid; I use a stick to start that process:

I recommend watching it all, but the key part starts around 1:00.

[Kelly]

Hello Kelly; +1 to heart monitors. So, what's your resting pulse, out of curiosity? The big point about monitoring it is any significant change, as I am sure you know.

My resting heart rate is 45.

Can you be more specific? In oriental medicine, stomach problems are often related to anxiety, and not all anxiety is recognised by the owner of the body in question. Clear skin, though, is always a good sign.

The stomach problem is a night issue. I wake up at night with stomach ache and the only relief from it is belching...but sometimes I am unable to belch enough to feel comfortable. I end up sleeping on a recliner chair to stay elevated as this helps but most of the time I have to shuffle about and wait for the worse of it to pass before I can sleep again.

When this first started happening it was around 10 years ago and there was probably a lot of stress in my life then. I would also be sick then too (which actually relieved it but I can't be sick now when I have it..I have tried just hoping for relief sometimes!). I remember it happened so frequently the morning after one episode I went to the Drs who told me that there isn't anything they can do to help me and its something I would just have to live with.

Since then its been on and off. It doesn't happen all the time. I do know that stress is a trigger and I do not eat when I an anxious/stressed - I will wait until I have calmed down (as I will have an instant tummy ache if I do). Nuts are another trigger (If eaten after 2pm in the afternoon then I will be up at night with stomach issues - worse if I eat them closer to bedtime).

Generally though it seems quite random. I could have had a wonderful peaceful day, great meals and a good functioning digestive system and suddenly I will wake up with a problem. Other days it seems more obvious what could have triggered it.

I leave about 3-4hours between meal and bedtime but that doesn't help.

There are things that I don't eat such as dairy (asthma trigger) and wheat I generally avoid for the most part but do have spelt now and then.

I try to eat fish/liver regularly (I was vegan for a while and now do not like the taste of muscle meat but enjoy liver and fish immensely) and I am fortunate that my Husband loves to cook and all our meals are made from scratch.

Having said this I do not think any of my dietary changes have made much difference to my stomach problems (they have almost completely eradicated my asthma though)

I used to be quite a tense and highly strung person but have relaxed a lot over the years and am much calmer now then I used to be.

Maybe it still is an anxiety issue and I am not recognising it?

I would love to solve this issue!

Thank you for the video I have watched it and have already tried it out. I will implement this into my routine too. After a while you start to enjoy those things that first felt uncomfortable. I am already feeling much more comfortable in the daily squat (as though I have broken the ice with facing the emotional issue).

Thank you again for your insight and time.

[Kit_L]

Kelly wrote:

Maybe it still is an anxiety issue and I am not recognising it?

It is possible, definitely. In oriental medicine, the physical stomach, along with the pancreas (the latter system is called the 'spleen', but in Chines medicine, this term refers to the pancreas), are partner systems, and they are where anxiety is actually embodied. Research that I find compelling, first popularised by Antonio Damasio in the ground-breaking book Descartes' Error, shows that emotions are properties of the physical body, not of the mind—the mind, through the proprioceptors (more numerous in the gut than all the skin and muscles, actually), becomes aware of the different physical states and over time, we have learned to associate, to experience, these states as emotions. It's more complex that this, but this will get us going. The key point is that the state called "anxiety" is a property of the physical stomach. I have seen endoscope video of the stomach lining (a thick muscular organ, about half an inch thick) literally fibrillating (rapid wave movements; amazing to see); this is, exactly, what "butterflies in the stomach" is.

Over-, or often mis-attribution (attaching too much significance to something; being worried that it will happen again, and so on, perpetuate the original problem. The only way I know to overcome this kind of problem is to acquire a deep relaxation habit; this will required daily practise for a month or so, but can lead to a night-and-day change in the mind's relationship with what's going on in the body. One of the conceits of being human is that we (the mind) believes it is in control; reality is that the relationship is the other way around. We must find what the body itself needs, and supply that need. Deep relaxation, the experience of it while being wide awake, is the balancing factor for anxiety.

If you have never experienced this, it will feel amazing. A deeper point is that (speaking generally now, not about you) if you are an anxious person, that has become the norm for you—you can be in this state and simply be unable to recognise it. Once you have experienced enough deep relaxation, though, this alternative state can be summoned at will—you then will recognise the anxiety as a different state to this other state, then bring about what you need to return the relaxation state. This is impossible without the experience of deep relaxation.

If you go to the 'Five Rs" thread here, you will find a variety of lying relaxation scrips that are recorded in a format that an iPhone or an .mp3 player will recognise. There are quite a few there, have been recorded all around the world, and are free.

[Kelly]

Thanks for the tips - I have been putting some into effect. When I lay down at night I will spend time trying to relax (even when I think I am!) and since doing this I haven't had any stomach issues, they seem to have disappeared Hopefully this will work long term but its certainly something I didn't really factor in as I thought I was relatively chilled anyway. So thanks!

The 4 days between stretching has helped to. I can go further into stretches and feel I am making progress. I do feel I am making progress in some ways with my ankle but its still restricted. There is a tension in the front/shin area - it was in the ankle but I seem to have relieved this, now its there. It is interesting as though I feel progress has been made, the ankle has not got anymore flexible. I hope that it will as I would love to be able to do pistol squats eventually and I know I can't do that until I can fully squat (which I can after a stretching session, but the left ankle is so tight that I can't hold it for long and feel if I could just push my knee over the ankle a little more then I would be fine - so can't really do a squat yet but can at least do that which I couldn't before).

I have also been doing a bit of squatting everyday to progress to the 10 minutes you talked about.

Just thought I would update my insights so far

Thanks again.

[Kit_L]

Kelly: brilliant results so far, and quickly, too. Please keep us informed.

Thinking you are chilled, and being chilled often are quite different animals!

K

[MT Nordic]

Great input on this thread Kit. I kept thinking of things I should write, and then you would answer them in the next post! Kelly, I am a runner as well, mostly ultramarathons these days, but I do mix in some 10k and 1/2 marathons for training runs. I love to run in the mountains on the trails. Running definitely makes me tight and I too feel it holds back my progress significantly. Most nights before bed I will stretch piriformis and hamstrings, as well as hip flexors. I roll out my IT band and do some lacrosse ball myofascial release in the piriformis/glute/obturator area. These things have helped me make "some" progress over time Stretching and rolling your anterior tibial region is good too, runners are always tight here. Sitting in a squat position has helped my ankles tremendously, and really improved my ankle stability at the same time (imagine that...more mobility AND more stability!). I can't hold a full 10 mins in squat position, so I try to do it for a few minutes, frequently through the day, I probably get close to 30 minutes total. I also got a stand up desk which has helped me with my glute activation and minimizing hamstring/hip flexor tightness. A good deep massage by someone who takes care of runners is always a help too! Happy running...

[MT Nordic]

granted...this everyday work is mostly limbering moreso than hard stretching. So I concur that hard stretching should only be done twice weekly, but with the running I find that the limbering before bed is really helpful

[Kit_L]

MT Nordic wrote:

imagine that...more mobility AND more stability!

Imagine that! Great comments—cheers, kl

[Kelly]

Thanks for the input Nordic Happy running to you too

I started off sliding down the wall for a squat like Kit suggested but I found that it was difficult to hold the squat. So I have started holding a small weight in my hands and can happily sit in a squat position for ten minutes (using no wall)! I hope this is an ok way to do it...I feel it is much better than the wall one as I feel much more comfortable in the squat.

Just finished a stretch session as well as some addition for legs (as working through lessons) and feel great.

[MT Nordic]

Hi Kelly. I think it is very reasonable to hold a weight in front of you, but really focus on forward flexion of the ankles. the weight counterbalances, so it doesn't force you to flex your ankles. The wall exercise kit mentioned does. that may be why it's less comfortable for you. Try an alternative like squatting in front of a pole or something like that that you can grab on and pull yourself forward. You really want to improve that ankle mobility.

[Kit_L]

MT: Perfect.

the weight counterbalances, so it doesn't force you to flex your ankles

And, @ Kelly: he is spot on, and that's why I recommended the less comfortable wall version. As well as ankles, it is the best loosener of the lower back and hip fascia too; work on getting your glutes right down on your lower Achilles' tendons.

[Kelly]

I thought it might be easier to show pictures of my squat sliding down the wall to see if I am soing it right?

I find it comfortable in this position (and can spend a good while there although feel like I end up falling down onto my bottom and have to start again and slide back down the wall if that makes sense) but I don't think its doing anything for my ankles? It doesn't feel like it is at all. I can do this on its own without a wall briefly before falling back.

Is this the right position or am I diong it wrong?

Thanks for your feedback Nordic and Kit

NB: - Due to after a few minutes feeling like I am sliding too far down the wall/onto bottom - I thought maybe I wasn't close enough to the wall and thus tried to go closer but this meant I couldn't get anywhere near the position in the picture so felt it in my thighs - however reading through what you have said Kit on this thread about the wall squat and also on other threads, I am wondering if the position in the pictures is in fact correct or close to it.

[Kit_L]

Kelly, that's an excellent position. The guy I learned it from (Craig M) says the goal is glutes against Achilles tendon, and it looks like you are there. Now get the knees together, and repeat (straighten the back while pulling the knees to the chest). This is a strong stretch for me, deep inside the hip joints.

Then, once mastered, leave the wall behind, both versions.

[Kelly]

I thought I would update on my progress on this. I do the wall squat pretty much everyday for at least ten minutes. I might bring my feet a little closer to the wall just so my heel is off the ground but with a minute of so of stretching it relaxes down...just to try and stretch my left ankle in particular out more. I do feel this has been beneficial to me overall.

Unfortunately I haven't had much success translating this away from the wall. My left ankle doesn't seemed to have gained any flexibility away from the wall. I can't seem to break through the barrier of getting it just that little more flexible in order to do it. It just doesn't want to budge still. I can manage a squat on the floor but it takes a lot to prevent me toppling backwards so I do not last long.

I do keep up a stretch routine overall (twice a week focus) as well still and also do the limbering exericses in the Vimeo squat videos - usually every other day or daily if I have time.

I would really love to sit in a squat without using the wall - so this is something I am continuing to work on.

[MT Nordic]

Kelly, you've made great progress in just 1 month. Work on bent leg achillels stretch to get your ankle flexibility better, and work on piriformis and upper hamstring (Kit's underbutt) flexibility to get your body closer to your thighs. The bent leg achilles stretch is like a bent leg straddle sit on the non-working side and bring your working leg up and lean over it while keeping the heel on the ground. hold for long holds, at least 1-2 mins. hope you can picture it, i can't find a picture of it online for some reason.

[Kelly]

Kelly, you've made great progress in just 1 month. Work on bent leg achillels stretch to get your ankle flexibility better, and work on piriformis and upper hamstring (Kit's underbutt) flexibility to get your body closer to your thighs. The bent leg achilles stretch is like a bent leg straddle sit on the non-working side and bring your working leg up and lean over it while keeping the heel on the ground. hold for long holds, at least 1-2 mins. hope you can picture it, i can't find a picture of it online for some reason.

1 month?!

Thank you - I do do that one...I usually get my Husband's to put his weight on it as I can't get a stretch on it otherwise. That left ankle though is just not wanting to budge and I am wondering if the psychological barrier it probably has can be lifted.

I will work on the piriformis and hamstring some more too. Thanks for the suggestions