1. Please tell me a little bit about what you do in your daily practice, and how you help runners and triathletes as a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician?

Mostly I listen and teach. People come to the office with aches and pains, and I listen to their stories. They tell me when they train, how they train and where they train. Together, we try to find the cause of their problems and then figure out how to solve them. Short term pain relief isn’t so hard. Truly correcting the underlying issue is the challenging, gratifying and most enjoyable part of the process. Once we’ve identified the problem, I try to teach them how to rectify it. It may be a stretch, an exercise, a change in training or even modifying their work station to be more ergonomically friendly. Honestly, much of what I do is teach posture and biomechanics.

2. What is the most common ailment or dysfunction that you see in runners that come to you for help?

Without question, it’s pain in the butt. This is often from the piriformis, the abductors, proximal hamstring or low back. I see a lot of Achilles’ tendinitis, plantar fasciitis, and mechanical low back pain, yet the most common complaint among runners is definitely pain in the butt.

3. What do you see as the most common cause of running injuries with the runners you see in your clinic?

I would say muscle imbalance is the biggest culprit. This can be muscle length or strength discrepancies. Let’s look at the butt pain I described in question 2. Runners do a great job training the muscles that they think make them go fast. These muscles primarily move the legs forward and back (e.g. hamstrings, quads, iliopsoas). The trouble is that many runners don’t spend enough time properly training the muscles that stabilize the hips, pelvis and low back (e.g. core muscles, hip abductors). Here’s an illustration. Have you ever run on a beach? It’s a lot more work and you can’t run as fast. As you push off, your foot sinks into the sand and energy is absorbed by the ground (wasted). If you run on the pavement, but your stabilizers aren’t strong enough, your hips and low back twist. Energy that was intended to propel you forward is again absorbed by your body (wasted). The result is inefficiency and potential injury.

4. If you were to make one single recommendation to the average endurance athlete out there who wants to perform at their best and remain injury free, what would it be?

Train your core, and train it properly. Make sure you can stabilize your trunk and pelvis. And if you have a problem that lasts for more than a few days, get it treated. It is always easier to fix a problem that’s a few days old than one that’s a few months old. The longer a pain exists, the more likely it is that you will develop a compensatory movement and the more likely it is that it will become chronic. That’s two recommendations, but they’re both important.

5. Do you have any top secret performance enhancing tricks that you can share with my readers?   :-)

Absolutely!

A. Train with a group. Let’s face it, in a 20 week training program there are bound to be a few days when climbing out of a warm, soft bed just seems like a bad idea. If there are people waiting for you at the pool or on the bike you’re not going to want to let them down. A group provides motivation and competition.
B. Get a coach! I just did a 70.3 in Providence in July. I had a pretty good event for a newbie to that distance, but my run was significantly slower than I expected. I talked to several really good athletes, and each and every one said the same thing. Get a coach. This winter I’ll be one of your students!

Moving beyond the Ironman Distance | Part One of Series

Over the last several years, our only Double/Triple Triathlons in the United States (Virginia) has been sold out. There has been an increase in entries and interest in the longer distance races as many individuals want an experience a challenge beyond the Ironman distance. There is a governing body for ultra-distance triathlons - International Ultra Triathlon Association, www.iutasport.com. Check out the website for information about the 6 races included in the World Cup series.

Most popular international IUTA race distances include the following:

1. Double Triathlon – 4.8 miles swimming, 224 miles biking, 52.4 miles running
2. Triple Triathlon – 7.2 miles swimming, 336 miles biking, 78.6 miles running

Other Distances – The following series of races are held annually in Mexico (November) (the DECA Triathlon would be considered the “Hawaii” of ultra-distance races)

3. Quadruple Triathlon – 9.6 miles swimming, 448 miles biking, 104 miles running
4. Quintuple Triathlon – 12 miles swimming, 560 miles biking, 131 miles running
5. DECA Triathlon - 24 miles swimming, 1112 miles biking, 262 miles running

The races in Mexico change the format each year from a continuous race to an “Ironman distance per day” format. For example, the 2008 DECA Triathlon was continuous, thus 24 miles swimming followed by the 1112 miles of biking and finishing with an “easy” 262 miles of running.

The 2009 race will be in the “Ironman per day for 10 days format”. Each race has its own difficulties with sleep deprivation for the continuous vs. the recovery needed each day after sleeping in the per day format.

As the popularity has increased in the U.S.A. from athletes, recently Inside Triathlon magazine included an entire article about last year’s DECA Triathlon from Mexico.

Very similar to the ultra running races across the county, these ultra-triathlons have very relaxed “family” atmospheres prior to and after the events (it’s all out racing when the gun fires). It’s been a pleasure meeting all the individuals from different cultures, and to learn from the European training and nutrition programs.

One interesting aspect of these races is that they are all “circuit” courses. It would be very difficult to close down roads, having police for intersections for 20+ hours so the majority of the swimming is done in a pool, the biking and running sections are held on short loops that range from 1.2 miles to 5 miles. It’s a very different type of racing and mental strength like 24 hour running races is crucial for a strong race performance.

Next Series topics: Stepping up to the distance, training strategies