Got Morning After Muscle Pain??

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness Sucks!

It’s the day after the marathon. You get out of bed feeling like you should have gotten the license plate of the truck that just ran over you. You find you can walk small steps but notice you can go upstairs but downstairs is nearly impossible. You take a shower, stretch, eat at least your weight in breakfast and then realize you need to call in sick to work. There is no way you can work today. It just hurts too badly. Your bed is calling but you know if you crawl back under the covers, tomorrow will be worse.

Does this sound familiar? I think every runner who races has felt this pain I’m describing at one time or another. It could be after a marathon, a PR in the 5K or just an extra hard track workout. Why is this? What did you do wrong? How could you have done differently so this post-race soreness wasn’t so acute? Or is this the price you pay for a fast time?

Let’s explore delayed onset muscle soreness.

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) was always thought to be caused by the build up of lactic acid in the muscles. This theory has been debunked for years after multiple muscle biopsy studies. The most popular theory is that DOMS is the result of muscle tissue breakdown caused by microscopic tearing precipitated by activity that is either more intense or more prolonged than normal. The pain associated with this injury is most likely due to inflammation which is why the pain usually is delayed at least several hours after the acute damage and can last for 2 to 3 days.

So, what can we do about this pain? Can we prevent it? Can we make it go away faster? Or do we just have to suck it up and endure it as a side-effect of our never ending pursuit of faster and longer training and racing intensity. For more on DOMS, follow this link. Run happy!!

Muscle Cramps on the Run?

Tim just completed the White Rock Marathon in Dallas this weekend. Weather was warm and extremely windy, but he was feeling good and managing to keep his pace through the half way mark. The race was going perfect and pacing was exactly as planned all the way until about mile 18. As he passed the 18 mile marker, he started feeling small cramps in his calves. He tried to slow down a bit to make them go away, but by mile 19 they hit so hard if felt like a ball bearing digging into his calf muscle and the pain literally brought him to the ground in the middle of an intersection. (Much to the traffic cop’s surprise) He had to stop, stretch and hobble along until they stopped. He had to walk for awhile, until they went away and then slowly started to run the last few miles. The cramps did not disappear and he had to stop again and stretch once or twice every mile. So much for his time goal!!

Question is, why do cramps happen and how can you prevent them? They have never occurred during his extensive training, so why in the middle of a race?

Muscle cramping usually occurs due to a depletion of ‘The Big 4′: sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Also, if an athlete is dehydrated, even slightly, going into a race, muscle cramps can be common (no matter how spot-on race day hydration is). Cramping can occur due to the depletion of one or a combination of these four minerals. One area that I would first examine is your everyday fueling. I realize that conventional thinking says that if an athlete cramps up during a race, then it must have been something nutritionally that went awry during the race. This may be the case, but actually the answer usually lies in one’s everyday nutrition and hydration.

The first thing I would suggest is to monitor your hydration levels before and after training (especially long training days). This can easily be done with a body fat scale that also measures body water percentage. Take this reading each night before bed for 7 days straight so you can determine an average body water percentage; then, after training sessions, re-measure your water percentage. You will probably notice a reduction in your water percentage, as this is normal. Your goal now is to refuel and rehydrate in order to get this water percentage back to its ‘normal’ level. Another easy way to monitor your hydration level is to pay close attention to your urine color. The goal is to keep your urine color in a range from clear to a very light yellow. If one’s urine color is a darker yellow, this can be a sign of dehydration (be aware, that if you take a multiple vitamin, the B-vitamins will turn your urine color yellow, and this is normal; not a sign of dehydration). Following a long training run or race…get your urine clear and keep it clear throughout the day, as this will ensure proper hydration.

In regards to the Big 4, try to consume a fluid replacement drink that contains all four of these minerals, and be sure to consume this fluid replacement drink during training and racing. Also, be sure to use your “sodium capsule” of choice during training, and not just on race day (you may already be doing this). If you find yourself avoiding sodium in your daily nutrition, try to lightly salt your foods with sea salt. Also, drinking vegetable juice is a great source of sodium and potassium (be sure to check with your physician that there are no blood pressure issues that would contraindicate the use of additional sodium).

So, in summary, my advice to Tim would make everyday hydration and fueling your focus as this will get you to the start line in a state of optimal hydration. This should help avert any nasty cramps in your next race!

Run Happy! And cramp free!

Running Group "The Peeps" Survive the White Rock Marathon

The peeps at The White Rock Marathon! No one can run marathons without training with a crazy group of people. In fact, I think it's healthier and safer to run in groups. My peeps and I have been running together for years. They pick me up when I'm down, calm me down when I'm running too hard or too fast, and make me accountable to the schedule. Three cheers for Heather, Tim and Steve who have logged thousands of miles listening to me talk! (Yes, it's true - I never shut up for 26.2 miles) A successful marathon was had by all in weather that was terrible!

RunDoc Runs The Rock

RunDoc runs the Rock!

Today was the White Rock Marathon in Dallas. This is an annual event that I usually participate in with many of my patients and peeps. Wonderful event with a full marathon, a half-marathon, and a 5-person-relay. This year had record participation of 17,000 people with almost 7,000 runners in the full marathon. Unfortunately, today it was 68 at the start and warmed up to about 75. Did I happen to mention the 30 mile an hour head wind that was in our face for at least 14 miles of the marathon.

This should be the tale of two half-marathons. Most of us were doing great at the half. I personally hit the 13.1 mile marker exactly as predicted in my pre-race planning at 1:52 which would have brought me in at 3:45 with the negative split I was planning. I've always said that a marathon is a fast 10K with a 20 mile warm-up, so I always try to bust it in with a negative split. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating! I turned the corner at 14 miles to go on the lake access road and was hit by gale force winds. Being small of stature, I was blown all over the place! I felt like a small kite for at least 10 miles.

At 16 miles, my day was done! I was putting forth the effort for an 8 minute mile and crawling at somewhere between 10 and 11 minute miles. My goal was shot, but my wonderful brother (who on the spur of the moment last night thought he would pace me in the marathon - crazy!) would not let me quit (I really wanted to because the wind was positively evil!)so we persevered on against the wind.

My friend Mike Horton was a sight from God that jumped in at 19 miles and ran us through the worst of the hills (Thanks Mike!) We did some walking, then decided it would be faster to finish if we were running.

My awesome BFF office administrator Lori Cerami jumped in at 23 (at this point my brother jumped out since this was the most he had run in 2 years) and yelled at me to get my butt moving....she stayed with me giving me gummy bears and Accelerade until the 25 miles marker. At that point I figured I was almost done so I ran a quality 1.2 miles to the finish.

My assistant Penny, associate Dr Mollye Karp and pedorthist Janet were at the finish, but had already drank all the beer :) So salty pretzels and some Starbucks were my reward, but I loved seeing them with signs cheering me on.

Only one of my peeps was even close to her goal today, so it was basically a PW (personal worst) for almost all of us, but I think my finishing time of 4:13:45 deserves an astericks next to it for the weather.

To put it in perspective, only 3,878 people finished out of almost 7,000 and I was 1,339 overall, the 329th woman, and 58th master woman (yes, I am that old). Not what I had hoped for, but the course humbled all today due to the crazy conditions. The winner finished in 2:22 in comparison to the 2006 winner who ran 2:12; so I think we can all comfortably subtract 20 minutes from our time for conditions. :)

We survived to run again.....

You Know You are a Runner When...

An excerpt from my upcoming book "If Your Runner Feet Could Talk", coming to you in January 2009 from myrundoc.com

Addendum I: Every Runner Needs a Little Humor!

I hope after reading this book you feel like part of our running communities. It never ceases to amaze me how I can travel to another part of the country or the world and instantly make new friends with other runners. We share the same experiences, goals and crazy traits across age, sex, and abilities. Runners are a world community. So I have included this list that has traveled the internet and has been edited many times by many groups. Here is our version:

You Know You Are a Runner When…..

1. you roll your eyes when people ask, "how long was your last marathon?”
2. you think it’s totally acceptable to stop at the side of the road and accept fruit or gatorade from a perfect stranger
3. you are in a race and have to pee, bushes are now your friend
4. you come up with weird answers to questions like "why do you run so much?"
5. all your socks are either stained or torn.
6. you can spit while running.
7. you finish a race looking like you wrestled an alligator, and not only do you not care, but post the pictures on Facebook.
8. you schedule family vacations around races.
9. you spend more money on training clothes than work clothes.
10. you secretly have a stash of 20 pairs of old running shoes
11. you have running withdrawal if you don't run or at least cross-train everyday.
12. your only excuse for not running is projectile vomit and even that’s questionable
13. you wake up every morning in pain somewhere, and then rationalize it!
14. Accelerade is your drug of choice.
15. you can’t remember the last time you slept in on a Saturday
16. you count hills as your friends
17. your favorite food group is carbohydrates.
18. you are always hungry.
19. your house, car and gym bag smells like Biofreeze.
20. your toe nails are black or falling off.
21. you wear skimpier clothes than Brittney Spears running
22. you run through puddles instead of around them.
23. you can blow nose with your index finger. (Snot rockets)
24. you know exactly what a difference .10 miles can make
25. your running peeps are like family
26. you have more inside jokes than a stand up comedian.
27. your running peeps know more about you than your spouse
28. you have or almost have been hit by a car.
29. you can convert miles and kilometers in your head, but for any other math you need a calculator.
30. you buy water and/or Gatorade by the case at Costco
31. you count Power Bars as a meal
32. you've become a professional blister popper
33. you have some funky looking tan lines
34. you have a collector’s edition of “Chariots of Fire”
35. you tell how old your shoes are by how many miles are on them
36. LSD is not a narcotic
37. you can run 26 miles and never stop talking
38. you know your PR for every distance and the Boston qualifying time for your age
39. you know 20 different ways to combat plantar fasciitis and can spell and pronounce it correctly
40. when you reach your marathon goal, you think it’s perfectly normal to start planning your first Ironman…..

Feel free to add to the list and pass it on :)
Run Happy!!!
http://www.myrundoc.com/

How to Survive the Thanksgiving Holiday Without Gaining Weight!

Thanksgiving is just a few days away and most Americans plan to spend it stuffing our faces with turkey and watching football. We then follow that with eating desert and late night leftovers into the next day. Overeating is almost felt to be our patriotic duty on Thanksgiving! Most will wake up on Friday morning with indigestion and a few extra pounds. Sadly, we will continue this pattern throughout the holidays and wake up in January, ten to twenty pounds heavier! How do we break this holiday tradition? How can we survive the holiday without gaining that requisite 5 pounds or so? Here are a few tips from your favorite doctor:

1. Run your local Turkey Trot road race. This is a great annual tradition in many families. Think about it, no matter how fast or slow you run, after completing a 5K or 10K Thanksgiving morning, you can basically eat almost anything you want! If you can’t run, then at least take a brisk walk that morning. This will start the holiday off on the right foot and get you in a good mood to survive your friends and family!

2. Drink lots of water instead of wine or beer. Water helps fill you up so you won’t feel so hungry when that late dinner finally is ready. Have only one or two glasses of wine spaced throughout the day. This will keep the calorie count down and keep you out of trouble.
Be light on the gravy. Have you ever looked at how many calories are in that turkey gravy? A little gravy goes a long way!

3. Eat the white meat turkey and forgo the heavy dark meat. Even though it’s my favorite part, it is packed with calories.

4. Chew slowly and talk constantly! (I never have any problem with this!) Have fun with your family and keep up a brisk conversation. Chew slowly and keep talking, you will eat less and get to know them better!

5. Just say no to the multitude of desserts! It’s OK to have just a bite of this or a bite of that. It will not offend anyone if you don’t eat an entire piece of each of five kinds of pie!

6. Cheer for the Cowboys! This may not help you keep the calorie count down, but I’m from the Dallas area, so it’s a necessary part of the holiday! If you actually watch the game, you will spend so much energy cheering “the ‘Boys” that you won’t eat as much!

7. Spend your holiday giving back. Volunteer at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. Deliver meals to the elderly. You will be blessed ten-fold and definitely will not over eat when you realize how many people go without every day!

These are just a few tips on how to survive the Thanksgiving holiday without packing on the pounds. Happy Thanksgiving!

I Love Runners! Running Out of Town in Ft Lauderdale

I Love Runners....

What other sport can you email a random person from a running club website and end up with twenty more running peeps virtually overnight.

I have to thank the Ft Lauderdale Florida Running Club for opening their training run to all-comers and then actually being extremely nice and hospitable. They gave me detailed directions on where to find them as well as parking, hooked me up with a veteran from the club that ran about my pace and then actually listened to me talk for 16 miles straight :) (and my usual running peeps will tell you I actually do talk non stop while I run) I had a wonderful run on historic A1A from Deerfield Beach through Boca Raton to almost Palm Beach then back. They had Gatorade out at the 2 and 5 mile markers and the whole course was marked every half mile so you knew where you were. I ran with Tom who graciously listened to me babble and actually got a few words in edgewise. Andy, the local crazy man, jumped in at about 10 miles and then dusted us at the end. I call Andy the local crazy guy because he described a racing schedule that included at least 3 marathons, an Ironman and a few halfs all in the last 2 months! We all have one like Andy in every club....he makes the rest of us look like a moderate! All in all it was fun. They were very friendly and I got a good run in! Thanks guys!! I'll see you at the Tamarac Turkey Trot on Thursday!!

Run Happy...and never be afraid to call up the local club when you'll be out of town....you never know who you will meet!!