Running with Richelle

If you live in Ontario you likely had one of your first hot runs today of the year! Remember that it takes time to adjust to running in the heat. It feels like just yesterday I posted the video of it snowing on my run commute home.We are not used to these temperatures yet. So go easy on yourself. Focus on effort instead of pace. Bring extra fluids as you will sweat more. And be patient! After a few weeks you won't feel as uncomfortable on the 20+ sunny days. ... Summer is here!

Glute Med strengthening! Did you know your glute Med (the muscle on the outside of your hip) takes 4 times your body weight in peak forces when you run? It plays a huge role in shock absorption. It also helps control the knee. ... If it’s weak it can lead to gluteal tendinopathy, IT band syndrome, patellafemoral syndrome and even Achilles issues. Try one of these exercises 2-3 times/week. When I say 3 sets of 10 it means the 10th rep should be hard! If it isn’t progress to the next exercise. These are shown from easiest to hardest. Give them a try!

Interested in learning exactly how strong your important running muscles are? At Holistic Wellness Physiotherapy we have the technology to do this! We use equipment such as a force frame, Nordboard and ForceDecks to accurately measure your strength. Our Director of Exercise Physiology, Lisa Glass, recently assessed my strength and here are the results (which are in Newtons). ... I found it very interesting that you can definitely see weakness in areas that I've struggled with regarding injury troubles in the past. For example I have had right Achilles tendinopathy multiple times. And sure enough my right soleus is weaker than my left. I also tend to get more stiffness and fatigue in my left hip towards the end of long runs than I do on my right. You can see my glute max and glute med are in fact weaker on the left. And I was curious to see if the knee I injured trail racing last fall made a come back with regards to quad strength. Well it has but it looks like I need to up my game with the left quad strengthening because now that's my weaker side! Interested in having this done? It can be completed in a 1 hour session and is covered by insurance under physiotherapy. Reach out to me if you are interested! I definitely learned a great deal from this and it has significantly helped me plan my strength training more specifically. I can't wait to redo these tests and see if I'm more symmetrical in a couple months!