“That Sounds Awful, Sign Me Up!”

In 2014, with the impending birth of our second son, my husband Graham and I returned to Colorado after a short but intense year living in the East Bay of Northern California. We decided to make Castle Rock our home.  We were drawn to the area for the highly rated school district that our older son would soon be entering along with the proximity to multiple trail systems and an elevation 1000 feet higher than the mile-high city of Denver.

Circa spring 2015, our training started increasing and as we explored our new neighborhood – often pushing our son Bob in a stroller – we looked for a local running group to join.  We didn’t find one, and one day, Graham looked at me on a run and said, “Why don’t we start one?”

“Really?” I asked, surprised by how matter-of-fact and confident he was.  And then I quickly replied, “Sure.” That day, the Castle Rock Run Club was born.

Our first year we had one loyal member, Steve Swanson, who joined us every Wednesday afternoon for a 4.6-mile loop around the Meadows Boulevard paved sidewalks.  With his dog Lily in tow, we learned about Steve’s life, work, family and running history, and his aspirations for the future.  He told us when he came that first day, “I’m committed to joining every week.”  And sure enough, he was. Steve is now one of our strongest advocates.

The following year, we maintained our weekly sidewalk run but also added some local trails.  The addictive app ‘Strava’ had been introduced to us by a cycling friend a few years before and we started making note of a few ‘segments’ around the hood.  Graham ran one such route, which we all still refer to simply as ‘The Segment,’ and a couple of members of the community commented on his post. Little did we know that others, like Chris Fagnant and Russell Ditsworth, had been running around the Meadows neighborhood for years, and just like that we expanded our network of crazies.  And what a network there was.  Under the cover of a suburban layer of big box stores and HOAs lay a community of people who had made running their lifestyle.  A community that pined for long, mountain adventures on the weekends as they juggled kids, work, and daily commitments with a deep passion to better themselves as athletes.

On the trails in Castle Rock with club members.

Our group grew organically and slowly over the subsequent years, but those who were at its core established the soul and culture of the club.  We affectionately started calling ourselves the ‘Meadows Muertes,’ a mashup of our neighborhood name and the sugar skull emblem that embodied Graham and my love for Halloween and my Hispanic heritage. The name was also a bit of an homage to the then-popular Coconino Cowboys of Arizona.  We were all super fans and many of us own the original Fine Print merch that was released by the group.

Today, the Castle Rock Run Club consists of more than 450 members.  We have Facebook, Instagram, and Strava pages and we banter about trail running and geek out over races, sponsorships, blisters, and fueling over a more intimate GroupMe chat.  We meet rain, shine, snow, or wind every Wednesday and Friday mornings at 5:30 at the Bison Park trailhead for a classic 6.4-mile trail loop on the Ridgeline trail system which Strava has even recognized as the start of our group runs – spontaneously naming the start of the loop Castle Rock Run Club on their maps.

One of our members – Kristin – has run the loop a whopping 200 times since she joined the club and has broken the Strava cap of 200 tines on the same route (she’s put in a ticket).  We coordinate multiple groups every weekend for long runs anywhere from Greenland Open Space to Barr Trail in Manitou Springs, from Palmer Lake to Indian Creek.  Waterton and Rampart Range Road are also commonly traversed routes, especially in the winter.  Sundays are for either ‘dirt church’ at 10 a.m. at Pine Cliff road or SUC (Sunday Ultra Club) runs on Plum Creek before meeting for beers at a local brewery.

The community has flourished and our support of one another has led many (including me), to accomplish things we never could have imagined possible.  I can’t say it nearly as eloquently as our members so here are some of their incredible words about what our group means to them.

“Throughout the past (almost) 5 years, I have found a community of incredible humans, many of whom are now my closest friends. Maybe most importantly, I’ve found myself. I’m excited about the future, have pride, drive, purpose and feel valued. I’ve been lucky enough to see the club grow and hope that I can give back to this community and the running community at large for all that I’ve received and show others how to find similar riches.” – Todd Dill

“This Club, this Family; extends beyond the runners….to their wives and husbands, sisters and brothers, cousins, and children. Through training and injury, highs and lows, victories and failures, the Castle Rock Run Club has shown that while they are a great resource for my own path forward as a competitive ultra-runner, I have grown so much more and my potential is so much more by the association of its great members.” – Greg Cooper

“In all my years of team sports, I have never experienced a group of people that have seamlessly come together to bring out the best of each individual while simultaneously making the group stronger as well. The support that has developed around crewing for each other at big races might be my favorite thing about the club.  Still to this day one of my proudest moments as a person (not just as a runner or a member of the club) was pacing Todd to the finish at Leadville in 2019.  And one of my least favorite memories was doubting that YOU would finish in 2021. I was so worried we were putting you in harm’s way by letting you continue on that I was making myself sick when we saw you continue on through May Queen.  Ultimate highs and ultimate lows and we were all together for it each time. I appreciate it, I am in awe of it, and I know that it is bigger than any one of us.  My friend Mike Shafai was famous among the Colorado Springs runners for saying, ‘The world would be a better place if everyone could just go for a run.’  For me that saying has morphed into something like, ‘The world would be a better place if everyone had a run club like CRRC..Best Damn Run Club on the Planet.’” – Chris Fagnant

“The camaraderie of this group is unmatched. The enthusiasm and energy of the club members are contagious and inspiring, making it a wonderful environment for a casual trail run, a long adventure, or a race series. Beyond that, though, the runners care about each other as people. We have casual gatherings and holiday parties as well as regular runs. I know that I can bring questions to the group and get advice on anything from shoe traction and watches to coffee shops and deer carcass removal.” – Kristin Schmidt

“What I found (and why I love the group) was an incredibly fun and supportive group who showed me that crazy amazing things are possible, who thrive on adventure like I do, and encourage me to push the boundaries of my current abilities.” – Matt Simms

“It is an amazing group of people all rooted in positivity, encouragement, and an uplifting spirit! There is a saying that you can bring light into a room or you can take light out of a room. CRRC brings a light into the running community! It’s like the Ted Lasso of running communities BELIEVE.” – Steve Swanson

As we continue to grow, we want to do more.  More trail work, more volunteering, more giving back to our community and encouraging others to chase their dreams.  Our motto of “That sounds awful, sign me up” is intended to bring humor to the difficult, shine positivity in the face of negativity and embrace the challenges that face us in running and life.  Whoever says running is an individual sport is wrong.  Chris recently brought to my attention an African Proverb that may just sum up CRRC in one sentence. “Alone we go fast, together we go far.”

The post A Running Club is Born appeared first on ATRA.

Synchronicity. It means different things to different people, but it’s become so pervasive in my life that I almost never use the word “coincidence” anymore. It’s not that I don’t believe in random chance, but I live by the unapologetically Gladwellian philosophy that all things happen in a bigger context and with more choreography than we usually realize.

Last fall, one of my track club teammates was Instagrammed by a faceless handle who acknowledged her athletic grit and suggested she might want to try snowshoe running. My friend’s response? No. Hard No. Meanwhile, I felt a little slighted. Why hadn’t this mystery recruiter recognized my grit and asked me to try snowshoe racing? But no matter. I was busy prepping for the USATF Club Cross Country National Championships and coercing others to join me in forming a big enough team to score. I also needed women with grit, and the time window to enter the race was narrowing. So I reached out to @boise_trail_team with a plea deal: come race for my cross-country team, and maybe I’ll try snowshoe running.

This is how I met Amber Tookey – via Instagram. Then I got to know her a little better using Google, ultrasignup.com, Strava, and athlinks.com. It was quickly evident that we had done some of the same trail races and that we mingled in overlapping social spheres, but somehow we had never been introduced. It was also evident that she was faster than me, though she hadn’t always been. Just like a gap in someone’s resume might threaten their employability, her race history had a year that was unaccounted for and bookended by unimpressive seasons—minimal racing and finishes that were well off the podium.

She wasn’t able to commit to traveling to club cross country nationals in the eleventh hour, but she also wasn’t going to let me forget that I had indicated an interest in snowshoe running. Keep in mind, we still hadn’t met face-to-face. Via text message, Amber explained that the US Snowshoe Association National Championships would be held right here in Idaho, our home state, and proceeded to hook me up with a pair of lightweight aluminum frames from her main sponsor, Dion Snowshoes. We texted back and forth for several weeks, and this self-proclaimed wannabe snowbird surprised her friends and family by rejoicing when a few snowflakes arrived in November.

I felt lucky to have met someone who changed my attitude towards winter because snowshoe running is not a common activity in the Pacific Northwest—most people around here just ski. Amber explained that the winter of 2016-2017, often referred to as “Snowpocalypse” in our region, was when she found her first pair of snowshoes at Outdoor Exchange, a store that sold used sporting goods. She refused to be imprisoned by the harsh weather, preferring trails to treadmills regardless of the season.

Snowshoe running was not the answer; snowshoe running was the question, and the answer was a resounding YES. Hard-wired to compete, Amber’s first race was the national championships in 2019 where she came in 4th and qualified for the world championships.

The first time Amber and her husband Chuck took me to Bogus Basin, the nearby ski area, to try snowshoeing, I didn’t like it. But I was pretty sure I liked Amber and Chuck. If I’m honest, I didn’t really enjoy the second or third time on snowshoes either—it was just so hard. Feeling winded and pushing my body to perform is part of my daily routine, but needing to stop every few minutes to catch my breath was unfamiliar. Amber seemed light-hearted and patient, more focused on taking photographs and giggling as she endo-ed in a patch of fresh powder. However, it wasn’t long before she got down to business, slaughtering a four-mile tempo effort that left me in her snowflake dust. My improvement curve was steep, though, and soon I could tuck in behind Amber and Chuck, getting snow flicked in my face for a few minutes before they dropped me.

Our weekly 45-minute commute up the mountain generated deep conversations, revealing more and more common ground. We quickly figured out that Amber’s house is about a mile from mine, which meant that I no longer needed to meet them at the base of the ski hill for carpooling. It took a little longer for Amber to tell me that she had been discharged from the hospital less than two years ago after winning a battle with leukemia.

Amber Tookey, snowshoe racer/trail runner/cancer survivor.

Wait…WHAT? How was it possible that this uber athlete who was routinely crushing Strava segments all over town had undergone chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and was still on a tapering dose of what she called her “cancer meds.” She showed me pictures of a bald, gaunt woman in a wheelchair, pandemic-inspired mask in place. I recognized her eyes.

Flash forward to January of this year: we were deep into training for the US Snowshoe Association National Championship race. I could now run over six miles on snowshoes without stopping, and Amber was PR-ing her tempo runs. Three weeks out from the race, we burned a Saturday driving over one hundred miles to Jug Mountain Ranch to preview the course. As we studied a map and fiddled with our gear, a voice called out across the parking lot, “Sarah? Is that you?”

I looked up to see several people clustered around a waxing table and a quiver of Nordic skis. My longtime friend Barb Kreisle was waving at me, so I went over for a hug and a hello, thinking I’d introduce her to Amber and Chuck. I knew Barb’s husband was an oncologist, but what I didn’t know was that he had been an integral part of Amber’s care team and had been the one to discharge her from the hospital just in time for her to celebrate her 35th birthday at home. The connection was immediate.

“We have a house right near here,” Barb said. “Do you need a place to stay the night before the race?”

Bill Kreisle is a man of few words, but his delight in seeing his former patient with a full head of hair and a strong physique was undeniable. The fact that Amber was a dark horse for the national championship win made our presence as houseguests even more exciting.

On the evening before the race, conversation veered toward past national championships. Amber was in better physical condition now than she had ever been at a snowshoe race, and I badly wanted her to win. Last year, in Cable, Wisconsin, she came in third among the women, making the worlds team and finishing less than three minutes behind the winner. The event wasn’t held in 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, but in 2020 in Leadville, CO, Amber finished tenth. “It turns out that doing a race at ten thousand feet is no fun when your hemoglobin is, like, seven (author’s note: this is roughly half the normal value)…I had to walk more than a few times,” she told me. This was during the first phase of her cancer treatment—right about the time the medication had stopped working.

Although Amber’s life had changed course dramatically in 2019 when she first learned that she had cancer, a bone marrow transplant was never part of the original plan. The physicians at St. Luke’s hospital had hoped that an oral medication with minimal side effects would eradicate the malignancy without complication. But when the oral chemo failed, Amber’s only hope for survival was a bone marrow transplant from a matched donor, who in this case was her brother. The procedure itself is grueling, and the recovery is more so. Amber had to dig in for an arduous second effort—she was already worn down from the first—and with stakes far higher than any athletic competition. In an all-or-nothing end game, she had one choice: full speed ahead, embracing the opportunity to grow her own grit and mental toughness. No one in their right mind would have asked for a circumstance like this, even knowing what the eventual outcome would be, but I think if you asked Amber, she’d tell you that she wouldn’t be the person (or the athlete) she is today if she hadn’t gone through all that.

I went to the start line of my first snowshoe race feeling more nervous for Amber than I was for myself. She definitely had a shot at the win, but she would have to pull together a phenomenal performance in order to beat the other top women. Several of them had won the national title on previous occasions, and Amber was most certainly the underdog. When the gun went off, she and another favorite put at least 10 seconds on me in the first five steps. And they appeared to be…having a conversation?? Ouch. Thanks to a well-designed racecourse, the initial switchbacks allowed me to monitor Amber’s progress for a mile until she disappeared into the trees. At the half-way point, a flat-and-fast out-and-back section was my next opportunity to watch the race at the front unfold. I saw the leader coming towards me. It wasn’t Amber. The next woman wasn’t her either. I was worried—this wasn’t how I envisioned things at all. Then came Amber, and she looked like she was…Well, she looked like she was struggling, but frankly, so was I. So was everyone, in fact.

The dumpster fire in my lungs made me too hypoxic to calculate the time gaps. All I knew was that it didn’t look good. I also knew that Amber had several things working in her favor for the remaining miles of the race. For starters, she was intimately acquainted with the route, having studied every corner, undulation, and landmark that would inform her decision to inject an extra dose of speed into her stride. She was also approaching the relatively steep downhill mile that led to the finish. I’ve never seen anyone run downhill on snowshoes as fast as Amber (except maybe her husband), so perhaps she could gain some time there. Above all else, though, Amber’s the type to chew off her own arm before surrendering a victory, and she credits her experience with a life-threatening illness for bolstering that tenacity.

As I lumbered toward the finish line, I felt like I was dying and I wanted to slow down. Then I thought about Amber who might have actually been dying a few years ago. She didn’t slow down—she dug in and fought hard, and I hoped she was doing that again today.

Amber didn’t win the national title that day. However, she never gave up, and somehow she clawed her way back into second place, closing the gap to the leader all the way, digging in hard for that second effort just as life had taught her to do. Dr. Kreisle was at the finish line with an uncharacteristically huge grin and a hug for his proverbial comeback kid. Later, we learned that February 4th, the day of the race, is World Cancer Day. Definitely not a coincidence.

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If you happen to be reading this article, you likely enjoy the activity of running. Whether you run for stress relief, socially with friends, competitively, or anywhere in between, the act of running often brings more to life than just running itself. On the contrary, if unable to run due to pain, we often lose all of the physical, mental, and emotional benefits we gain from the aspects of running we enjoy. So, what kind of pain should cause us to stop running and is it okay to keep running through some pain? Unfortunately, the answers can be both simple and complex.

What is pain and why does it matter? These questions will be addressed in this article, related to the concept of pain, the specific sites of pain from running, when it may be okay to run with some pain, and when to pull the plug from running.

Why we Perceive Pain

When we think of pain onset, we often perceive it as a peripheral sensation from the local tissue involved due to tissue damage or trauma. For example, if you’re out for a trail run and you catch your toe on a tree root causing you to fall directly on your knee, oftentimes your knee will become slightly swollen and will likely begin to hurt. Though it may appear that pain is a peripheral signal from the irritated knee during the fall, if I were to give the same example of a trail runner falling on their knee while being chased by a mountain lion, the perception of pain would most likely not be the same. In fact, you may not feel pain at all! This is likely because the knee irritation from the fall is ultimately less of a perceived threat than the individual being attacked by the mountain lion. The deciding factor of pain perception in this case comes down to your brain. Your brain has the power to override the pain signal from your knee to allow you to keep running to improve your chance of survival. Therefore, we can come to a conclusion that pain likely has both peripheral (from the local tissue) and central (from the brain) pathways that can feed into our perception of pain.

Our perception of pain can also be modulated by our past experiences or our emotional states, and interestingly enough, there may be no true tissue damage. Again, it comes down to what our brain perceives as a threat. For example, if you have a history of anterior (patellofemoral) knee pain from running technical downhills, and you take time off from running downhills, you may still perceive some pain sensitivity during technical downhill running in the future. This is because our brain remembers the initial stimulus during the onset of pain. Even if our irritated knee tissue heals and we have no pain running uphills or flats, there still is a chance that our brain may be threatened when we return to the downhills again even if there is no true knee tissue damage.

Andy Wacker Races Downhill. Photo: Robert Urbaniak

Pain can be used as a guide, or a response that our brain wants us to do something differently. In fact, this could be because we have true tissue damage and we need to recover. For example, if we have foot pain when running, but not when walking, this may mean our brain is interpreting the higher loading of running to be threatening or damaging to our foot, but not so the lower threshold activity of walking. This is ultimately a good response, as pain can act as a guide to allow proper tissue recovery. If we didn’t have a pain response, we would have no buffer to which activity or movements would be harmful to our body. This is something to remember the next time you go reaching for the bottle of anti-inflammatory pain medication after your foot starts hurting after a run. With that being said, should we really mask our pain response? The answer is no!

Pain from Running

Now that we can appreciate that pain can be modulated by the brain for a variety of reasons, it’s important to understand when it’s okay if we run with some pain, and when we should not run until we are pain free. When it comes to running-related pain, we must consider the tissues involved such as bone, tendon, muscle, ligaments, cartilage, etc. The reason why it’s important to understand which tissue is involved is because running with mild to moderate pain related to certain soft tissues – like muscles and tendons – may be okay as further damage may not occur, but when dealing with bone-related pain, continuing to run could potentially cause longer term damage if the bones do not have the appropriate amount of off-loading. If you’re unclear which tissue is involved, understand where the pain is located, which movements cause pain, how the pain came on, and how pain responds to running. All of these clues can give insight as to which tissue is involved, but further consultation with a skilled medical provider or physical therapist to diagnose the injury may be the best path to optimal recovery.

Common Tissues Subjected to Pain while Running

Unless you have a trauma resulting from a fall while running, oftentimes pain onset is due to repetitive microtrauma in bones or tendons, as these tissues tend to have a higher susceptibility to running-related pain or injury.

Common tendon pain seen in runners can occur within the following tendons (but not limited to): The Achilles tendon, posterior tibial tendon, peroneal tendon, patellar tendon, quadricep tendon, glute medius tendon, and proximal hamstring tendon. Note that plantar fascia and iliotibial band (ITB), also act like tendons which store and release energy during a run, and can also be a common site of “tendon-like” pain. Typically tendons can become painful if they lack tissue capacity for specific training, if they are being overused due to a compensation pattern, or if lacking control/strength within the region of the tendon crossing the joint(s).

There are some key patterns to help identify if a tendon is the tissue involved in your pain while running. First consider the area of irritation. If the irritated area is local to a tendon and you can press or squeeze the tendon specifically to identify that it’s irritated, then likely the tendon is the source of your pain. This is easier to identify at more superficial tendon sites like the Achilles and patellar tendon, however, this may be more difficult to appreciate at deeper tendons like the glute medius and proximal hamstring that attach to the pelvis.

Tendons do typically present stiffer or are irritated after longer periods of rest (sitting or sleeping), and most notable after the first few steps if you have been sitting or resting for a while. Tendons also tend to warm up with running. Even though tendons may feel stiff or irritated in the beginning of a run, they start to feel better during the run, or often no worse. If a tendon is irritated, it will often feel worse with overloading the tendon during the joint motion which causes lengthening. For instance, your achilles tendon may become more irritated during loaded dorsiflexion, or your patellar tendon may become more irritated during loaded knee flexion.

Bone-related pain from running may be due to a bone stress reaction, a stress fracture, or a full fracture. Typically bone pain can be either dull, achy, or sharp depending on the degree of stress, and depending on the activity stressing the tissue (ie. standing, walking, running, etc). Some common sites of bone stress reactions can occur in the following areas in runners: metatarsals of feet, navicular of foot, calcaneus of foot, anterior or posterior tibia, femoral shaft, femoral neck, and sacrum. Bone stress sites can also be defined as high risk, medium risk, or low risk by the location which is indicative of the bone’s ability to heal in an optimal environment. High risk sites, like the femoral neck, are at risk for poor healing due to a poor blood supply and a higher load-bearing region.

Bone-related pain can be both simple and challenging to identify. Similar to tendons, if bone is superficial and it’s tender to the touch in a focal region, there is potential that the bone is the site of pain. Bone-related pain also tends to feel worse with repetitive loading over time and does not warm up like tendons or other soft tissues. For example, when dealing with bone-related pain, you may have mild pain starting your run, but where pain worsens during the run. Bone-related pain, if progressing, could reduce the ability to tolerate walking, or even standing. It’s imperative to identify bone-related pain as early as possible because continuing to run with bone-related pain, can lead to a longer recovery and ultimately poor bone healing. As runners, we need our bones to be strong so we can continue to progress our running volume and intensity over time.

When dealing with running-related pain, I often use a traffic light analogy as a guide to understand when running with pain may be okay, and when we should hold off on running and seek medical advice. To a point, this guide does take into account which tissues may be involved based on the subjective and objective points listed below. By no means is this guide perfect, as pain can be complex, but this can provide insight into the severity of tissue irritation, the location of tissue damage, and even where tissue may be in the stage of healing.

A Traffic Light Analogy to Guide:

Red Light: Stop running and seek medical advice.
Yellow Light: Continue to run with caution. It may be beneficial to seek medical advice to prevent progression of pain or symptoms.
Green Light: Likely you have mild pain, but will do no harm continuing to run. You can likely reduce your running volume, frequency, or intensity to reduce tissue stress.

Red Light: 
If pain progressively worsens during a run.
If pain alters your running form/mechanics.
If pain lingers for >24 hours post run
If pain progresses from running to walking, then even resting/non-weight bearing activities.
If pain is local to a bone, and if the bone is tender to the touch and worse after running.

Yellow Light: 
If pain is less than a 5/10 perceived intensity and improves or does not worsen during the run.
If pain lingers briefly after your run, but improves back to baseline throughout the day.
If pain is specific to a soft tissue/tendon, and not a bone.

Green Light: 
If pain remains <3/10 perceived pain intensity while running, and or “warms up” during your run to feel better.
If you have <3/10 perceived pain intensity while running which does not worsen during or after your run, and you have no pain with day-to-day activity.
Pain not in the site of palpable bone.

Summary

Remember, pain can be both simple and complex. Pain likely has peripheral and central inputs from our nervous system, but is ultimately decided on by the brain based on its perceived threat. Pain intensity can be modulated by our past experiences, emotional state, or even stress, and pain can best act as a guide. Don’t mask pain with medications, rather make a change in what you are currently doing to reduce the painful input. This could mean less running, adding resistance training, altering running terrain, and the list goes on.

My message: pay attention to your pain. Use the traffic light analogy as a guide, and seek help if you’re struggling to improve. The worst case scenario is continuing to run with progressively worsening pain, and/or masking pain with medications etc. You could potentially do longer term damage to your body. Ultimately, this could mean you can’t run, and if you can’t run, you lose the ability to enjoy running for all of the [fill in the blank] reasons.

Recent articles from Sean Rimmer include: Foot and Ankle Health for Trail Runners and How to Prepare your Legs for Mountain Trails.

The post Dealing with Pain: to run or not to run appeared first on ATRA.

Have you ever dealt with a nagging pain in the foot or ankle during your runs? Do you find yourself dealing with pain and stiffness in your feet the first thing after getting out of bed in the morning? If your answer is yes to either or both questions, you are not alone. Pain and stiffness in this region are common in runners, but that doesn’t mean it has to be the status quo.

When was the last time you took a good look at your feet? Better yet, when was the last time you were able to control the movement of your toes independently of your foot, perform single leg balance on a stable foot without significant wobbling, or slowly and deliberately control your foot’s arch rising and lowering? If you are unsure or unable to perform these innate human functions, there is some low hanging fruit to address. Our foot works as our foundation, and if your foot lacks the controlled mobility and/or stability, you are at a higher risk for injury to occur either locally or up the kinetic chain while running. Remember, running is merely alternating single leg hops under repetitive load, and each time your foot hits the ground it needs the dynamic mobility and stability to perform its function.

In this article, I will provide a brief education on the anatomy and biomechanics regarding the foot and ankle. I will then shed some light on areas to assess your foot and ankle mobility and stability, so you can become a more resilient runner.
The human foot is a complex anatomical region that is well designed for both stability and mobility. The human foot includes 28 bones, 30 joints, and a multitude of soft tissue structures including muscles, tendons, and ligaments that help control the movement within the joints. The foot is further divided into 3 major portions:

1. The rear foot including the talus and calcaneus bones
2. The mid foot including the cuboid, navicular, and 3 cuneiform bones
3. The fore foot including 5 metatarsal bones, 14 phalanges, and 2 sesamoid bones

Each division of the foot has an important role in the function of the foot, yet no single region acts in isolation. It is vital that all regions of the foot have the appropriate amount of mobility and stability for the foot to have healthy function.

The foot’s major role in running is to store energy and release it for propulsion under a short period of time. The energy storage component of the foot and ankle occurs during pronation, or the loading response in our running gait. Pronation has previously gotten a “bad rap” within the running community due to the initial thought that pronation leads to pain and problems; but, there is no literature to support this notion. Pronation consists of the following major movements within the foot and ankle: ankle dorsiflexion, rear foot eversion, and forefoot abduction. This combination of movement allows a majority of our soft tissue surrounding the foot and ankle to purposefully lengthen allowing our arch to increase its tension. This tension created in the soft tissues on the underside of our foot allows energy to be stored so it can then transition into the release of energy for propulsion, known as supination.

Supination is the position of the foot and ankle that is more rigid and provides a stable lever for propulsion. This turns out to be the push off phase in running. Supination consists of the following major movements within the foot and ankle: Ankle plantar flexion, rearfoot inversion, and forefoot adduction. This combination of movements create a bony lock within the foot providing stability to transfer energy from the foot through the rest of the kinetic chain.

Both pronation and supination occur fluidly and cyclically in running. I like to give the example of jumping on a trampoline. When we initially jump on a trampoline, the trampoline moves down to absorb the weight of the person. When this happens, the trampoline creates tension in a lengthened state, think of this as pronation. The trampoline then recoils, releasing the stored energy that moves the person into the air, similar to supination.

When our feet are strong, supple, and coordinated, they can tolerate the mechanical load of running without issue. However, if our feet are lacking the mobility, stability, or coordination (timing of muscles activating) they need for running, then there is a greater potential for the onset of pain or even injury. The risk for pain or injury may happen in an area of the foot and/or ankle, but could also occur up the kinetic chain.

When it comes to foot and ankle mobility during running, it’s imperative for there to be adequate mobility within the following 3 joint motions:

• Big toe extensions
• Mid foot rotation
• Ankle dorsiflexion

Foot Diagram

Big toe extension allows for our foot to roll off of the big toe during supination, mid-foot rotation allows for our foot to transition from pronation to supination, and ankle dorsiflexion allows our calf-achilles complex to store energy so it can be released during the propulsion phase of running. These 3 motions are important for loading response, terminal stance, and push off. If any of these 3 joint motions are significantly limited, a compensation pattern often occurs within the kinetic chain, and our running becomes less efficient.

Optimal stability of the foot includes our foot acting as a tripod. The 3 bases of the foot tripod include the head of the first metatarsal (big toe), the head of the 5th metatarsal (little toe) and the calcaneus (heel). Ground contact with all 3 of these points allow for optimal stability and controlled mobility.

To understand this concept, the use of a barefoot single leg balance self-assessment can be performed. The goal is to allow minimal to no wobbling of the foot and ankle by grounding yourself with the 3 points of contact previously discussed. You should be able to maintain an arch on the underside of your foot. Potential issues arise if any of the main 3 points of contact lift off the ground as this compromises your foot’s stability.

The next progression to further assess the stability and controlled mobility of our foot and ankle is controlled single leg rotation. If done correctly, we should be able to keep all points of contact via the foot tripod while our foot’s arch collapses into pronation and rises into supination. If we can move through these positions without difficulty or excessive compensation from the knee or hip, we can move forward.

Another piece to consider for foot health is toe dexterity, including toe splay and isolation control of our big toe. Our big toe is big for a reason, increased surface area results in enhanced stability when pressing into the ground. If our big toe can not maintain ground contact during the push off phase of gait (supination), then we compromise the stability of the foot. A simple, yet potentially difficult exercise to improve toe dexterity is Toe Yoga. The 3 movements to be able to master are as follows:

• Big toe pressing into the ground with lesser toes extending off the ground
• Lesser toes maintaining contact with the ground with big toe lifting off the ground
• Toe splay or spreading of the toes

Big Toe Flexion

Pulling Up the Big Toe as Big Toe Extension

Toe Splay

The ability to isolate and coordinate the toes allows for improved stability during the stance phase of running. If our foot is able to express its stability under the body’s load during running, then there’s less risk for compensation within the kinetic chain. A way to visualize the benefit of toe splay for stability, is if you were doing a hand-stand with varying hand-finger positions. If your fingers are clenched together, your hands have less stability to hold yourself upright, versus when your fingers are spread apart you have a much wider base of support for stability.

To further assess dynamic mobility and stability of the foot and ankle, a simple pogo hop drill can be performed. Pogo hops can be performed with both legs or single legged, and can be performed in place or in varying directions. The purpose of the pogo hop is to assess foot and lower limb energy storage and release as previously mentioned in this article. The shorter period of time our foot and ankle can go from pronation to supination on the ground, the more efficient our hop will be. This drill provides great insight into the efficiency of our foot hitting the ground while running, as most people I see within the clinical setting often have inefficiencies in the single legged pogo hop on the side they are having symptoms.

Energy Storage

Energy Release

When it comes down to it, our feet are the foundation to our running health. If we take care of our feet and ensure we have the adequate mobility, stability, and coordination we will have optimal use of our feet to progress our running for the future.

Editor’s Note: Check out even more articles by Sean Rimmer.

The post Foot and Ankle Health for Trail Runners appeared first on ATRA.

• Trail Times Winter 2023 Volume 30 Number 101

The post Trail Times Winter 2023 Volume 30 Number 101 appeared first on ATRA.

• Trail Times Fall 2022 Volume 29 Number 100

The post Trail Times Fall 2022 Volume 29 Number 100 appeared first on ATRA.

Autumn color is a reminder we need to load up on a variety of colorful food, herbs and spices!

With the cooling temperatures and shorter days, our body’s metabolism changes and its nutritional requirements change. Our system moves from cooling foods in summer, to warming foods in autumn in order to help regulate our internal functions. The liver, lungs, kidneys and spleen are nourished with warming foods, spices and herbs from fall through winter.

Look for foods that are spicy, pungent, sour and bitter. Sour foods enhance the liver and gall bladder. Bitter supports heart and small intestine. Pungent provides strength for the lungs and large intestine/colon. Spicy foods enable one’s entire organ processes to support each other which is essential as part of a dynamic warm up and to elevate core temperature to 102F. This allows easier blood flow and oxygenation to all organs and soft tissue.

With over 40 years of nutritional guidance, for athletes, mostly runners, I have selected some of the best in both taste and results!

Pictured, are some of our favorite recipes which provide the needed properties to support the aforementioned organs. Whether we’re running the trails or hiking we always prepare our system with the right foods which have a synergistic relationship with our internal seasonal needs.

All ingredients are 100% organic. As organic farmers, we specialized in growing foods that are abundant in flavor and nutrition. There are a few foods listed in the recipes we have to purchase as organic since these are foods that do not grow in this part of the world, such as cinnamon. Although, we have our own beehives, these recipes will use organic cane sugar rather than honey, since it is more common and convenient for folks to use. We only use Einkorn flour. This particular grain has not been hybridized and is still in its original genetic/molecular structure. Einkorn makes all the difference since it has a much more robust flavor and sweeter, compared to modern day grains which have undergone numerous man-made changes since the early 1950s. Do not confuse hybrids with genetically modified foods; they are very different.

Photo: Stephen R. Santangelo.

Oatmeal-Banana-Applesauce Muffins:
1 egg, 1-1/3 cups of ripe mashed bananas, ¾ cups organic sugar, 1/3 cup applesauce. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 cup Einkorn flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1-1/4 teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 cup oatmeal.

For variety, you can add 1-2 drops of your favorite essential oil, ½ cup raisins, blueberries, chopped walnuts, almonds, pecans, ginger, nutmeg cloves etc.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan with grass fed butter. In a large bowl, combine egg, banana, sugar, applesauce and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt.
Gently, stir dry ingredients and oatmeal into banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes or until light brown. This will vary since not all ovens bake at the same rate. Remove muffins from pan and place on a wire rack to let cool and enjoy!

Power-up pre or post workout drink:
Ingredients: 1 each of red, orange and yellow sweet peppers, 3 medium carrots, 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger, 1 orange (include the peel) and a little bit of cayenne, habanero or jalapeño to taste! Place ingredients, one at a time, into the juicer. Add water, if necessary, for easier consumption.

This drink contains over 100 different anti-oxidants, countless enzymes and a ton of vitamin C! What’s more important to understand about this nourishing drink is its power to restore health to damaged DNA by inducing two enzymes that repair DNA during the replication stage. These enzymes, 8-oxoguanine-DNA glycosylase 1 (hOGG1), and DNA polymerase beta (DNA poly beta), are both involved in the DNA base excision repair (BER) pathway. Along with this valued combination, there is more than just beta carotene in carrots! In all, there are six carotenes in carrots, α-, β-, γ- and ξ-carotenes, lycopene and β-zeacarotene in addition to xanthophylls and anthocyanins. The greatness part of this drink is it provides all the important nourishment for fall/winter training; sour, bitter, pungent and spicy to optimize organ function while out on the trails!

Post-workout delights: Coconut-raisin-honey bowl and stuffed sweet red peppers!

Photo: Stephen R. Santangelo.

Coconut-raisin-honey bowl:
1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut, ½ cup of raisins, 1 tablespoon of really raw honey and a 1 tablespoon of almond milk or milk of your choice. Add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Stir all ingredients and enjoy the flavor! Serves 1 person.

Stuffed sweet red bell peppers:
*Yellow or orange bell peppers can be substituted for red.
3 large bell peppers, 2 cups chopped cabbage, 1/2 cup grated carrots, 2 diced medium tomatoes, 3 chopped cloves of garlic, 1 chopped medium onion, 2 teaspoons each of parsley, basil and dill. 1 cup of grated cheese if so desired!

Cut tops off of peppers. Save as much of the flesh as possible and chop up. Clean all seeds out of the pepper.
Blend all ingredients. Pack ingredients into peppers. Be sure it’s packed tightly. Place in baking dish, cover with aluminum foil and place in pre-heated oven at 350F/175C for 45 minutes.

Time may vary from oven to oven. Find what works best for you and eat with pleasure knowing you are getting an abundance of delicious nutrition. Serves 2-3.

There you have it! All the nutrients needed to keep you healthy and strong, in cold weather, on the trails!

Photo: Stephen R. Santangelo.

Editor’s Note: Are you looking for even more great nutrition advice for trail runners? Check out the following articles:

• Three Easy Snacks for Trail Runners
• Trail Runner’s Book Review: Sport Smoothies
• Bust Out of Holiday Calorie-Buzz: Meet Your Nutritional Needs to Run Smarter and Happier
• Real Food Sports Nutrition for Trail Runners
• Tasty Treats for Springtime

The post Foods to Power Up Autumn and Winter Trail Running appeared first on ATRA.

“Proper trail training is crucial for runners competing on any of our Run Catalina courses, which are filled with challenging peaks, elevation changes, and rewarding views of Catalina Island. We are offering packages from a monthly plan to individualized training programs for Catalina Island and they will include coaching for all three races on the Island,” says Mike Bone, CEO of Spectrum Sports Management, Inc.

Lightfoot Coaching training programs allow Run Catalina athletes to work directly with highly experienced coaches in preparation for the Catalina Island Half Marathon on November 12, 2022, Avalon Benefit 50 Mile/50K Run on January 7, 2023, and the Full Marathon on March 11, 2023. Three coaching packages are available for athletes to purchase during or after the registration for each Run Catalina event.

Coaching Packages Include:

• Daily check-ins and revisions to the training plan
• Custom training plan generated one week at a time
• Custom strength & mobility routines for injury prevention and performance
• Personalized psychological skills development
• Unlimited email and text communication with coaches
  monthly call with a coach
• Invitation to monthly group calls

A sweeping view of Avalon that gives way to the endless waves of ridges that cover the island.

The coaching programs are led by Jade Belzberg and Nick De la Rosa, who are both highly experienced coaches and former runners with impressive backgrounds.

Belzberg is a running coach, writer MFA and MSc, who has been running since 2014 with her first ultramarathon being the notorious Grand Canyon R2R2R. Since then, she has placed 1st at races like Zane Grey 50, PCT 50, and Crystal Mountain Sky Marathon and podiumed at races like San Diego 100, Orcas Island 100, and Santa Barbara Nine Trails. She also holds FKTs in SoCal and British Columbia, Canada (where she grew up!). Belzberg is a freelance writer by trade and holds a Master of Science in Functional Medicine and Nutrition to help athletes and non-athletes alike achieve better health.

De la Rosa is a running coach & gait analyst, CSCS. He completed his first marathon at age 15 and his first 100-miler just a few years later. By 19, he was the youngest person ever to complete the notorious Badwater 135 across Death Valley. Nick has an extensive race resume with wins at Fat Dog 120, Cruel Jewel 100, and Orcas Island 100. However, he is best known for his 2nd place at Tor des Geants and, most notably, his finish and win at the 2013 Barkley Marathons.

In 2018, De La Rosa had open heart surgery to repair an aneurysm. Since then, he has become particularly interested in the psychological aspects of running endurance distances and is currently pursuing his MS in Sport and Performance Psychology to work with athlete identities, pre-race anxieties, and help create a stable sense of self regardless of race outcome. He is especially interested in working with former professional athletes looking to transition toward a healthy love of their chosen sport again.

To learn more about coaching packages, runners can visit runcatalina.com or view the coaching options during the registration process for any upcoming Run Catalina event.

The post ATRA Member Run Catalina Announces Official Coaches appeared first on ATRA.

The post Trail Times Fall 2022 Volume 29 Number 100 appeared first on ATRA.

Summertime offers the best few months of the year for trail runners to train or go for an adventure in the mountains. Snows have melted, wildflowers are blooming, and although it is an exciting time to train and explore the high country, the physical nature of mountain trails can be overwhelming to say the least.

Trail runners typically spend less time during the winter and early spring months running in the high mountains due to limited accessibility. They are spending more time running on lower elevation trails, roads, or even the “dreadmill” in an effort to maintain fitness during the off-season. Though these efforts of training are helpful at maintaining cardiovascular and some musculoskeletal conditioning, these lower elevation and “flatter” training don’t prepare our musculoskeletal tissues – including our bones, tendons, muscles, and ligaments – for a sudden increase in elevation change when we hit the mountain trails come summer.

As tough as long ascents are on our cardiovascular and respiratory system, long descents pose a potential risk for musculoskeletal injuries if our tissues lack preparedness. Descending mountain trails induces higher loads to our musculoskeletal system due to the eccentric loading. Think of this as your body’s way of controlling you from collapsing on the downhill. Due to these higher loads and potential bio-mechanical compensation when fatigued, training progressions can be a valuable aid in reducing your risk from sustaining an injury.

There are two main components to training that can reduce the risk of injury while descending mountain trails: Neuro-muscular control or coordination, and musculoskeletal loading tolerance in your legs. Neuro-muscular control is literally how coordinated you are at allowing your muscles to contract and relax at the appropriate times with integrated postural control and alignment. Musculoskeletal loading tolerance refers to the strength or capacity of our tissues to be prepared for the specific demands of running in the mountains.

These systems can be trained through running progressions by addressing the variables of frequency, duration, and intensity to our training. For instance, increasing frequency could mean adding more times per week you are running elevation, while increasing duration could mean increasing the length of time of each run you are ascending and descending terrain. Increasing intensity could mean how much perceived effort or speed you are adding to your run. All of these variables act interdependently, and should be progressed gradually to avoid training error and reduce your risk for injury while your summer training builds.

On the non-running side of training, adding heavy loaded strength and plyometric exercises can help to prepare your musculoskeletal tissues. There are a multitude of exercises, but the primary focus should be on heavy loading and exercises that include energy storage and release. My go-to exercises for heavy strength training are a rear-foot elevated single leg split squat, single leg heel raises, and a barbell lateral toe tap squat. For the plyometric exercises focused on energy storage and release, you cannot go wrong with a double leg or single leg pogo hop with some external load.

For heavy loaded exercises I suggest 3-4 sets of 5-8 reps at about 80% of 1 rep max, performed 1-3x per week off-season vs in-season training. These reps should feel rather heavy; they should be performed slowly with a focus on controlled lowering and returning back to the starting position, with good alignment, and without compensation. Since these loads are relatively heavy, they should help improve resiliency in your legs from the downhill strain on your musculoskeletal tissue.

Split Squat

The rear-foot elevated single leg split squat or “split squat” for short, is a terrific lower body exercise. It’s basically a lunge except your rear foot is elevated (preferably 8 to 12 inches) onto a box or bench which enhances the loading to your forward leg while performing the split squat. Perform this exercise with an upright torso, a slight posterior pelvic tilt, and your knee tracking over your 2nd-3rd toe of the forward foot while lowering into the squat. You can use a barbell on your back, or hold dumbbells in your arms for external loading; but I will say, using dumbbells adds a grip strength benefit and increased safety if balance is an issue. The main reason I suggest this exercise over a traditional squat variation is due to the split nature of the squat with the legs being loaded both in hip flexion and extension.

Single Leg Heel Raise

The single leg heel raise exercise is simple, yet a terrific exercise for the calf complex. The calf complex includes the gastrocnemius, soleus, and achilles tendon which account for controlling forces of 8x-body weight while running. I choose to perform a single leg heel raise with your forward leg elevated onto a box for balance in some hip flexion and the leg doing the work on a slightly elevated surface like a bumper plate with your heel hanging off the plate. Having your heel raise leg on a bumper plate allows your ankle to move through an increased range of motion. This ultimately improves loading into ankle dorsiflexion, or the eccentric lengthening of the calf complex, which is so important for runners. Improving loading tolerance of the calf complex will not only improve strength and control at the ankle, but it can also add stability to the knee as our shin bone moves over our foot.

Lateral Toe Tap Squat

The final strength exercise which will aid in preparing you for the downhills is the barbell lateral toe tap squat. This exercise can be rather heavy, as it is performed through a small range of motion through the hip, knee, and ankle. I like to think of this exercise as the runner’s squat, as it looks a lot like mid-stance of running where the highest overall loading response takes place. This exercise is completed by starting out with a barbell on your back in a standing position; you then shift your weight onto the stance leg, bend your stance knee ~40 degrees while simultaneously off-loading your other leg by tapping it out to the side. You then repeat this pattern for the entire set with control of your knee tracking over your 2nd-3rd toes and a relatively upright torso.

Running itself is plyometric in nature, yet the loading of running on flatter terrain will be inadequate for the forces of the mountain downhills. This is why I like to add loaded double leg and single leg pogo hops. This should look a lot like jump rope hopping except without the rope, and an external load. I suggest holding a kettlebell at center, around chest height, ranging 10-25 pounds depending on whether you do single leg or double leg hops. You do not need excessively heavy weight with this one, and at times body weight may be adequate. I like to mix it up with the rate of hops or how many hops per minute, and amplitude or height of the hops. Both of these variables should be accounted for and are valuable for preparing our leg’s musculoskeletal tissues. I often perform anywhere from 20-30 second reps for 3-4 sets, 1-3x per week pending the season of training.

Pogo Hops

When trails and mountains are primed for running, there’s less likelihood for runners to spend their time indoors weight training. Our bodies like progressions, so they can adapt accordingly while reducing risk for injury. Therefore, it’s wise to have a resistance training program focused on heavy loading and plyometric exercises during the off-season and more of a maintenance program during peak training time. I suggest 1-2x a week during the summer months, or every other week during higher volume of run training. The last thing you want is an early summer running injury that takes you away from the beautiful mountain trails and the best season of running.

The post How To Prepare Your Legs for Mountain Trails appeared first on ATRA.

For many of us living in the upper Northern Hemisphere, temperatures are rising to comfortable levels as winter comes to a close and spring freshness is upon us. During the winter months, many of us do not have access to trails for speed work and hill repeats due to rain, mud, ice and snow. Thus, most of our training consist of long slow runs or perhaps snowshoe training or ski-mountaineering.

Training such as this, restricts our range of motion around our joints due to a slightly shorter stride. High repetitive movements of flexion and extension in the sagittal (anterior–posterior) plane of motion will lessen mobility. The movements take place at the shoulder, hip, elbow and knee in a front-to-back motion. Consequently, this neglects our transverse and coronal planes of movement. As we introduce speed workouts on the track or trails, as well as hill repeats for spring training, we need to understand there is greater force on our joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments, as they work at a more intense level than on long slow runs.

Constant repetition in the sagittal plane without addressing other joint movements can, and often does, lead to injury. This requires us to rethink body mechanics while preparing the entire system for training and racing. Let’s take a look at the transverse and coronal planes of movement in order to implement these in our dynamic warmup. The purpose is to “grease the joints” at different angles of motion to flush plenty of fluid into them as well as strengthening the connective tissue. Most importantly, these exercises will develop our bounce and reactive response in our stride allowing more force application and better ground contact.

Calisthenics and bodyweight exercising are a great way to add to a dynamic warmup. Everyone seems to be lifting weights nowadays, without giving any thought for creating a foundation of healthy, strong, durable connective tissue necessary for safe, effective training. An advantage to the exercises below is that a gym is not necessary, nor is any special equipment.

My #1 exercise is the popular jumping jack, named after fitness guru Jack LaLanne. Sadly, even though this one exercise has been neglected, I suggest it for all of my athletes. Over the decades, I have created various modifications, which have great rewards in physical adaptations. Two variations are the Star Jump and High Pull Jump. These exercises, as their name indicates, are performed as a standard jumping jack, except the arms are held in different positions and focus on the muscles of the upper torso along with adduction and abduction of the hips, inner thigh and outer thigh. Training these areas is quite different from the running motion of the joints, their surrounding attachments and firing patterns. Focusing on our weak points improves our running ability and lessens the chance of injury as well as greater joint mobility. Incorporate these two exercises in a pre-season conditioning program and as part of a pre-workout routine.

• Star Jump: Begin with the feet shoulder width apart and hands held at the shoulder. As you jump “up,” the feet move out to the sides (abduction) and the arms are extended, outward, in a 45-degree angle to the left and right. This creates the star pattern. To finish the movement, jump and bring the feet in (adduction) and return the arms to the side and hands to the shoulders.
• High Pull Jump: Begin with the feet shoulder width apart with arms straight down in front of the body, not to the side. As you jump “up,” the feet move out to the sides (abduction). Keep the arms in front of the torso, shrug the shoulders, pull the hands up, keep the elbows high. By shrugging the shoulders, this helps open the shoulder joint allowing more blood flow and oxygen to enter. To finish the movement, jump and bring the feet in (adduction) and return the arms to start position, always keeping them in front of the torso.

When jumping out and back in, stay on the ball of the foot. This will improve amortization of ground contact and ground force. These two dynamics will improve running speed and encourage tendon stiffness in the ankle. Tendon stiffness is not the same as tight ankles. Tendon stiffness refers to the strength of the tendon. Tendons and ligaments provide an elastic response, a stretch-shortening recoil effect which helps you jump, run, lift heavy objects, and absorb impacts. Think of it as a rubber band. When a rubber band is stretched, it becomes stiff. As it recoils, it releases power/thrust. It is through stiff tendons that muscles transmit force and make movement possible. A stiff tendon can help us transmit more force and be more stable in our running mechanics, and stability is imperative on the uneven surface of the trails.

Examining the movement of the shoulders and arms, the shoulders are rotated differently than in the back-and-forth motion of running. This enables the shoulder to open for a greater range of motion allowing more fluid and blood in the joint nourishing it in a way more effective than the arm swing in running.

Now, applying it to training. During the conditioning/pre-season cycle, the goal is 3 sets of 60 seconds with 60 seconds rest between sets for each exercise. This equates to 6 sets in a total time of 11 minutes. For in-season warmup, 3 sets of 20 seconds with 20 seconds rest. This is a total time of 3 minutes and 40 seconds for both exercises combined. Each of these repetitions per set is to be performed AFAP (As Fast As Possible). Speed becomes imperative in order to create the stretch-shortening recoil in the development of tendon stiffness.

Create a well-oiled machine for those heroic efforts on the trail and dominate the competition!

The post Greasing the Joints for Spring Trail Running Training appeared first on ATRA.

“Faith means doubt. Faith is not the suppression of doubt. It is the overcoming of doubt. And you overcome doubt by going through it.” – Thomas Merton

Running offers opportunities for growth on numerous planes of being. When I write about running inevitably I find myself writing about life. When we train our bodies we train our minds. Workouts and races are often microcosms of the challenges and struggles we may confront in the events of our lives. In high school I had a coach who gave our team some workouts that seemed insurmountable. I remember a set of 24 hill repeats that felt outrageous in the beginning and totally impossible in the middle. I remember to a greater degree the incredible sense of accomplishment I felt lying in the grass after the 24th hill. I don’t remember feeling fitter or relating that workout to success later in the season. I don’t even know if that workout was about gaining fitness. As we ambled off for a cooldown our coach told us, “Now that mountain of homework won’t seem so bad,” And ya know what? It didn’t.

Every runner has felt the near overwhelming sense of doubt that arises when they are pushing their body to the limit. The final turn in an 800 when your body is screaming, the death march of mile 25 in a marathon; even stepping out the door for a jog can seem to be an impossible feat. When the mind is filled with doubt, the only thought in your head is “STOP.” What follows is only known to the spirit willing that body to continue moving. Though it is silent, all around may be inactive and serene, there is an internal battle not only familiar to running, but one that seems elemental to human experience.

Doubt and faith rage against each other, enormous doubt that you can get a body swelling with lead across a line to the end of your suffering. Doubt that you’ll hold your place in the race. Doubt that your PR is within reach. Doubt that any of this really matters anyway. Just stop, step over that white line from the red track to the green turf and put an end to this madness. Yet nine times out of ten faith overpowers all of those doubts. Look at the results of any race and see how few, if any DNFs there are. Despite the seemingly louder voice of doubt in those silent moments known only to the runner a power of faith prevails. Faith in the human body to persist, faith in the will to drive us forward, faith in this pattern of movement ancient to our kind that has the power to free us from the chains of doubt. And it can only arise in its prime form when it is called to counter such strong doubt. Its strength comes from the intensity of these battles, and it carries over into life.

Janelle Lincks 3rd place 2020 Moab Trail Marathon

Leading figure in positive psychology Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, writes in his book Flow “The foremost reason happiness is so hard to achieve is that the universe was not designed with the comfort of humans in mind.” The past couple of years have proven that despite all of our progress toward stabilizing our existence on this planet chaos and uncertainty loom ever present and ready to disrupt all that we know. So what can running – a simple hobby – do for us in the face of this? Well, what can anything do for us in the face of universal chaos really.

In Flow, Csikszentmihalyi writes that people report the happiest times of their lives include those when they are facing challenges in striving to achieve their goal. The most difficult race I’ve ever run is also my favorite race. I truly did not know – both times I ran it – if I could finish the Moab Trail Marathon. You actually pass the finish line going into the final 5k of the race, which is easily the most difficult 5k I’ve ever run. Despite the pain and the incredible frustration at yet another petrified dune to run up, and the utter exhaustion brought on by a trail marathon, I do not regret the race. I cherish every moment of it. It was my first marathon and upon finishing it just under four hours the first time around, laying on the red slick rock looking up at the sky, the same feeling I felt in a hill workout a decade earlier overwhelmed me with pride and joy.

Running is a friend most of us are privileged to always have to turn to in times of need. Though it may seem to turn on us at times, it is in these moments that we are made: When the strength of our spirit and our faith in the power of this human tradition of movement overcomes the challenge of our environment and the greater challenge of our own minds.

Cited

• Flow, Mihayl Csikszentmihayli. Harper Perennial Modern Classics 1990.
• Thomas Merton The Spiritual Master; Essential Writings, Thomas Merton. The Library of Congress 1992.

The post Janelle Lincks Writes About Overcoming Self Doubt appeared first on ATRA.

Arguably, air quality in many places around the country, like Salt Lake and Denver, is downright lousy these days, especially during the winter months when regular inversions produce especially poor air. Not to mention that there are more cars and trucks on the roads, more forest fires, more oil and gas emissions, changing climates, and an increasing number of other contributors to air quality issues. Sadly, the air in and around many metro areas is actually getting worse.

Case in point, Denver had 59 ozone alert days this past summer, a significant increase over any previous year, and more Air Quality Alert Days than any previous year. As runners, we can literally taste the difference on those bad air days, making us wonder if our running in that “stuff,” is actually any good for us. But, also as runners, and humans, we have the opportunity to do something about that unhealthy air; step up, literally and figuratively, and do our part to improve the quality of the air we breathe. Have you ever heard of Running Up For Air (RUFA)?

Ten years ago ultrarunner Jared Campbell decided to do something about the horrible air along the Wasatch range, just outside his home in Salt Lake. Running up and down Salt Lake’s Grandeur Peak was a regular training route for Campbell as he prepped for upcoming events like the infamous Barkley Marathon (Campbell is one of only 15 people who have ever finished that one, and he’s done it three times) or the equally challenging Hardrock 100 in Colorado.

Campbell found that he occasionally needed to wear a mask on those long winter runs…the air was just that bad. In 2012, Jared grabbed a few friends and together they all ran multiple times up and down Grandeur, using their legs and lungs to draw attention to the local air quality issues, while raising and donating money to a local Salt Lake nonprofit, Breathe Utah, launching what has become Running Up for Air, or RUFA as it is generally known.

For the next three years, Campbell and a growing number of local running pals kept the RUFA thing going, but mostly as an informal “outing” – if running up and down mountains in winter is ever just an outing. Still, in the process the “event’s” notoriety grew, as did the number of runners joining in and the amount of dough they raised to support Breathe Utah’s educational and advocacy efforts on the improved air quality front.

Photo: Paul Banel.

Things changed in 2016 when Campbell made the big decision to make RUFA a full-on winter running event, with 24, 12 and 6-hour options, and a fundraiser for Breathe Utah. People, lots of people, registered and ran and raised all kinds of money. And each year RUFA got bigger and bigger.

Starting in 2018, with the launch of a RUFA event in Colorado, organized by local nonprofit Suffer Better, RUFA expanded into a multistate group of locally run RUFA events, all working in close association with Campbell and the original RUFA mission, and all raising money for local nonprofits focused on air quality, the natural environment, and reducing the impacts of climate change.

While there were no live events in 2021, due to the pandemic, RUFA events for 2022 are a “go” and will take place in Ogden and Provo, Utah, in addition to the usual Salt Lake edition, as well as Pine, Colorado, and Missoula, Montana. Combined, these RUFA events will involve over 1200 runners, hundreds of volunteers, and raise upwards of $75,000. Thanks in large part to Patagonia, RUFA’s main partner, which donates big bucks and quality products for runners and volunteers across all RUFA venues, while hosting events in their local stores, RUFA’s message reaches a much wider audience.

In light of the RUFA mission, each of the RUFA events strives to minimize its environmental impact and maximize its fundraising. To that end, each event is cup-free, offers shuttle service for runners, and, where driving is necessary, encourages and rewards carpooling. Each registered runner is expected to become a fundraiser, cajoling friends and family to support their run with donations to the locally chosen nonprofits. Each RUFA event partners with local nonprofits doing the good work to advocate for clean-air policies and educate local citizens on the myriad of ways they can do their individual part to improve the quality of their air.

What Jared began 10 years ago with a small community of fellow runners has evolved into a bigger, but still community focused event. RUFA, wherever it’s held, retains that special community feel, drawing runners, volunteers, and partners together to make a positive statement about their world and take real steps to make it better. There’s a RUFA camaraderie unlike most running events – coming from a shared purpose and the resolve to make a trail run more than a trail run. Registration is now open for all 2022 RUFA events. The sooner you sign up, the more the community can do together, and the more money we can raise collectively.

To learn more, sign up, volunteer, and be part of the RUFA community, visit upforairseries.org.

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Watching the sun slowly slide behind Green Mountain, I feel the urge to reach out a hand as if to a falling friend. I glance down at my watch and cringe at the unblinking face reading 3:00. And, I still have an hour and a half of work left before I can head out for a run.

It’s a tough time of year to be a human in the Northern Hemisphere. As our window of light rapidly shortens, the cold sets in mercilessly calm and waiting to embrace any fragile frame of flesh that enters its winter darkness. This description may give you a sense of the existential dread I have personally felt as the fall gives way to winter months. As a runner, short cold days have a tendency to make my preferred pastime exceptionally daunting and I’m sure this is the case for many. A general feeling of malaise can settle over people along with the snow and for some an even stronger sense of depression may set in.

Studies have shown that SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is strongly correlated to vitamin D deficiency and that getting out for a sunny run coupled with eating the right vitamin D-rich foods can help people cope with darker days. I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life and we have plenty of sunny winter days, so while I’m certain these tips can help ease this seasonal discomfort I feel like there’s a little more to it.

I run to feel free. I throw on a pair of shoes and head for the trails. This allows me to leave behind the trials and tribulations of daily life. However, winter has given me a sense of restriction. I have to plan what I’m going to wear, only run certain routes and with an ever-growing preference to run exclusively on trails, I’ve felt running this time of year to be pointless at times if I’m bundling up to trot on slushy terrain. But, trails winding through forests and mountains have a way of luring the soul to them time and again.

It’s now 4:30 and I head out from the little garden shed where I punch my time card daily beneath a few 8,000-foot peaks. Heading up the trail the last breath of twilight exhales purple cooling into the swelling blue of night time. As a habitually ill-prepared runner, I have no headlamp strapped to me, but I want to run on a trail, I want to feel free. So I trot up, a little slower than usual and a lot more grateful than usual to see a few others heading up toward the iconic flatiron faces of this running town.

Janelle (#53) at the 2021 USATF Trail Marathon Championships.

I like watching the rocks fade into shadows gradually disappearing into the trail until an even ribbon of grey stretches before me winding through the dark giants of ponderosa pine. I pick my feet up higher, step lighter and quicker, let my body feel the trail. My pace picks up – any runner can attest to the seeming super speed that dawns on the legs at night. Up here I feel this and the heightened awareness edged with the inner tension that arises from venturing into the unknown. I feel myself as the animal I am, moving through the environment that suits my motion. The clouds obscuring the half full moon drift away, the forest floor is silver, my air is cool and for a moment I am completely free. My world is complete.

Trail running entices one, it challenges and mystifies. It lures the soul deeper and deeper into the ancient spaces of being that our species has traversed for food, survival, and sheer joy. The winter season may dim our window of light, but the window of experience never closes to the ventures of the spirit. Now, by no means do I trail run in the dark daily. Nor do I recommend it as the go-to spiritual adventure for everyone. A headlamp is obviously a useful tool, though it undoubtedly limits the scope of your vision to a tunnel. That said, on a trail system I’m less familiar with I might opt for one.

Headlamps aside, the point I’m making is that the world is teeming with possibility, and at times we mistake the narrow vision of one collapsed set of possibilities – i.e. a singular reality – for the whole. Running trails at night is one way I have found to effectively shatter a reality I formerly mistook as the only possibility for an entire season of the year. Skimo, snowshoeing, snow birding, and winter landscape painting are a few other possibilities I can think of that could open new worlds of experience during a potentially trying time of the year. Bottom line – the human soul is an intrepid traveler if only it’s allowed to run free.

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As summer turns to fall, cooler temperatures arrive and with this change, our system demands specific nutrition for continued health and performance.

These nutrients are foods that open up arteries for better blood flow, warm the muscles, and elevate the body’s core temperature to 102F thus preparing the body for trail runs by flushing out toxins and bringing fresh blood and fluids throughout one’s system. As with all seasonal foods, priority is focused on the organs which are at their peak. Beginning in October and ending in March, the lungs, liver, colon and heart are four organs/muscles most susceptible to pathogens and stress. Bodily fluids – blood and non-blood – are enhanced through specific foods, spices and herbs to combat inflammatory symptoms which can be problematic during this time of year.

Waterville Valley Resort in the Fall. Photo Credit: Cappi Thompson Photography

Keeping our arteries flexible and keeping blood flow optimum to prevent stagnation, is imperative for the cells to do their job. Cells are the fundamental units of life and are equipped with a variety of environmental recognition systems. Aside from substances such as chemical signals, they can recognize and respond to pressure, gravity, temperature, and light. During autumn and winter, days shorten, light changes and temperatures drop; at least for those of us who live in non-equatorial countries.

Once, we understand how such ingredients will enhance specific organ function, we will be able to optimize our health for better recovery and protection from cold weather illnesses such as the common cold and influenza. When illness strikes, we have down time from trail running, for which we all haven’t any patience. We all love being on the trails so why not stay there?

Consuming foods, spices and herbs which support these organs will prevent our blood from becoming stagnant and deficient. If this deficit happens, the heart, liver and colon are negatively impacted. The heart cannot effectively, pump the blood, the liver cannot store it and cleanse it and the colon is incapable of removing toxins absorbed from the environment or foods we consume.

Stagnant blood weakens oxygen capacity that interferes with building aerobic power, meaning, the lungs do not work at full capacity. The air sacs, or alveoli, make up the functional tissue of the lungs known as the lung parenchyma, which takes up 90 percent of the total lung volume. The alveoli are surrounded by a fine network of blood capillaries that are supplied by small pulmonary artery branches. These capillaries carry the CO2-rich blood to the lungs to exchange them for O2.

Aerobic conditioning has multiple benefits that carry over to the success of every fitness enthusiast’s training. Aerobic work helps maintain healthy joint and soft tissue strength, provides aerobic capacity work, and serves as an excellent recovery workout. Through conditioning, both running and dietary choices, we experience increased blood flow to the muscles as well as capillary density adaptations.

The increased blood flow from increased heart rate, provides heat to the muscles and helps stimulate hormones that aid in recovery and flush out metabolic waste deposited in the soft tissues. Blood flow to the muscles can increase to levels six to 22 times higher than when at rest. This degree of increase is necessary in order to provide the muscles with the required nutrients and remove the metabolic waste.

Below, are some pointers to begin your seasonal dietary choices to enhance the aforementioned science.

• Sour will aid liver and gall bladder.
• Bitter will support heart and small intestine.
• Pungent will strengthen lungs and colon.
• Hot and spicy will oxygenate blood flow.
• Salty supports kidney, bladder and adrenal glands (control tower for all hormones).

Onions, garlic, turmeric root, Swiss chard, beets of all varieties, pumpkin, edible gourds, winter squash, mustard greens, cruciferous vegetables, fermented milk products such as kefir and yogurt, jalapeño, habanero, cayenne and lots of fermented vegetables and Kombucha provide our needed support.

All these foods are essential for our seasonal needs. Aside from whole food, spices play an integral role as seasoning, and more importantly, as a pre-workout “start-me-up.” The most critical spices are cinnamon, ginger, cayenne, turmeric, clove, nutmeg and black pepper. Be sure to use organic spices. Conventional spices can contain unwanted toxins which will overload our system. Also, conventional spices use four methods of drying: spraying chemicals, spraying maltodextrin, spraying citric acid, and ETO chemical sterilization. Some of these processes result in a high percentage of starch residue, which can be as high as 40 percent! All these methods have an ill-effect on our internal landscape and forces our organs into overtime, which takes energy away from our working muscles.

Regardless of the day’s training protocol, whether it includes running the trails, hill repeats, snowshoeing or speed intervals on the track, the above seven spices can be mixed into a warm cup of tea or Kombucha as a pre-workout drink…just season to what your palette enjoys.

Another way to get these medicinal spices is to use essential oils from a trusted brand that is safe to consume. Many oils are to be used externally, rather than internally. It is best not to use more than one drop per ingredient, since it can be hard on the liver to metabolize the oil. These seven spices work much like nitric oxide, by relaxing the arterial walls and oxygenating the red blood cells. Two advantages these spices have over nitric oxide is the warming affect to the core temperature, which can be elevated to 102F, and the way they can excite the nervous system in preparation for training.

Spicy Pumpkin Kombucha

Mixing oils and powders in Kombucha has a powerful way of making them more effective due to the great number of enzymes, beneficial bacteria and beneficial fungi in Kombucha. They all go to work in a symbiotic way that is very unique to this blend. The above foods and spices have anti-inflammatory properties as well as alkalizing the blood, which are both important during training and post workout. Although inflammation is a natural process of training, too much can negatively impact the adrenal glands. When this happens, the domino effect occurs. Remember, the adrenals are the control tower of all hormone production organs/glands.

By incorporating these foods and spices into your diet, you will have a delightful energy blend to kick off your upcoming seasonal training.

Editor’s Note: Are you looking for even more great nutrition advice for trail runners? Check out the following articles:

• Three Easy Snacks for Trail Runners
• Trail Runner’s Book Review: Sport Smoothies
• Bust Out of Holiday Calorie-Buzz: Meet Your Nutritional Needs to Run Smarter and Happier
• Real Food Sports Nutrition for Trail Runners
• Tasty Treats for Springtime

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