Sarah: Your Friendly ExRacers Personal Trainer! :D

[Sarah]

Since I will more than likely be the one asking the questions in the horsie section, I thought I'd do my part to contribute here!!

Let me give you all a little summary on who I am/what I do/how I could possibly be of assistance to anyone! I've taught aerobics for about 4 years: step, cardio-kickboxing, hi/lo, boot camp. And I've run 6 (I think?) half marathons (www.500festival.com), 2 marathons (Marine Corps in D.C. and Chicago), and a gazillion smaller races. I'm now teaching Step again as well as Mat Pilates. Which, YES!, there are TONS of exercises that would benefit us riders in the Pilates department!!

I've dealt with a plethora of personal injuries from sports-related activities and from dance. I was in ballet/jazz/modern for a few years when I was younger. Now at the age of 27, I'm feeling some repercussions from the high intensity I used to demand from my body. But there are always ways to stretch and strengthen any area of our bodies!

If anyone is knowledgeable on personal training, I've gone through the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) training workshop. And I'm more than happy to go into detail on that if you want to know more.

Now for the SCIATIC pain stretching!!!
Usually the Piriformis muscle is to blame for sciatic pain. The piriformis is deep in the hip and runs alongside the sciatic nerve, so anytime it becomes inflamed or tight it can irritate the sciatic nerve - therefore causing some pain or tingling or numbness in the lower back, to the hiney, and sometimes even down the leg and into the foot (been there. done that. OUCH!). There are 4 stretches that come to mind for this hip area.

Let's say it's the right leg that's bothering you... Lie on your back on a hard surface (not a bed because you need to not squish down into it for these stretches to work effectively) with your legs straight out. Take your right leg to your chest and grasp it behind the lower thigh right under your knee area (but not ON the knee area). Hold it for about a minute.
Then take your right leg and lay it over your left side with your right arm straight out to the side and the left hand holding the side of your thigh/hamstring just above the knee. Again, hold it for a minute.
Now for what I call the Figure 4 Stretch. Bend your left leg so that the left foot is on the ground but stationed just under your rear. Then take your right leg: bended at knee and right ankle resting above left knee. From there, bring your left foot up and off the ground, so that you're pulling your left knee to your chest. All the while, trying to keep your right knee rotated out to the right side as best as possible. You should definitely feel the hip stretching in this one!!
Last but not least (I love this one for running!!)...cross your left foot in front of the right so they're about shoulder-width apart or a bit wider. Then lean to the left with your right hip pushed out to the right. This one really gets to that nerve/tendon area, and I really feel it when I've run a lot and my legs are tightening up on me!

I hope this helps some of you!! I know I was a mess before I started habitually stretching as a daily part of my life.



I'm a huge retainer of all sorts of useful (and useless!) information in the fitness department...also including personal nutrition information. You are all more than welcome to pick my brain with anything that may come up!!


One more thing... Pilates is a huge advocate of using the body's "powerhouse." This area is made up of the abs, lower back, rear end, and sometime inner thighs depending on your level of ability. Your shoulders (I forget who I read had mentioned they had shoulder pain lately.) are not used in Pilates except to remember to keep them relaxed, lowered, and straight. Let me know what Pilates questions there are, if any!

Hope this helps a bit!

[sariditty]

Again....I'm the idiot who can't ever do anything right on a computer!!! That "Sarah: ...Trainer" is me - sariditty!!
Sorry it logged me as a guest....I'm never going to get the hang of this! (And I'm of the computer generation, aren't I?! hahaha)

[Lis]

Wish you were closer. I need a trainer, going to the stupid gym every stupid day isn't working.

[sariditty]

Lis, is it just that you don't know what to do once you're there, or are you needing motivation in general? I could try and help ya out

[Goalie]

Wow thank you so much. I tried the stretching and I like how I felt afterwards. Keep it coming ......I can use all the help a can get.

Hmm let's see I was dragged across a 30 acre field by my left foot stuck in the stirrup at age 15..Broke my tailbone in a semi/car accident in 1981.Had a pile of hay bales collapse underneath me which left me holding onto the rafters of the barn with just my left hand in 1993. I had to fall about 25 feet onto the hay, but damn it still hurt. Broke my right foot in 1996 after a sewing maching fell on it. As you can see i have not been to kind to my body, so anything you suggest I am willing to try. Thank you again

[adcooper]

Terrie, you rambling wreck! I didn't know you had crashed so many times. Be careful, kiddo!

Sarah, I'm terrified of you! Wow. You must be one strong girl. Okay, here's my embarassing question: I'm old enough to be your mother, and in fact I have three daughters in their twenties. Three rapid fire pregnancies challenged my kegels muscles, and I'm still not confident about really bouncy exercises, if you know what I mean. Advice?

[coyote]

Cool! I'll take you up on your great offer.

I need two things really. I want to build muscle and strength all over. I know that I need some supplements to do that but don't really know a lot. I've started with whey protein and that is great stuff for me. There was an immediate boost in my ability to build muscle but I want more stuff to replenish whatever created the muscle loss. Is there anything else that you know of.

My other issue is my knees. I've had some recent success in fixing them with some pt exercises that my friend uses. I *think* it was my patella that was damaged - one when my foot caught in some twine while I was riding the four-wheeler and one with carring hay through a snow drift - the latter being newer and still more of a problem. I know of a couple of patella exercises and they have helped a lot with the knees but they aren't strong enough yet. I want to at least be able to comfortably run a 10k by the end of May. I "pulled up lame" in the 10k last year and that is really, really not acceptable.

These may be too specific and not within your realm of experience but if you or anyone have any suggetions, let me know:) Thanks!

[sariditty]

Wow...that's quite a list of injuries!!! Be careful!!! I'm glad those piriformis stretches helped ya out!! Do them as often as you want, you definitely can't hurt anything by stretching! (Just be sure to keep it at a "comfortable" pain level of stretching - nothing too serious, or you could be causing damage.)



Hee hee hee...I don't know if I'm strong, or just bull-headed! I just decided after college that I was sick of the lingering "freshman 15" and made an attempt to change my life for the better physically. So here I am....training for yet another 1/2 marathon!!

As for your kegels, my mom had the same problem (and still sorta does) after delivering my 10 1/2 pound sister! Have you tried the tried-and-true kegel squeezes? Those are simple to do: just squeeze your bladder like you're trying NOT to pee!! lol I would start with sets of 1 second on, 1 second off for about 15 repetitions...then do that set another 2 to 3 times. Eventually you should be able to build your muscles in there to hold the squeeze for 2, 3, even 5 seconds at a time. Let me know if those help or not. Or if you've already tried them and need something else. (And you can do these allllllll day long, where ever you may be!!! No one knows you're working your muscles except for you! Well, unless you start grimacing and making totally strange faces!!! hahaha)

Keep 'em coming, y'all!! (Yesssss, I said y'all! I have some South Carolina lingering in me still! lol)

[sariditty]

I'll be the first one to say that 'supplements are NOT the answer!' I know people who are more in the line of body building will rely on supplements (i.e. whey, creatine, etc.). The problem is that if you're taking on excess protein and not strength training correctly, you'll just put on weight (and not in a good way!). Here's what I do on a normal training routine: Right now I'm training for my 1/2 marathon, so I'm running Tuesday, Thursday and either Saturday or Sunday. I strength train Mondays, Thursdays and the other weekend day I don't run. And I teach Step Wednesdays and Pilates Thursdays. So since I'm burning lots of calories and challenging my muscles (in a toning, not building, sense), I'm ok to take on a protein shake once a day or so. I use Myoplex Lite (vanilla) and skim milk and dark chocolate cocoa powder (mostly because I'm a chocoholic!!) and ice to make a blended shake for either breakfast or mid-morning meal.
Which reminds me!!!!!!.......I eat 5 to 6 meals a day. But they're small meals each, mind you. So, for example,
7am whole wheat toast, natural PB, coffee, WATER!!!! (or oatmeal with the slightest hint of natural syrup on it)
10am light cottage cheese and pineapple or tomato, WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OR protein shake
12-1pm smoked turkey breast sandwich (whole wheat bread, lettuce, fat free cheese slice, mustard), fruit or veggie, WATER!!!!!
3pm carrots OR granola bar OR granola and natural yogurt, WATER!!!!!! OR protein shake
6-7pm dinner is just common sense at this point: steamed/broiled fish OR grilled chicken, veggies, fruits, whole grain rice, WATER!!!!
(dinner is just about making sensible selections and not eating until you're full feeling.)
And sometimes I'll add a late night "meal".....a shake or fat free pudding or yogurt or fruit with (cough, cough) fat free whipped cream! Yeah.....I totally cheat too!!!! I give myself one day a week where I let myself eat anything I want: pizza, ice cream, Chick-fil-A fries!!!!, BEER!!! But I think on this schedule I don't totally deprive myself of things I want. I always start each meal with a huge glass of water then go onto the coffee or Diet Pepsi or Starbucks Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte (not that I order that that often! LOL).

Wow....I digressed a lot there! Sorry!!!! In short, be sure you're burning enough and stressing your muscles enough before you take on supplements.

Secondly - I've had radiating Iliotibial Band pain into my knee for a couple of years. Primarily for all of my joints, but especially my knee, I take Triflex (I get mine at GNC). It's got chondroitin and MSM - which are great for joint lubrication and movement. As far as I know, there aren't any side-effects to taking that.
For your exercises: I'll give you some stretching and strength suggestions: because the two really do go hand in hand. The knee is made up of the femur and the tibia joining together by 4 big ligaments that can also become injured.
For stretching: IT Band, Quad, Hamstring, & Calf.
IT Band: I wrote this earlier for sciatic pain.... >>>Last but not least (I love this one for running!!)...cross your left foot in front of the right so they're about shoulder-width apart or a bit wider. Then lean to the left with your right hip pushed out to the right. This one really gets to that nerve/tendon area, and I really feel it when I've run a lot and my legs are tightening up on me!<<<

Quad: 1) While standing, hold onto a counter top or chair back to help you balance.
2) Bend your knee back by grasping your ankle with one hand.
3) Help in bending your knee back as far as possible.
4) Maintain position for 30 seconds, Return back to standing, Do it again 5 more times

Hamstring: 1) Sit on the floor with both legs out straight.
2) Extend your arms and reach forward, by bending at the waist, as far as possible while keeping your knees straight
3) Hold this position for 10 seconds, Relax, and repeat it 5 more times

Calf: 1) Sit with your feet our in front of you on the floor
2) Hold a sheet or towel with one end in each hand forming a loop OR use your hands if you can bend that far comfortably
3) Place the loop around your foot
4) Pull your toes toward you
5) Stop when you feel a comfortable stretch in your calf muscle, Hold for about 20 seconds, Relax and stretch out the opposite leg

When muscles, tendons or ligaments are stressed slightly beyond their limits, microscopic tears occur. This is normal, and as these tears heal the muscles actually become bigger, firmer and stronger. These microscopic tears must be given enough time to heal or chronic problems can develop. KEY: Try not to exercise the same muscle groups two days in a row to give your body a chance to recover. Doing strengthening knee exercises three or four times a week is enough. Stretching knee exercises can be done more often.

Strengthening....Squat, Leg Press, Knee Extension (the latter two if you have gym equipment available)
On the squat, you want to do your best to keep your knees directly over your feet when you squat. The further they stick out ahead of your toes equates to a bigger chance of straining your knees. You can do these while hanging onto the back of a chair, or even with a couple of light weights in your hands.
Also, if you have ankle weights, you can sit in a chair and do leg/knee extensions that way. Just sit and extend your leg up to parallel to the ground and back down again. 3 sets of 10 to 15 should do ya!!

For the 10K goal...let me know what you're running now or what you plan on running for your training.

[coyote]

Sarah, that's great! Thanks!
I'm older than you, and older than myself at present (meaning not as strong as I think I should be!. Some time back my body just crashed - really odd. My muscles simply would not retain any of the strength that I should have gained in exercising and I lost a lot of muscle.
Historically, I'm been one who utilizes a lot of stretches in workouts and I've always been quite flexible with the smoother muscles. I don't care if I bulk up though. I just want the muscles:).
I started the whey-soy shakes and they have been quite helpful. I think I'll double that.
Let me say that the idea that I need to work to run a 10K would have been inconceivable at any other time in my life - and is pretty hard to believe now!.

Your eating regimen is very interesting to me in that you are training for your half-marathon. It's surprisingly similar to mine. I wonder if I'm short on protein even with the whey-soy shake.
I don't think I have any arthritis -knock on wood. It seems that the knee pain is related to ligaments as I could feel each of them. Now I only feel one on the inside of the lower part of my knee. The glucosamine helps rebuild collagin in the skin so it's a great supplement for some of us anyway:) Mine doesn't have msm, but I'd like to add that.
It's interesting to read your idea on the squats as I have been doing that to protect my knees but thought that was "cheating" The knee extensions are great and have been surpringly helpful. I do have some pretty good equipment but some of it is recently-acquired so isn't set up. Hopefully, I'll change the garage into a gym - it's finished and insulated but I intended to do that in the fall:(. I have enough set up to work legs though. I'm going to add each exercise you descibed and see. I did the sciatica one to see what it pulled. I don't think that's my weak point ...yet.
As for training, well, I'm not ready to run more than a short distance yet - sad but true. I'm hoping to be there in a week or two. In the meantime, I'm riding my road bike when there isn't snow or wind - yeah, that's a little wimpy I know:), but I've also been work busy (yep, I know *that* excuse", but there was a deadline that I barely met and shouldn't be able to use that excuse again - does doing all those stairs at the library count though?
I do want to design a program for running because I really do want to finish that silly little run this year - that was pretty bad last year.
I printed your post and will do add those.
Thanks!

[sariditty]

Sounds like you're on a great course to success, Coyote!!!

If you have heard of the book called Body for Life (by Bil Philips), it really tackles the eating regimen I'm on. And I don't do that strictly for training purposes either...it's sort of a 'way of life' for me at this point. Anyhoo, there is also a book by him Eating for Life, which gives SO many great recipes that are healthy and have the right combo of carbs, protein, fat (40%/30%/30% respectively) for our diets. I definitely encourage checking that out if you want to change up any of your meals, snacks or shakes.

Second off.... www.halhigdon.com used to be my running training bible!! It has a tab on the left titled 'Training Programs' that gives you individualized X-week programs for races varying from a 5K up to an Ultra. Also it targets walkers up through expert runners. I believe it's an 8-week program for a 10K, and I would probably start out with the Novice program. Even with all the races I've done, I don't have a runner's body (you know...big ol' booty and thunder thighs! lol) and stick with a mix of Novice and Intermediate running.

I really think those two references will be of assistance to anyone who's interested in a healthier lifestyle, and definitely for anyone who wants a specific running schedule.

Let me know how your training starts out, and especially if you need any tips along the way for different running techniques! You'll do great!!!!

[coyote]

I ran for a lot of years - not necessarily with the right techniques, I'm sure:) Thanks for the references - it seems that healthy eating is really pretty individual. I lived Atkins for years and that was great for my energy - that's when he called it "The Super Energy Diet". It's mostly just these knees that have stopped me in my tracks. I always wonder whether to push them when they hurt or not hurt them. I've done both and sometime I think just pushing thorugh the pain has worked, and sometime not. If the exercises don't resolve it, I'll break down and find another doctor. Mine was so incompetent she wasn't helpful.

It's really only the knees and it's something very specific with them. Riding isn't a problem though it was for a time there.

[adcooper]

Thanks for the good tips, Sarah. Just noticed you're in Indianapolis. My youngest daughter is there, too. Her apartment complex has a workout room, and she's been using it this winter. She says there are nice parks for walking, cycling and jogging, too, when the weather is nicer.

[Goalie]

I think I am going to stick this at the top of the board. thank you again Sarah.

[sariditty]

adcooper said:

Thanks for the good tips, Sarah. Just noticed you're in Indianapolis. My youngest daughter is there, too. Her apartment complex has a workout room, and she's been using it this winter. She says there are nice parks for walking, cycling and jogging, too, when the weather is nicer.

where in Indy is your daughter?? i'm on the south side & Lincoln is boarded near a park that has all sorts of walking/riding trails. does she ride too?