Running with Richelle

Have you been told it's harmful to heel strike? Have you been advised to change your foot strike position? You might want to read on! Let's cover heel striking first. Is heel striking really that bad? ... It depends! The majority of runners heel strike and most can continue doing so without issues. The problem arises when your knee is almost completely straight and your shin bone is angled back at impact. This excessively loads the knee, hip and low back and involves a pretty significant braking force. Not only does this slow you down but it also ramps up your injury risk. Should you change your foot strike position? If you are injury free and as long as your aren't heel striking in an over striding pattern than you should leave your foot strike alone. Changing foot strike can significantly increase injury risk. If you change from heel striking to mid or forefoot striking you will aggressively increase the load placed through your calf, Achilles and plantar fascia. If you change from mid or forefoot striking to heel striking you will aggressively increase the load placed through your knees, hips and back. If it's not broken don't fix it! But how about if you're a runner dealing with knee issues and you heel strike? Or you're a runner dealing with Achilles issues and you forefoot strike? Yes gradually transitioning can be very beneficial as it will reduce stress in your problem area. BUT be careful because it will increase stress in other areas. So no there is not one foot strike recommendation for all. It depends on a number of things but my general advice is to leave it alone unless you're dealing with an injury that you can't manage. And then make changes VERY gradually!

I ran 2.5km yesterday! Rehab has been going well and I knew I was ready. How did I know I was ready? I followed the current guidelines on returning to running post ACL injury: < 2/10 pain ... No swelling 95% knee bend compared to good size Full knee extension Single leg squat without knee drifting in >70% strength on the injured side (quad and hamstring) vs the good side. Single leg hopping >70% vs good side. Have an acute injury and not sure when you can return to running? Post below or message me and I’ll see if I can help!

Did you know your glute Med takes up to 4 times your body weight while running? That’s a lot of force! What happens if your glute Med is weak?? Well that force gets distributed elsewhere. Glute Med weakness can be part of the culprit when it comes to IT band syndrome and patellafemoral pain. ... So where is it? And how do we work it? It’s on the outside of your hip! To learn strengthening exercises check out this video I put together for you. It starts with the easier exercises and progresses to more advanced work. Give them a try! All runners should be able to do the last exercise. If you can’t lift that leg you have work to do!

Back in Labrador I used to travel to the coastal communities to run 3 day physio clinics. Most of the communities were fly in only so they weren't accessible by road. And often in the winter months the roads weren't plowed so everyone got around on skidoo. I'd often be in training for a spring race so I'd bring snowshoes and snowshoe run around the community. Where's the coolest place you've ever ran?? Hopedale was definitely up there for me! This picture was taken November 2013.