This has been the big shift in my 20 year career as a physical therapist is when I first graduated,
it was make sure the exercise is pain free.
It was literally like drilled into us, right?
Never increase pain.
And what we have learned over the last two decades is that research does support actually loading tendons
and actually adding force through the tendon to stimulate healing through what we call mechanotransduction.
And this allows for improved healing of tendons.
♪♪♪
Are you constantly worried about getting injured or you don't know how to get faster as a runner?
And you want to continue to run for stress relief, then this is the podcast for you.
Welcome to Healthy Runner, the only place that provides you with training tips, injury recovery,
and prevention tools with actionable strategies by experts in the running industry
so you can develop a stronger running body and feel confident that you can overcome any obstacle as a runner.
I'm your host, Dr. Dwayne Scotty, avid runner, running physical therapist and coach, educator,
founder of Spark Healthy Runner, where we help dedicated runners get stronger, run faster,
and enjoy lifelong injury-free running with the perfect online running coach,
even if you've been told to stop running with an injury, or you think coaching is just for fast runners.
Learn more about our signature coaching program at learn.sparkhealthyrunner.com.
Every week on the show, we coach you to grow as a runner,
just like the process of building a strong, durable home that will last a lifetime,
requiring little maintenance.
The design and planning is your mindset.
The foundation is your strength training.
The framing is your run plan.
The electrical and plumbing is your nutrition.
The insulation, drywall, and flooring is your recovery.
The landscaping and exterior is your race strategy.
If you master the six parts of growing as a runner,
your running will be strong and last long, hitting PRs well into your 40s, 50s, and beyond.
Every week, we help a runner just like you build their dream home.
I'm your host, Dr. Dwayne Scotty.
Welcome to the Healthy Runner podcast.
Hey, healthy runners.
What's going on?
It's time to answer your running-related questions with another special episode of an Ask Dwayne episode.
It is officially the month of May, which marks the beginning of summer.
It comes with longer days, more sunlight, more time to enjoy the outdoors.
Are you as pumped as I am to run in shorts and a tank top only?
Finally, in today's fun-filled episode, I'm going to answer your questions.
So the ones that were submitted by listeners of the podcast,
and I'm always excited to get into your specific question.
So in this episode, I'm going to get into topics such as half marathon training,
off-season and strength training, massage guns, joint health supplements,
how to adjust your run plan when you feel a niggle or aching pain.
We're going to talk about hip pain, posterior tibial tendon pain,
and when it's safe to work through pain with specific exercises,
we even are going to talk about nighttime hacks for a better sleep,
running with PMS symptoms.
Don't worry.
I farmed that question out.
We're going to talk about sports drinks and speed shoes.
So my team has divided these questions into different buckets.
So we're going to have a recovery bucket, injury specific, off-season,
half marathon training, strength training, female run specific,
and general running questions.
Remember, I will answer your questions on the next one of these special episodes.
If you submit your question in the show notes, using the form I created
to compile all of your questions.
So when we get enough questions within that form,
we're going to do the same thing that we're doing today and answer them live on the show.
I have one ask for you at the time of this recording.
We are actually sitting at 192 reviews on Apple Podcast.
So if you get any value out of this episode or previous episodes,
can I ask you for one quick favor and provide a quick rating and review
on what you learned from this podcast?
It only takes literally 15 seconds and would help our show reach more runners
who really need to learn how to run strong, fast, and stay healthy in the process.
So they can enjoy lifelong injury-free running for many years to come.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
All you need to do is just go to Healthy Runner within Apple Podcast.
You scroll down to the bottom.
You're going to see a star rating, hit that, and then you type in a quick take home message.
And if you listen on Spotify, you can help the show by following on Spotify
and then just hitting the rating there.
They don't even have a review section, so it literally takes three seconds on Spotify.
So if you listen on Spotify, if you can do that, it would greatly help this podcast
reach more runners.
And I would greatly appreciate that from you.
I love reading all of your reviews.
They mean the world to me.
I actually just read three of them yesterday, which really touched my heart, especially one of them.
So it really hit home and it was one of those days where the overwhelm factor was at a level 15 on a scale from 0 to 10.
So it really ended my night on such a great feeling.
So I appreciate you who ever filled out that rating.
It really meant the world to me.
So I read all of them.
So if you can do that for me, I'd greatly appreciate it.
So now let's do this.
Let's get into your questions that you have for me.
So starting out in the recovery bucket, Sylvia wants to know,
do you recommend massage guns and when to use them in combination with foam rolling?
So massage guns, I got mine right here.
Right?
You've probably seen these before.
This is one tool that can be used to treat soft tissues.
So this is actually, I'm going to like start up my little massage gun here.
You guys probably hear that on the podcast.
This is a precaution gun.
So it's percussive therapy.
And the whole goal is to actually loosen soft tissues and increase blood flow.
So our fascia is the connective tissue that surrounds our muscles.
It's like the saran wrap around your muscle and it surrounds our joints.
And this fascia can become inflamed.
It can cause pain in certain individuals.
You can get trigger points in the fascia and you perceive this as feeling tight.
So that's what you're usually feeling when you feel like, I feel tight.
And research has shown that tight fascia can actually restrict range of motion.
So when a muscle group is stiff and it limits your range of motion,
like the mobility in your joint or a specific part of your body,
then certain muscles overcompensate.
And then that can put you at risk for getting muscle imbalances
and then suffering one of the common running related injuries,
whether it's IT band syndrome, whether it's runners knee, whether it's a kiddies pain.
So really, precaution guns create repeated pressure at high speeds,
as you heard from my percussion gun there.
And it really kind of like thins the fluid, makes the fascia more pliable.
So your muscles can actually move more easily and efficiently.
And it really, the goal of it is to really prevent tightness,
improve range of motion, speed up muscle recovery.
So unlike foam rolling,
percussive therapy massage guns can actually penetrate usually a little deeper
to like an inch into your soft tissue, stimulating the muscles
and helping your brain release some tension.
There is some research that has shown that percussion therapy increases skin temperature,
blood flow, hormonal responses to reduce inflammation and pain associated
with the lead onset muscle soreness, or what we call doms.
And, you know, so I really think of this tool as one tool in our toolbox
that we can use to treat the soft tissue.
So if you have a massage gun, then I usually tell my clients, like,
either foam roll or massage gun, whatever you prefer.
You know, I use both for different areas.
I really do like getting on my foam roller and doing active motion with it.
You can do some active motion with the percussion gun as well.
I just, I don't know, I like to leverage my body weight sometimes on a foam roller.
I feel like it's a little easier than actually putting force with my arms
and like, you know, you're working essentially to provide that massage.
You know, one of the benefits of the massage gun or the percussive therapy
is a little bit more targeted control over like a specific area.
So that's also kind of a downside is like if you're looking to cover a large area.
So let's say your quads, let's say your IT band, like you actually have to move that massage gun a lot.
Whereas for me on the foam roller, it's a lot, I could do that more efficiently,
leveraging my body weight and then combining it with active motion a little bit easier than that.
So hopefully that answers your question, Sylvia.
I really think it's personal preference and regardless which form that you choose,
foam rolling, massage gun, I highly recommend most runners do it before they're run
to stimulate the nervous system, right?
To get the body ready for running could increase a little bit of blood flow.
And then certainly after your long runs or speed sessions,
I also like to do five minutes hitting the main muscle groups.
If you want to know how to foam roll like the main muscle groups,
you can easily find that on my YouTube channel.
It would be in the saved kind of like watch this playlist.
If it's your first time going there, spark healthy runner, YouTube channel.
And then on Instagram at spark healthy runner,
I do have a video of how to massage gun your top five running muscles.
So you can also get that video and that is actually pinned in my reels.
Or it's pinned on my homepage.
Either or I think it's pinned on my reels.
So you can actually see how to foam roll like the top muscles that you need for running
and the common trouble areas, you know, especially the calf.
It's a great area that I like to use the massage gun and actually really hit between the calf muscle
and the Achilles tendon, what we call the musculptendenestrunction,
that fascia is usually very bound down in a lot of runners.
So, all right. So that is massage gun.
So now let's talk a little injury specific question here.
If you feel a niggle in general, what should you do?
Example, how to guide myself in backing off runs, how to rehab yourself, et cetera.
I'm not currently injured, but would like to know if I feel any niggles in the future
after being back to running, what should I do to prevent them from being full on injuries?
This is actually a great topic and one that I have been thinking about doing a full episode
on, which I think it definitely deserves a full episode because this is very common in many runners.
So I'm going to try to give the short answer without making this a full episode is
if you feel an ache, a pain, a niggle, whatever you want to call it,
during your run, that's not abnormal.
Most runners feel that.
Like, I feel that from time and time again. Our coaching team feels that.
If it goes away, a lot of times it will go away either during that run or after the run.
And that's like the only time you feel it. If that happens, like, don't worry about it.
Don't stress about it. We work with a lot of runners and sometimes every little ache and pain
can kind of like stress you out.
Remember, if you're running and you're building, right, you're trying to grow as a runner
and you're actually either running more miles per week, running faster or running longer,
your body is adapting to those stresses. You're imparting stresses on the body.
Sometimes you can feel a niggle. You can feel an ache or pain. Totally normal.
When we're really trying to balance adding stress to our bodies through exercise to improve as a runner,
and then staying healthy so we're not getting a full-blown injury.
So the ache and pain, the niggle, it's very common.
More common than you think, guys. So I don't want you to stress about them.
And I don't want you to think if you feel a little knee pain during a run, that means you should take two days off.
That's probably the worst thing you can do. Especially if it's just one time, one instance.
So you want to maintain your schedule that you have planned, right?
And take note. I feel like, oh, my knee hurt today when I went off this hill.
All right, let's see if it happens tomorrow. Let's see if it happens on my next run.
Let's see if I can generate a pattern. If something is now three days, four days in a row, consistently,
then we're starting to get into the minor injury category.
So then that's when we want to employ some strategies and modify what you're doing from a run standpoint
or modify what you're doing from a strength standpoint.
Is there anything new that you've added in? Could it be due to the new plyometric jumps that you added in?
Maybe your form isn't good. Maybe you're actually doing like level three plyometrics jumping off a box
instead of doing like what I recommend in my level one plyometric exercises, right?
So think about what have I changed in my routine? Was I on my feet all day at work?
Did I work like a 12-hour shift? I was on my feet and then I had to, you know, do something else
where you were walking around all weekend. And really, that's probably the cause of why on your Monday morning run,
you know, you started feeling a little like icky-ness in your Achilles, right?
So try to think about your activity level. But in general, if you feel that little acro pain
one, two, even three times, don't even worry about it. Don't stress. Don't change anything.
If it's a little bit after that, then we want to think about modifying your running
and trying to switch up what you did for a run.
So let's say, you know, it really hurt where you felt this not really hurt.
Let's say, because it's a niggle. It doesn't really hurt.
If you felt it doing some speed work on the track, actually, just went to the track the other day
for the first time in months. And luckily, no niggles, right? Felt good, because all the winter strength training protected me.
But if you feel a little bit, then, okay, let's try running slower next time.
So kind of modifying, you know, what brought on that pain, if that makes sense.
And try to add some variety into what you're doing from a run standpoint.
And I think that's important to kind of prevent it from being like a full-blown injury, going back to your question,
is identifying it, not worrying about it, not stressing, not harping on it, not perseverating,
not having pessimistic attitude that it's going to turn into an injury, because most often it doesn't.
And then number two, keep an eye on it. If it's a couple of days, then, all right, now we need to modify something.
So either it's my speed, it's my duration of running, right, the miles, or is it something in strength training?
Is it footwear? Did I totally go from a traditional 12 millimeter drop shoe?
And now I'm running an ultra, is that a zero drop?
Then, yeah, I'm not surprised that your body's like, what is going on right now? That's a huge jump.
So you really need to kind of think about what have I changed, right?
Like, what could be the reason why this is happening?
And then, if it's longer than that, and it is, you know, continuing to be a problem, especially if you're feeling it,
not when you're running, then that's when we want to get it evaluated, right?
See a healthcare professional that can properly diagnose it and not tell you to stop running,
but actually modify your running and allow you to continue doing what you love doing,
and then allowing this minor injury to heal up really quickly so you can just get back.
So hopefully that answers your question.
Next question we have was submitted by Sean, and a shout out to Sean, because Sean, by the way, just shaved 10 minutes off of his marathon time,
working with Coach Whitney in our program, and he did it without having to worry about getting gin splints.
Like he had last fall when he was doing the free how plan.
So Coach Whitney and I are so proud of you, Sean, and we're so happy that you doubled down on your running and health goals
and signed up to continue working with Coach Whitney in our longevity program to continue growing in your running journey.
So super proud of you. You've been like learning, implementing, and it's just really, really cool to see your progress in your marathon time.
And to do it, pain-free.
So to answer your question, Sean, Sean says, I hear a lot of podcast ads for Prevenex and joint health is joint health something that should be on my radar.
Are there things I can do to supplement, or that is not supplement related, or should I consider products like that?
All right, so great question here. This podcast is in no way shape-reformed, sponsored by Prevenex, who knows, maybe in the future, it will.
But I had to do a little research myself, Sean, because a lot of these newer, natural therapeutics for joint and connective tissue disorders changed a lot in the last decade.
So I actually did a little research because the old glucosamine, Conjroitin, was kind of like the old staple as a natural way to preserve joints.
The big, overlying decades of research that was done on them really didn't show a whole lot of efficacy in preventing joint problems.
So it was, there wasn't not any strong evidence. So everything that I actually just did a quick PubMed search, there actually has been some, you know, peer-reviewed articles, some RCTs, so randomized control trials that do show some promising research on the ingredients that is used in Prevenex.
So the NEM eggshell membrane, and then also the Boswellia serata extract.
Now I am no homeopathic physician, by any means, this is not my area of expertise.
I can just tell you what I did in my little research and actually looking at some peer-reviewed journals.
Basically what the studies do show is some short-term relief for patients who have osteoarthritis in their joints.
So they've been diagnosed with osteoarthritis and you know they have joint pain and some of the preliminary research does show relief of pain, improvement and function.
They're really, I couldn't find anything more than a 120-day trial, so it doesn't appear there's long-term trials.
So if you don't have osteoarthritis, then I probably wouldn't say that I would recommend you take these with the idea of trying to preserve your joints.
We do know that running actually is super protective for your joints, and research does show runners versus non-runners.
The incidence of developing osteoarthritis later in life is much less in runners.
So you're running, you're doing strength training to protect your joints, so the stronger the muscles are, the less forces that are going to be transmitted to your joints, less joint reaction forces that will help preserve cartilage.
So if you do have severe osteoarthritis right now, I've worked with a bunch of runners who do have severe osteoarthritis, you know they're pretty much trying to delay a total knee replacement in the next couple of years.
You know if it was me, it was a family member, I'd be like yeah, try Prevenex, see if it works for you.
But just to give you a little low down on what the research currently shows, but it is relatively new, like pretty much all the studies that are published is like 10 to 15 years is what I found.
So I'm sure in the next decade or two we'll probably have a little bit better evidence and to see if there is any preventative benefit to it.
But if you're running and you don't have joint pain, you don't have osteoarthritis, I don't see why you would need to take that.
But again, if you know there's folks that I've worked with that's like they're signed up for the New York City Marathon and they have moderate to severe osteoarthritis, they don't want a total knee replacement.
So hopefully that answers your question Sean. All right, let's get to the next question here.
Rochelle wants to know hip dysplasia and running.
I was told it causes my muscles to work harder to keep my hips in place. Does that mean I shouldn't run anymore?
So great question here for those that don't know hip dysplasia is a condition that is definitely more common in females than males and it's really the hip is made of a ball and a ball.
And a socket joint basically the socket is not developed into the proper curvature during early childhood development.
So it's like a shallow socket and essentially the ball moves around more so and is more at risk for dislocating or subluxing out of the socket.
So people are born with this condition. It's one of those kind of screening tools that pediatricians look for in infants. And really, you know, as an adult, if you have hip dysplasia, you're just more at risk for because that femoral head is moving around a whole lot that it can potentially tear the labrum, which is the connective tissue around.
It's like the rim of the socket and that's actually what I tore and then how I actually fell into running is I started running after my labral tear surgery, but kind of fun fact there.
But you're just more at risk for having a labral tear or having some cartilage issues in the hip joint itself.
So essentially your hip is what we call unstable. And yes, it is important. The treatment for that is stability exercises. So stabilizing the muscles in and around your hip joint.
So the primary hip stabilizers that we have for running, especially when we're on one leg is your side hip muscles, your gluteus medius, minimus muscle, your deep rotator muscles, the biggest one being pure formus, and then also the glute max muscle.
So that is going to be very protective. The more hip stability you have in your muscles, then should cause you less pain.
Do I think running would be bad for you? I don't think you should stop running by any means.
As long as it's not like excruciating painful and you don't have documented severe cartilage wearing away within your joint, then yeah, running is not going to be harmful.
It's not like it's putting your hip in positions that are going to dislocate your hip. So I want to be worried about that.
You're certainly not at risk for dislocating while you're running, but you just want to make sure that you have that protective strength in and around your hip joint.
So hopefully that was helpful for you.
It's time to take a real quick break and before I say any more, I truly hope the message so far today has benefited you either from a running or a health standpoint.
Maintaining healthy feet are one of the critical parts to growing as a runner. Staying in line with that theme, I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you one of my favorite recovery brands on the market today, and that is Naboso.
It's a company that is dedicated to redefining what's underneath your feet so you can feel more to move better as a runner.
From a movement prep before your runs to foot recovery after those hard speed workouts or long runs, Naboso's texture products lets your senses guide you and connects you to your exercises and your running by strengthening your feet and helping you recover from those runs.
Want to learn more on how you as a runner can activate, strengthen and recover from running? Listen to episode 116 on this podcast to learn from Naboso founder, podiatrist and human movement specialist, Dr. Emily Splickle herself.
Dr. Emily shared with us the importance of foot stability for runners. What is century stimulation, the benefits of toe spacers and barefoot training for running.
There's so much value in this episode, so be sure to go back and queue up episode 116 on the healthy runner podcast to listen to during your next long run and learn about why I just love my Naboso products to get me through my personal training.
I've been using Naboso's splay which are toe spacers that are flexible to help improve circulation at least once a day once I take my shoes off for the day and I've just noticed a considerable improvement in my toe alignment from my hammer toes.
I also loved the Naboso recovery ball to get out any trigger points in my foot muscles as well as the recovery socks that are textured and feel like a massage for my feet after my hard runs and I even like them better knowing that they help stimulate my nervous system to enhance muscle activation and movement with their patent textured surface on the inside of the sock.
I really couldn't imagine honestly half marathon or marathon training without the help and assistance of Naboso's products, which is help keep me healthy as a runner.
You can learn more about Naboso's textured products and how it connects you to your exercises and your running by strengthening your feet and helping you recover from your runs.
Since you're a part of our healthy runner community, you will get 20% off.
All of your orders just use code healthy runner during checkout when placing your order using the special link we have for you in the show notes.
Go ahead and give Naboso a try and your feet will thank you for it.
I know mine already have.
Now let's get back into this episode.
All right.
Next question that we have relates to posterior to be a little tendonitis.
I was wondering when you do strengthening exercises for rehab.
Should you do them if you feel light, pain or mild discomfort when doing these exercises or are rehab exercises supposed to not hurt at all.
When you do them.
Great question.
Now this question can really relate to I'm going to extrapolate it out not only to posterior to be a little tendonitis.
So for anyone who is battling an injury right now and I'm going to talk about tendon injuries.
So tendons definitely behave much different than joints.
So generally speaking, this has been the big shift in my 20 year career as a physical therapist is when I first graduated.
It was make sure the exercise is pain free.
It was literally like drilled into us right never increased pain.
And what we have learned over the last two decades is that research does support actually loading tendons and actually adding force through the tendon to stimulate healing
through what we call mechanotransduction.
And this allows for improved healing of tendons.
So the common running related injuries such as planar fasciitis, posterior to be all tendonitis, patellar tendon pain or jumpers knee.
IT band syndrome doesn't really qualify here because we wouldn't load the IT band.
But I think those are the big ones that I'm thinking, oh, how can I forget about PhD my first running related injury.
Proximal hamstring tendonopathy, right?
All of the research supports loading these tendons.
Now when we load the tendons and then Achilles, I don't even think I mentioned Achilles, how can I not?
Most of the research is actually on Achilles tendonopathy.
We need to actually add stimulus and sometimes that stimulus is going to be a little painful.
And we actually sometimes want that especially for the Achilles tendon.
We actually want to feel a little bit of pain because if we're not feeling any discomfort, we're probably not loading it enough to actually create real change and real healing.
So generally speaking, we use a pain monitoring scale and it really results.
So the answer to your question is, should they be pain free or should you feel like pain?
Is it depends, right? Don't we love that answer? It depends because it's going to depend upon what your medical provider has classified you.
Do you have one of basically three classifications?
Is your tissues highly irritable?
Are they moderately irritable?
Or are they low tissue irritability?
So let's talk high tissue irritability first.
So this would be like red, like stop sign, right?
So this is a numerical pain rating scale.
You rate your pain is a seven.
It's an eight.
It's a nine.
It's a ten.
So it's high pain levels, right?
When you get your pain and you're getting pain with like everyday activities.
You're getting pain during all portions of you trying to run.
So this is high tissue irritability.
So this would be pretty much the only phase where yes, your exercises need to be pain free.
The majority of you who are listening to this right now who have any type of injury are not in that stage.
All right.
Most of you are going to be either in the moderate or the low tissue irritability because chronic tendon pain and chronic tendon problems are usually in those areas.
So if you're in the moderate tissue irritability, that's like yellow.
That's like a yellow flag yellow light.
It's like proceed with caution, but we're going to still go.
So this is like a four, five or six at a 10 scale pain wise.
You don't have pain with everyday activities.
And you might feel a little pain at the beginning of a run, but then it goes away.
And then you feel pain, you know, at the end of a long run.
So when you're running that last mile or two of your long run, you feel it.
But the shorter runs during the week, you don't feel pain.
That comes back.
And then, you know, if you do have pain after that long run, it's going to go away fairly quickly.
It's going to maybe linger for like an hour or two at max.
And then let's go to even probably where the largest percentage of you are in is low tissue irritability.
So this is a green light.
This is a zero one, two or three on the pain scale.
You only have mild pain either at the start of a run or maybe toward the end of a run.
But then it goes away super quickly after the run, either when you stop running or within 30 minutes within an hour.
You know, that's the longest it will linger.
And then you don't feel it otherwise.
So if you're in low tissue irritability or moderate, you are allowed to have pain during your exercises.
If the intended goal is to load the tendon and for posterior tibial tendonitis, the intended goal is to load the tendon.
Unless you are literally in an acute phase, you just started having this pain for a couple of days and it's actually inflamed.
Most likely you're going to be in that higher tissue irritability phase.
So hopefully that answers your question.
And most likely the answer is some pain is going to be okay.
Unless you're in that high tissue irritability phase.
All right, let's get into an off-season question here.
Kit from IG wants to know she just finished her first ever half marathon.
Kudos, congratulations to you.
That's an amazing feeling.
She's wondering what should my off-season workout schedule look like between runs and strength training.
Should I taper down my runs or just drop mileage down immediately?
My next race is a 10k in September.
All right, so what we want to do after any race, especially the half marathon and the marathon, especially when it's your first, is we need a recovery week.
So that recovery week will look different for different folks.
And it will look different for half marathon versus marathon.
But the marathon recovery week should literally be no running.
And I just had a conversation about this recently with another run coach and they just ran Boston and yes, they took a full week off even though they're experienced runner.
So recovery week marathon full week off no running.
I feel pretty firm on that.
I know many people don't do that and they get into running quicker.
I took a full week off when I ran my last marathon.
What's the rush?
Like your body needs recovery.
It does.
So for a half marathon, if it's your first half marathon, you could take a full week off.
Like it's not going to make a dramatic difference in your progress as a runner.
Most runners, I would say, probably take anywhere from, you know, three to five days off of running.
And when you're an experienced half marathoner, you might only take a day off.
And then there are some runners who actually prefer the next morning to go out for a shakeout run.
So super slow recovery run, maybe a two-mile or maybe three.
So that week though, Kit, is going to be full-blown recovery, meaning it's really going on how your body feels, making sure that you're getting proper sleep, nutrition, everything you need for your body to fully recover from your hard race effort.
Right?
You just took your body to limits.
It's never been before.
It's going to take time for your body to recover.
So I highly recommend you have that full recovery week.
See what your body wants to give you.
Your mileage is going to be dramatically less.
So there is no taper down your runs.
Like you wouldn't run 13.1 on Saturday or Sunday.
And then the next week you're running like a seven-mileer and a five-mileer and a couple of four-mileers.
And then the week after that, you taper down more.
Like you definitely wouldn't do that.
It's pretty much a full recovery week, which could be no running to a little bit of running.
And then we do what we call a reverse taper.
So now we start to build back up.
So now week two of recovery really looks like the week before your race.
Right?
In terms of mileage.
So let's just use some rough numbers here.
Let's say you peaked at 30 miles in your half marathon training.
Maybe the week before you ran 20 miles or 25 miles, let's say.
Right?
So that after your recovery week.
So let's say that recovery week, I don't know, you ran five to eight miles total.
Maybe 10 miles total.
The week after that, then you're going to go to 25 miles or 20 miles, whatever you did during your taper.
And then gradually build back up.
So hopefully that answered your question, made some sense.
And I know another part of your question related to strength training.
And this is the time period in off-season.
And this is what we call base building phase of training.
And we're periodizing our training throughout the calendar year.
So you really want to double down on your strength training.
And I highly recommend three times a week for strength training during off-season.
If you want to learn more about base training and how to maximize what to do for strength training in the off-season,
check out episode 168 on the Healthy Runner podcast.
I did a full deep dive on that and shared kind of my personal journey and got into a lot of strength training.
Specifically what I was doing during off-season mode.
All right.
Next question here, our friend, Jess wants to know between training cycles or training sessions,
what's your favorite way to structure and maintain your run life?
So more specifically, when life gets complicated and stress and sleep suffer, what physical and mental steps do you take to stay in the game?
All right.
So I think what you're asking is really, how do we get consistent in our running?
So I think that's what you're kind of referring to as state in the game.
And how do we structure and maintain running life?
When everything else around us is chaotic.
So first off, I want you to consider changing your mindset with training and running.
I am a firm believer in running consistency as it's a lot easier to continue growing in your fitness journey by taking one to two weeks of recovery after a training cycle,
like we actually just talked about, versus totally shutting down and not running for like two to six weeks,
and then thinking of like building back up and trying to get your mojo back or, you know, getting back in the game.
So that being said, I do think during or between training cycles, when you're in that off-season, your expectations need to change.
And when life is complicated, you know, things turn for the worse.
You have a lot of stress going on.
For me, I turn to the consistency in my life.
For me, that's exercising, right?
So it's running and doing strength training.
But my expectations might be different.
So getting in movement, we know movement is medicine, movement matters, and can be extremely helpful for decreasing the pace of life.
And it's really a good example for decreasing stress, making you feel better physically, mentally, emotionally.
So having that consistency, I think, is key.
And I think it's really what you should be striving for is developing that habit of, I'm going to move my body.
And it might not be a, what I used to do during my training cycle, but it is going to be something that's going to be beneficial for me because I know the benefits.
I know I feel better when I get out there and go for a run.
I know my stress level has come down.
I know I'm a better human.
I know I'm a better mom to my kids, right?
I'm a better parent.
I'm a better dad, right?
So, you know, think about the benefits that it offers you to be consistent.
And then just have grace with yourself and, you know, decrease the expectations.
But I would focus really on setting the habit and being consistent as opposed to the outcome.
And specific miles you run or specific pieces that you run.
I would just focus on getting that three to four times per week of, hey, I'm going to maintain my running fitness.
And I'm going to do this during an off season.
I'm going to do this during a stressful time period, even though I'm not training for a race because it's the benefits that it affords me.
And then when you go to train for that next race, you're going to actually be in a better fitness state of mind from a body standpoint.
You're not going to get injured.
You're still working at aerobic base, right?
You're not losing your cardiovascular fitness and your health that you've developed along the way.
So hopefully that answers your question.
All right.
Next question relates to half marathon training.
So Angela wants to know she is a beginner novice runner here who has never ran more than a 10 K and I'm now training for my first half marathon.
Kudos.
Congrats.
She's 13 weeks away and she wants to know what is the longest run I should do.
And when in the training, should I do the longest run?
Also, what should I do the week leading up to the race?
All right.
A lot of great questions here.
So it's your first half marathon.
You haven't run more than a 10 K so 6.2 miles.
So every long run, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 are going to be the longest runs you've ever run.
So I definitely would recommend that you follow six steps to growing as a runner because recovery is going to be super important for you.
And I want you to think holistically in getting in your strength training, your recovery, your nutrition and making sure that you're run plan because you kind of asked a question about the run plan.
But I just want to preface this that in mindset, how can I forget that all of those things are going to be important for you being successful in your half marathon.
So it's not only going to be the answer I give you, which is the number and like what you should be doing for your long runs. All right. So just back story.
Kind of get that in there.
So generally speaking, for most novice half marathoners, unless you, you know, are really experienced at the 10 K, 5 K you've done speed work before.
You know, you have a 10 year history of working out in the gym, you know, you're pretty strong. There's been no injuries right you haven't had any extra pains.
So you're not that runner that runner I'm going to be a little bit more aggressive and have you do a 12 miler, but for most beginner novice runners first time doing the distances 11 miles is really the longest long run.
Technically, you can run a 10 miler I've had runners do it, where just time wise how it worked out. They only ran a 10 before their half. If you run 10 miles, you can finish a half marathon.
However, I definitely like to get to 11. I wouldn't go over. I definitely wouldn't go over unless you're in that other category of all of that athleticism built up from 5 K 10 K races.
Decades of strength training, right. So I wouldn't go over the 11. So that that will definitely be your longest long run. And then when in the training, you should do it. Great question.
You don't want to do it the weekend before your half marathon. You want to do that two weekends before your half marathon. And then typically what I like to program the weekend before a half marathon is an eight miler.
So usually I'll go, you know, for the first timers, I'd go, you know, 10, 11, and then eat, and then 13.1 for second, third, fourth time in beyond, or not beyond.
Let me just go second, third, fourth. Then I'll usually go, you know, one or two, 12s, depending upon, again, with their level of fitness is, but I would do a 12 miler two weeks before the race.
So if it's your first half marathon, I don't recommend 12 milers. Tell you the truth. It's not needed to finish the distance. You will be able to finish 13.1.
And what should you do the week leading up to the race? There's a lot you should do, actually. Definitely beyond the scope of today's kind of quick Q&A. So I've already done a full episode on that actually.
Same question. So episode 68 going way back in the archives here on the healthy runner podcast, you can get how to prepare for a half marathon.
And I literally laid out exactly what you need to do the week leading up to the race. And then the other resource that's going to be super helpful for you, Angela, is our race day blueprint.
So make sure you grab your race day blueprint. We literally lay out, like all the steps you need to take to prepare for your race. We give you a checklist so you don't forget your gear, what you need. And then we give you a schedule of like, what are you going to do the morning of like what time you're going to go to bed, what time you're going to wake up and kind of a little checklist.
So it helps really decrease the anxiety and the pre race jitters if you've kind of followed these steps. And it will really allow you to be able to enjoy the experience. And remember, first time half marathon, it's about the experience.
Don't worry about time. Don't even have a time goal. Like your goal for this race is to finish 13.1 miles and actually enjoy it. Like it shouldn't be a slug fast. You should actually enjoy it.
And finish strong. So follow the steps in our race day blueprint. If you go to learn that spark healthy runner.com forward slash race, you will get that race day blueprint. I'll definitely drop it in the show notes as well.
I hope you are enjoying this episode and it is providing value for you. I wanted to take a brief moment to share a story of a real runner like you who is struggling with a common problem that you may be facing.
Here is one of our athletes who got the guidance, support and accountability from our healthy runner coaching team to get clarity and structure on the six steps to growing as a runner with personalized strength, nutrition and run plans.
I hope their story inspires you that there is hope to either get over your running injury or to continue getting faster or running longer so you can continue to get in those mental clearing miles and enjoy your running journey again.
Here is their inspiring story.
Hi there. My name is Jason and I want to take a minute to tell you about my experience with spark healthy running and the healthy runner coaching program.
So I found Dr. Scotty via a Spotify podcast searching for Achilles tendonitis. I had been battling it for about four months leading into the New York Marathon last year.
It made my training not fun and it certainly had an impact on my performance and I couldn't get rid of the Achilles tendonitis.
I then had shoulder surgery and was out for 12 weeks and when I came back the Achilles issues were still there.
So I reached out to Dr. Scotty and signed up for his four-week program and over that four weeks he coached me through the ups and downs but everything that he said would happen happened.
My Achilles pain went from my six, seven to roughly a zero over the four weeks.
The strength training portion of the program put me in a place where I feel stronger as a runner than I ever have.
My hips, my legs, across my body and my form I feel in a much stronger position.
And mostly it created a level of discipline in my training that I hadn't had in the past.
So while it was a little bit sticker shock from the price of the program, that price actually led me to being more disciplined and taking the program very, very seriously and staying committed.
And I couldn't be more pleased with the results.
I'm running faster, I'm running stronger than I ever have and now in a great position to train for my next marathon.
So thank you to Dr. Scotty and the Spark Healthy Running Team and that's it for me.
I hope sharing that story inspired you and provided you some hope.
If you want the one-on-one structure, accountability and support from our Healthy Runner coaching team of experts, check out the behind-the-scenes video tour of our signature coaching program.
You just heard about including other stories from runners who are just like you and were struggling with the same sticking points before they signed up for our program.
Just head to learn.spark healthyrunner.com to learn more and book your strategy call with me today.
Now let's get back into this episode.
Let's change gears to one of my favorite topics, strength training.
Alright, we got a strength training question.
Here we go.
I know you should eat prior to running, but is it necessary to eat something before a strength training session if you're doing that first thing in the morning?
Great question.
Again, it's going to depend.
Right?
Awesome answer.
We always love.
So it depends.
It depends how quickly you're getting in that strength training session and how long the strength training session is.
So for context, I always run, an easy run before my strength training sessions.
So for me, those are longer.
Right?
By the time I do three, four, five or six miles before an hour or sometimes even a 90 minute strength training session, that's a long time for me to go fasted.
And I definitely would have no energy for my strength training.
So on those days, I most certainly eat something before that.
I'll have my medial dates, my U can almond butter.
So I have something on board.
I have some carbs on board and I have a little protein with the almond butter.
So I'm going to do a little bit of a little bit of a protein.
So I'm going to do a little bit of a protein.
So I'm going to do a little bit of a protein.
So I'm going to do a little bit of a protein.
So I'm going to do a little bit of a protein.
So I'm going to do a little bit of a protein.
So I'm going to do a little bit of a protein.
I'm going to do a little bit of a protein.
So hopefully that answers your question is helpful in your decision making process there.
So I think that depends answer was quite fitting because it depends how long it is intensity.
And are you running before it as well?
All right, let's get into our female runner specific question.
So this one was directed to our female run coaching team.
Hence why I deferred it out because I would certainly not be able to answer this question.
So the question relates to how do you recommend to manage the symptoms from menstruation and PMS such as bloating, heavy legs and the luteal phase.
So first off, Brooke from our healthy runner coaching team and registered dietitian from a nutrition wise standpoint has recommended to focus on omega threes and magnesium to help with cramps and sluggish feeling.
Omega threes, healthy fats like salmon, olive oil, nuts, seeds, et cetera.
Magnesium is in Brazil nuts, dark chocolate and spinach.
So from a nutrition standpoint, maybe try some of those strategies.
And then we also had the rest of our coaches chime in and have noted that sometimes running actually helps cramps.
And on speed work days, when you're just not feeling it, then always think about adjusting the workout and have.
Really different expectations.
So, you know, you're never going to feel like you're going to regret moving a speed work day or a heavy mileage day around to maybe a later time in the week if you can.
So really providing, you know, that difference in expectation of the run.
And if you have flexibility to move a hard speed day or hard long run to a different time of the week, then that can really help you out and can also help you mentally.
So you don't feel like you just like totally bombed, you know, your workout or bombed your run.
Coach at Toyo also notes that the cow and the cat and cow yoga pose along with child's pose are great for low back pain during this time period.
She always feels a lot better with a run as compared to no run on those days where she really doesn't feel like she wants to run by effort on those hard days.
So really, because effort is going to feel a lot harder. So I think that's the main point there is if, you know, you're trying to stay in your effort zones, then, you know, move those harder runs around.
So we give you some nutritional strategies there, some stretches.
So some yoga stretches, cat, cow yoga pose, child's pose can be helpful for low back pain with cramping.
And then think about modifying your weekly schedule to move things around a little bit.
All right, so let's get into some general running questions.
All right, so here we go. Favorite nighttime routine or hack for a better sleep.
Yeah, this has definitely been a something that I've really been working on for over a year now.
And I found some by no means the master of it. I am not 100% perfect, but I'm taking imperfect action and things I found really, really helpful is journaling.
So I have developed that habit 100%, which is fantastic.
So I feel really good journaling that's my wind down. So I step away from my computer phone device devices are done.
Now I journal, right? So I'm going to reflect on my day, you know, think about all the positive things that happened during that day.
And, you know, think about the people that I helped think about what were the things that went well.
You know, what are the things that, you know, I can improve upon what are the things that are kind of still in my brain that's on my to do list.
Get them down on paper. It helps so you're not like stirring when you lay in your bed.
And now you're going through that mental gymnastics of like everything you need to do for the next day.
So I found that super helpful. And it really, I think, provides a bird's eye view and puts things into perspective.
It is amazing because I always feel like at least I'm definitely one of those people that feel like you need more time of the day, never have enough time of the day.
And there's always more to do. And I feel sometimes, honestly, like a failure, right?
If I haven't responded to an email, if I haven't, you know, created this content that is on my to do list.
If I haven't, you know, did this other thing that I needed to tend to.
So it does often have me ending my days feeling like a failure, but journaling and getting me to reflect on everything, all the positives that happened during the day has been extremely helpful and really calms my brain down before sleep.
The next thing will be reading, which I'm not going to lie, has been the hardest one of these to get in because it takes more time.
Journaling literally takes me five or 10 minutes. And then I would do some reading. And my compliance rate is not fantastic.
And it hasn't been very good these past couple of weeks at time of this recording. So I know that.
And I really need to reaffirm that habit. And then the last thing that I do before bed is do some meditation.
And that's been super helpful. Again, I don't have a lot of time. So I haven't been able to do more than eight minutes tops, but a five to eight minute meditation with some deep breathing can be very beneficial at just kind of resetting the body and getting it to not think about all of life stresses, technology, all that other stuff.
That's been super helpful for me for better sleep. And then the other thing that I guess is a hack is that I did start using a mask.
So I do feel like that helps block out any extraneous light in the house.
So that's been helpful for me. I feel like I get deeper sleep. I get more restful sleep.
Hopefully those tips are helpful for you again, no expert, not perfect, but I found a difference and I found that that helps and sleep is super important for us as runners because that is when our body recovers from our runs.
All right, so a fun question here is what non running hobbies or interest do you have?
Non running hobbies or interest. So right now, my biggest hobby is really watching my girls play volleyball. So they are very active in travel volleyball, as well as, you know, middle school, both of them be in high school next year.
So that'll be fun to be able to see JV and varsity. And it keeps us very busy. But that's kind of my hobby is just seeing the joy that they have for their sports because they really do love it and they're passionate about it.
And it's really cool seeing their growth and, you know, really being good teammates. And it's really neat to see what good teammates they are to their, you know, friends and just seeing the camaraderie of a team.
That's been super cool to see that. And so that's kind of like my hobby prior to that.
And really prior to the podcast and the business is I was a big sports fan. So I really loved following, you know, sports, whether it was baseball, basketball, you can Huskies, national champs, or, you know, football.
And that was kind of my, my sports that I really like to follow. Unfortunately, time wise, I really haven't followed a whole lot of sports. I'm not going to lie. And then the other really like passion that I have, or had, I should say, is landscaping.
So I would love like just geeking out on different trees like when we first bought the house. I pretty much removed everything from my yard and started from scratch and like learned all about privacy screens. And, you know, we planted my buddies and I planted.
I think I got 35 or varieties here, which are a beautiful privacy screen now that's natural. It's on offense. They've grown in and have worked out well, but, you know, flowering tree sheet trees like I kind of geeked out on all that stuff made a lot of beds and, you know, playing a lot of perennials.
Unfortunately, in the last couple years. And this is so weird that you asked this question because I actually literally opened up my curtain today in my bedroom, which kind of goes out to mean like bed that I've planted.
And I looked outside. It was like, wow, that's pretty sad. Like I didn't even have time in the fall to cut stuff back. So I have like ornamental grasses. I didn't even cut those back. And I'm like, man, like I started feeling bad for myself, you know, like, oh, you're a loser.
Like you didn't, you know, take care of the yard.
But I put it in perspective was like, that was my passion before I found my passion for running before I found my passion for doing what I do today.
And, you know, that that's what I used to spend my time doing is like being out my yard. And it was like a challenge to plant something, watch it grow and see it grow year after year, right, and be able to prune.
Right. And be able to like prevent diseases and like all that stuff. That's what I would like geek out about. But like now it's so weird because I was literally looking outside thinking about that.
And like my flowering trees are all flowering right now. And like, I used to love the process of seeing that grow year after year. And like each tree I planted like, oh, it's bigger. Oh, we got more blooms.
And seeing the growth each year, but like, I now I've transferred that passion into seeing like this podcast grow the YouTube channel grow and like growing a small business.
So year after year, seeing that growth that's like where I've channeled that energy toward.
So I don't really have a whole lot of hobbies. This is my hobby.
I just love talking all things running health and just sharing information with you guys. So.
All right, let's get to the next question here Angela from IG wants to talk shoes. All right, who doesn't want to talk shoes. So question is, will any particular speed shoe. That's quotes.
Speed shoe make you actually faster. I have three shoes in my training rotation. How should someone choose which shoes to wear.
To wear to a race or should a fast speedy style pair be purchased for race days. What is actually necessary. Okay. So I think really what you're referring to as kind of speed shoes.
Do they actually work do they actually make you faster.
There is some small research that shows that certain shoes and you know Nike vapor flies. They were the ones that showed okay data.
One two percent increase right in efficiency economy, but that was on like elite runners. So if you're not an elite runner, then it really relates to how fast you run.
So a speed shoe is not going to let's say you're a 12 minute pace, 10 minute pace, nine minute pace, eight minute pace, even probably is not going to make you like faster.
Definitely won't make you faster. You might feel faster in it and run better.
So that being said, speed shoes or super shoes as we call them now have really taken off literally within the past two years. They've evolved greatly.
The technology is just like like advancing at a rapid rate, right? Like three years ago, four years ago, we were talking like carbon plates.
Now they're referred to as super shoes because it's not only the carbon plate and even some shoes now aren't even having a carbon plate, but can perform as well as you can.
So they're going to be able to perform as well as ones that do because it's all about the foam. It's all about the technology.
And there's some huge advancements in like the type of foam that's used in these shoes and the actual design of the shoe, whether it's a rocker shoe or not.
So it's like super complex now with these super shoes out there, which are essentially your race day shoes.
So if you're looking to get a race day shoe, yes, a super shoe may be beneficial for you.
That shoe typically for all of my runners, I highly recommend that you use them for a couple at least, maybe even more than that speed days during your training cycle, as well as a long run in them.
So if you're running a marathon and you've never done a long run in a super shoe, that shoe might not be best for you for a marathon, right, or even a half marathon.
So you want to make sure you definitely try them on one of your long runs.
And then you also made a good point about you have three shoes in your training rotation. Perfect. I love it. I love it.
Highly recommend variety changes the amount of forces. I have three, four, five different shoes in my rotation, all in different parts of their lifespan, some are newer, some are in the mid, some are at the end of their lifespan.
They're all going to wear differently and different forces to my body. So it's going to help keep you healthier in the long run.
And then different types of shoes are good too, because it changes the forces that are on your body.
So hopefully that answers your question. I don't think it's actually necessary. You don't need to. If it feels good for you, it feels lighter.
A lot of the super shoes are going to be lighter weight as well. There is some research that does show a lighter weight shoe will help you run faster.
So you have to try it and you have to try it during your training. Make sure you don't get any niggles that we talked about before, right, any minor injuries.
And you don't want to use a crazy super shoe for all of your runs either. Right. It's only going to be selected for some speed work, a couple of long runs before your race and then your race.
And then last question guys, we're getting down to the end here. Bob wants to know.
Does it make sense to drink a sports drink with electrolytes prior to starting a long run or a race or just during or after the run? Yeah, absolutely Bob.
So Bob, thank you for the question. When it comes to these clients about to crush his race.
I would highly recommend that you preload with electrolytes prior to your long run, especially if it's going to be hot and humid and prior to your race.
So the more that you preload have on board, then you're going to make sure that you are fully hydrated for that long run or fully hydrated for that race.
And yes, you do need to supplement during the long run on the race and you need to supplement after in order to allow your body to recover from that hard effort.
So great questions there guys. Hopefully you enjoyed this kind of Q&A episode. I love hearing what questions that you have.
Don't forget to download your free How to Grow as a Runner Roadmap. You can dial download your free ebook by going to learn.sparkhealthyrunner.com or click the link in the show notes.
And, you know, I appreciate you guys for listening. I appreciate you for rating and reviewing. I love the feedback that we're getting on the podcast.
I'm loving seeing the continued growth of the podcast and just being able to reach more runners so we can all really maintain a strong mind, a strong body and just keep running.
I'm looking forward to seeing you guys on the next episode. Take care.
Thank you as always for listening to the Healthy Runner podcast where we help you get stronger, run faster and enjoy lifelong injury free running.
If you found this content valuable, here's five ways we can help you grow as a runner for free.
One, grab a free copy of our six steps to growing as a runner framework at learn.sparkhealthyrunner.com forward slash grow.
Two, follow our Instagram page at sparkhealthyrunner.
Three, join our free group by searching healthy runner in Facebook.
Four, subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com forward slash spark healthy runner.
Five, leave us a five star review so we can gain access to more experts in the running field and bring those lessons and trainings back here right to you.
Don't forget, hit the subscribe button on Apple podcast or the follow button on Spotify so you don't miss the next episode of Healthy Runner so you can maintain a strong mind, a strong body
and just keep running.
Lastly, if you've been struggling with the constant injury cycle, not eating the right foods for running or not getting faster as a runner and you are ready to invest in becoming a lifelong injury free runner, head to sparkhealthyrunner.com forward slash coaching to apply for a one on one signature coaching program.
Thank you again. I really truly mean it from the bottom of my heart that I appreciate you for listening and sharing this podcast with a running friend who can use the help.
Now go and crush your run today. See you next week.
♪♪♪