What do you do when you can not run for exercise anymore?

Running injuries, there are many. However few are the people who can run all their lives. It surprises me that no one really notices this. Every morning we drive our children to school and I see a few runners/joggers out the car window circling the back bay. To simplify my description of the runners I will break them down into three groups. There are the ones who look born to run with zero body fat and stepping very lightly on their feet as if their body were filled with hydrogen, only the ball of their feet touch the ground. I can honestly say that I don't see too many of this kind. My second group is the cross training kind, there stepping is considerably heavier and their pace is slower, but still look as if they could benefit from running. The third group which is also the most painful to observe are the people who one morning had a sudden mirror image shock and came to the conclusion that they had to whip themselves back into by buying running shoes at Sports Chalet and hitting the back bay bike path.

All three groups have one thing in common. Their shelf life as runners will sooner than later hit the expiring date. The countless pounding of the pavement damages feet, ankles, knees, hip joints, lower back and to extreme cases shoulders.

If you fit in one of the three categories mentioned above, be careful and make sure that you allow yourself recovery time between running workouts. Down time from running is important. Use cross training as a form of down time. You can call it alternative active compensatory workouts which can be a quicker way to recover from strenuous exercise. You can cross train by lifting weights, spending time on the elliptical trainer, stair master, walking uphill, and what the heck ROWING INDOORS if you really want my opinion. Word of caution if you bike... avoid roads with traffic. It is likely that you don't live in Orange County. Around here it is totally asking for trouble if you ride your bike on main roads.

Over and out.

XENO

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.