Turning the page from all the crap that has happened over the past few weeks with injury, disappointment and stress I am happy to write about something that is a little more upbeat.  I am so pumped to introduce two new writers on the blog who will be providing fantastic content.

From the beginning I felt that having unique voices on the blog was important as I try to create a location for runners of all levels, shapes and sizes to go for quality information and content about running.  Nutritional running questions, we have you covered.  Have an injury or nagging sore, ask us. Want to know how to spruce up your training, we have it.  Interested in reading about an average Joe runner and his experiences, this is the place.

It is a pleasure to introduce Kevin Lu and Amanda Loudin.  Kevin will be writing a column each month titled Runner’s Tech in which he will talk about new technology in the running world and offer suggestions on how to best maximize your current running technology.

Amanda will be writing a column titled The Running Coach in which she will share her insight and experience as a certified running coach.  She has fantastic knowledge and will present it in an insightful way for runners of all levels.

I am excited to read and use the information from both of these new columns in my daily running life.  Join me in welcoming Kevin and Amanda and look for their first post in the coming weeks.

To read more visit the newly updated About page.

What type of information do you want to read on a running blog? Do you try to seek out blogs that have new and fresh content? What is your favorite part of this blog? What is your least favorite?

- Scott

Finally went to the doctor to get an opinion on the root cause of my never ending pains in my lower back, groin and hip.  The doctor that I went to last year was away on vacation so I decided to research and find another doctor that could take me asap.  I settled on one near my apartment and they could take me same day- I was hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.

The appointment went well.  I appreciated the time the doctor spent with me explaining, in his opinion what was going on.  He didn’t feel there was any stress fracture in my hip nor did he think that I was suffering from a disc problem in my lower back.  He thought that what I was pretty classic in terms of the pain and discomfort when describing some bursitis in my hip joint as well as some touches of arthritis in my lower back, or simply inflammation of one or more joints where two bones meet. The x-rays they took were shown to me and supported the diagnosis.

The doctor felt that the overall and root cause of the radiating pain was due to issues with my illiacus. I had not been too familiar with this muscle but after having it explained to me it made tons of sense.  From what I understand now Iliopsoas tendonitis is an under reported and under diagnosed clinical problem.

Illiacus Function:  Hip flexion. Some turning/rotation of the spine. In gait the iliopsoas becomes active during the terminal portion of stance phase and limits the rate of extension of the hip.  In running leaning back while running downhill will aggravate iliopsoas tendonitis, and it will be difficult to take a full stride and also difficult to run uphill. (1)

In the picture, you can see the psoas major and illacus clearly marked. At the bottom, these muscles attach to the lesser trochanter of the femur. They originate at different points though. The illiacus originates in the pelvis or hip bone and the psoas originates from the spine. Though they have different points of origin, they end up in the same place. The injury causing the pain associated with iliopsoas tendonitis occurs at the point of insertion where the tendons of both muscles connect to the femur. (3)

Diagnosis: The symptoms most often reported are pain when running or walking in the groin area. Occasionally this is correleated with lower back pain. There is also pain in this area when walking up and down stairs. Having the patient lie down, flex the knee to 10 – 20 degrees and then have the patient attempt to lift the leg against resistance. Pain occurs with iliopsoas tendonitis. The motion of hip flexion will also be weak and may cause pain even without resistance in severe cases. Tenderness may be present along the course of the tendon and at the insertion. (2)

So what am I to do?  Well, I have been told to take 2 weeks off from running coupled with PT for up to 6 weeks.  Really, the best thing for this is rest and stretching so I am going to need to shut it down again.  I was given a steroid pack which has done wonders for the pain so far.  Sucks, but anything is better than the pain I’ve had over the past 2-3 weeks.

I am bummed because I will now miss the Gasparilla Half Marathon next week (not like I had been training) and the New York City Half Marathon on March 18th.  On a side note Gasparilla has been working with me on deferring until next year while the New York City Half Marathon have basically said too bad no deferral and no refund.

The goal now is to keep my sanity, rest, complete my rehab and come back ready to train for a half marathon in April.  It is a long year and I will not let this set-back ruin my entire year.  Those Brooks Launch shoes in the new sweet color I just bought will have to wait for their maiden run.

I am hurt, it is what it is, now time to stop complaining and get ready for spring running.

Have you ever heard of the illiacus? How have you kept sane during a forced layoff due to injury? What did you do to maintain your goal weight? Any suggestions for April half marathons I should enter?

-Scott

(1), (2) Dr. Pribut’s Running Injury Page

(3) Massage Therapy Benefits

As part of my ongoing relationship with Naked Juice I am thrilled to write about Protein Zone, the next in the line-up of the Vote Naked Campaign for Goodness.  I was quite interested in the protein boost provided by this smoothie. Frequently we all think that protein is only for the big Popeye-looking body builders we pass in the gym on the way to the treadmill.  The reality is that we all need protein to fuel our bodies and muscles.

Being a runner and usually hitting the road for my long runs on Saturday I usually skip any major breakfast before going out.  Smart? Probably not — which is why what I put in my body just after a run is so important.  I recently turned to Protein Zone as my post workout drink. It has a great combination of carbs and protein to feed my body what it needs to help recover.

The Protein Zone juice smoothies from Naked Juices are an awesomely convenient way for us runners to give our muscles, and taste buds, just what they want following a tough training run.  The protein helps us recover our muscles and the fruit juices jammed into each bottle adds a tremendous tropical taste.

Giveaway Details: Want to try out Protein Zone and fuel post run with a ridiculously good tasting smoothie?  Visit the Naked Juice Facebook page and “Vote Naked” to download a $1 off coupon. I am also offering a chance to win three coupons for a free 15.2 oz bottle of Naked Juice. After voting and downloading the coupon, comment on the Naked Facebook page about how much you love Naked Juices and, for an extra entry, add a picture of your Naked Juices bottle or you sweating post run or race.  Come back and leave a comment that you have done these and I will choose a winner on Feb 29th at 12:00pm EST via random.org.

What are you waiting for, feed your muscles with this power packed protein smoothie and Vote Naked!

What do you like best about Naked Juices? What are your favorite flavors? What do you think of the Naked Juices viral videos?

-Scott

I’ve recently had the opportunity to attend several sports nutrition lectures in the Boston area, and one of the things I’ve noticed is that regardless of the age or sport, one of the most common questions asked is “should I be taking a vitamin supplement?”

This is a difficult question to answer without knowing what an individuals diet looks like, but more often than not the answer will be no. Surprised? Here’s why:

1. Research shows that athletes and non-athletes have similar vitamin status. One exception is iron (see below).
2. There is no scientific evidence to support the claim that taking a multivatimin (or another vitamin supplement) or consuming greater amounts than the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) improves performance.
3. The more you exercise, the more you eat. If you are choosing vitamin rich foods the majority of the time (i.e. a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and dairy), you should be getting adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals from food.

There are, of course some exceptions:

1. The largest exception is iron. Many athletes (particularly female endurance athletes) experience iron deficiency anemia. The key here though is the word deficiency. While I still recommend attempting to get vitamins from food, sometimes non red-meat eating athletes have low iron levels, particularly vegans and vegetarians. Non-heme iron (the iron found in plant sources like leafy green vegetables and beans), is less bioavailable (readily absorbed by our body) than heme iron (the kind found in red meat). A study among 18 female athletes helps illustrate this.  Half of the women ate red meat, and the other half did not (though they ate chicken, fish, and eggs), but both groups were consuming 15mg/day (slightly under the RDA of 18mg/day for women 18-50). 8 of the 9 non-red meat-eating women were found to have depleted serum ferratin (iron) stores, whereas only 2 of the 9 red-meat eaters were depleted.  That doesn’t mean if you don’t eat red meat, you can’t get enough iron from other foods – you just may need to eat a little more. Good sources of plant-based iron include:  fortified breakfast cereal like Total or Wheaties, beans (soy, lentils, kidney, lima, navy, black, pinto, etc), tofu, and leafy green vegetables like kale and spinach.  Also, watch what you eat with iron-rich foods (or when taking a supplement). Foods with vitamin C enhance the absorption (i.e. citrus fruit or juices), whereas calcium, tannins (found in teas and wine), some phytates (found in whole grains and legumes), and polyphenols can decrease absorption of non-heme iron.

One of the earliest and most obvious signs of iron-depletion or and iron deficiency is fatigue. If you are feeling more tired than usual and it’s not due to lack of sleep, low-calorie intake, or over exercising, you might want to have your iron levels checked by a doctor to see if a supplement is necessary.

1. Vitamin D. Athletes don’t necessarily need anymore vitamin D than non-athletes, but it’s a common vitamin for people to be deficient in. We get the majority of our vitamin D from the sun, so you’re more likely to have lower levels in the winter, particularly if you live in the northern part of the country. It’s also difficult to get through food, as the top sources are fortified milk and juice, and fatty fish like salmon. If you have darker skin and/or don’t spend much time outside (or are wearing sunscreen when you run), you may be deficient. Have your doctor test your levels at your next check-up (preferably in the winter months or early spring), it’s an easy thing to add to a standard blood test when checking cholesterol lipid levels.

In addition, if you are on a calorie-restricted diet and/or entire food groups are missing from your diet a supplement may be beneficial. Not because you require more vitamins, but because you may not be getting enough from food of you are restricting your calories.

There are other special scenarios in which a multivitamin supplement may be beneficial. If you are on a special diet because of allergies or food intolerances, check with your doctor or with a registered dietitian to see if you might need a supplement.  Pregnant women should also talk to their doctors about vitamins.

Isn’t a multivitamin just a good insurance policy?

This is where you’ll find different opinions, even amongst dietitians. Research has not yet shown a clear benefit of taking multivitamins, and the bioavailability (amount your body absorbs) from supplements is, in most cases, less than it is from food and varies greatly from one individual to another. If you’re eating a varied diet full of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and some dairy (or other foods with calcium and vitamin D), you are more than likely getting what you need (and maybe more!). A lot of foods are fortified these days too, adding to your intake.

A multi-vitamin is unlikely to cause any harm, but it’s also probably not doing you much good.  Side note: if you were alarmed by this recent study on multivitamins, don’t be. I won’t get into details, but there are a lot of reasons that you should not take this conclusion to heart (if you want to know more – feel free to ask me). Therefore, I’m in the camp that they are a waste of money because you’re probably excreting most of what you’re consuming in your urine. The same goes for individual vitamins and minerals. Again, if someone has a clear deficiency, that’s another story.

In full disclosure, I take a vitamin D supplement (my levels have been low in blood tests) and calcium because I am fairly certain I don’t consume enough through my diet.

Do you take a multivitamin? If you do, do you think you really need it?

-Sarah

(Sarah is a 2nd year grad student pursuing her MS in Nutrition Communication at Tufts University Friedman School in Boston. She is also completing the requirements to become a registered dietitian and will begin her dietetic internship in 2012. Sarah is a certified spin instructor and an avid runner and regularly participates in road races from 5k to a 1/2 marathons. Follow her on Twitter @SpinnerSarah and at her personal blog Food and Fitness Friend.)

Yesterday I went to see Marisa for some PT, if you have been following my tweets or blog you will know that I have been complaining about hip and lower back pain since my trail race a few weeks ago.  I’ve always had to pay attention to my right hip, constantly getting it worked on during high mileage training.  Usually the pain will go away- it gets better as I go to PT.  This time there is something different going on, the pain is a  sharp jab, more painful and there aren’t signs of it getting better even with a total shutdown.

I haven’t run in two weeks.  The pain is still there.  Acupuncture didn’t help relieve the stress/pain in my lower back and around to my hip.  Marisa at PT this week highly suggested that I go to the doctor and possibly get an MRI for a few possible causes of the pain.  First, with the constant issues I’ve had with my lower back since my mid 20′s, she felt that there could be some bulging disc issues going on which could be causing the pain in my hip.  Second, she felt that with the new type of pain I have been feeling in my hip that there could be the possibility of a hairline fracture in my hip.  I have a pretty high threshold for pain, but it is different feeling now and that is what sorta freaks me out.

Neither of these two things sound very appealing especially since I have two half’s in March and another in April.  My stubborn runners mentality is that I’ll still be fine and I will run with the pain; however  Marisa said something that scared me a bit and had me thinking twice.  She said something along the lines of that this is the type of injury that will affect your quality of life years from now, there will be chronic pain.  That did not sit well with me.  Could I really be heading towards the life of an ex NFL player where I can barely get out of bed in the morning and dealing with constant pain?

So, I’ve made the doctors appointment.  Like last year when dealing with my injury that shut me down for 6 weeks, I am in a place of frustration but the pain is so bad this time that I just want it fixed and felling better.

From the mental hurdles earlier in the year now to this pain and possible injury, this is all not fun anymore. I am questioning why I put my body through this and if it is worth it to continue to train like I do in the future.  I want to remember what it was to run like a kid again with no pain and pure joy.  This is not fun. Things need to change. Decisions need to be made.

Have you ever had back problems from running? Have you ever had hip or pelvic issues? How often are you in pain from running? Do you listen to your body and take the necessary rest or run through it?

- Scott

My wife recently introduced me to Pinterest and I have to admit….I didn’t “get it”.- what the hell is a board! Then again, at first I didn’t get Twitter either, and now look where I am with it.  So me not “getting” Pinterest really doesn’t mean anything other than I will obsess over it until I find out what there is to “get”.

I set up an account under iRunnerBlog and David and I have been talking about setting up one for #RunChat as well since it seems like flavor of the month right now. My first two boards were running related, and there were some pretty cool pictures I found.  One was “Rave Runs” and the other was “Running Shoe Closet”.

I noticed a few things 1) my entire running shoe closet is Brooks, 2) I have way too many pairs of sneakers and 3) Brooks shoes, when put side by side are pretty sick and awesome looking.

I gotta say, I found myself just staring at my shoe closet board, the pictures are pretty awesome and I may of had a women’s “shogasm” moment.  Pretty rare for me to obsess over something like this but for an moment stuck in time I realized that this Pinterest thing was pretty cool.  After I snapped out of my daze I realized that I have a problem with buying running sneakers and I’m kinda hooked to Pinterest.

What is in your shoe closet? How many pairs of sneakers do you rotate through? Do you use Pinterest?

-Scott

Today while you are celebrating Valentines Day (or maybe you are not, whatever I think it is overrated anyway), take a minute to remember why you love running.  Don’t think about the injuries, the pain, the disappointments, the pressure, the stress or anything else.  Just think about what it is you love about running and why you love it.

For me, it is about being free with no restrictions, no judgments, no agenda- it is what it is, just running. I am free. I have nobody to answer to. I can be myself and just go.  This is why I love running.  This is why I love the running community.

So today, take the time to remember why you love running.  Enjoy the video below, I found it on You Tube and it showed all types of runners who all look like they are totally loving their run.

Why do you love running?

It is Monday and just 2 weeks until my next half marathon, the Tampa Gasparilla. I am sitting here with what can only be described as a pinching, severe pain in my hip.  I took the weekend off to rest as I have not felt right recently.  I was hoping that the off time last week coupled with PT this week would put me on track to get a few runs in to be able to run Gasparilla at a slow and fun pace.

On Saturday I went to the gym and figured I would ride the bike and hop in the elliptical for a little.  The bike session went well but 15 minutes into an easy ride on the elliptical I felt a “pop” behind my knee.  What followed was a sharp pain that ran from my knee down to my calf; I stopped and tried to stretch it out.  The pain had lingered and after hours of resting, stretching, icing/heat I still had some sharp pain.  No swelling, which I am taking as a good sign.

So on Wednesday I will go to PT, have my hip worked on and find out if there is something more serious that I need to deal with concerning my knee.  It has been one thing after another- bump after bump after bump.  I have no idea why my body is fighting me and I am so frustrated that I want to hang my running shoes up for the rest of Winter.

But I can’t, or I should say I won’t.  I guess I need a new approach, I mean obviously I do.  I am hurt/injured all the time.  My training sucks.  My race times blow. Bump, bump, bump.  Part of me says “it is what it is”, but then I call BS on myself.  That is not the answer and it is too early in the year to play these mind games.

This week I plan on getting healthy with my PT, getting back to yoga, strength training two nights and seeing how I feel for a run on Saturday.  If I can get in a solid 6-8 mile run this week and 10 next Saturday I will be confident to go run a fun half the first weekend in March with the hopes of turning up my training for the NYC Half mid March.

Lot’s of bumps in the road to navigate, just another adventure and more learning experiences.

Are you facing any bumps in your road now? How do you adjust physically and mentally? Do you listen to your body and take time off? Will you run a race you have registered for even if you lacked training?

- Scott

Here’s to you, the Weekend Warrior. The person that works all week while trying to fit in a training run or workout. The person that on Friday night is in bed early dreaming about your where you will go and how far it will take you. Here’s to the group runners Saturday morning or the solo adventurer. The marathoner and the couch to 5k’er. You are the people that don’t let a weekend pass without a hard workout, good sweat and carbo loading.

Go on, get excited for the weekend that awaits you. It is okay to map your run.  It is okay to lay out your running clothes. You will be doing more before 9 am on a Saturday then your neighbors and friends and that gets you pumped.

Weekend Warrior’s who train, who run and who believe weekends are not for resting, here’s to you.  Get after it this weekend and enjoy your run.

What are your running plans this weekend? Do you consider yourself a weekend warrior? What is your weekend routine for preparing for a run?

- Scott

This morning as I rolled out of bed one day removed from an intense acupuncture sessions I thought to myself “when the hell was the last time I got out of bed and was not sore?”. I think that I take care of myself- I stretch (most of the time), I do yoga (haven’t been in a while), I take a break from running when I feel pains (okay, not all the time), I strength train (when I have time), I go to PT when needed (90% of the time) and I eat well (when football season is over).

What gives? Even last year after I took six weeks off from an injury I came back and after logging miles I had some sort of pain.  It seems that since last year there has always been something that was in pain or hurting.  I am not sure if I changed something in my running form, maybe I have. I haven’t logged any crazy miles or changed my training schedule too much.

The only thing I can think of is that the added few pounds on my frame is causing stresses that I once wasn’t familiar with.  I mean, that totally makes sense and as I type this I am in the middle of shedding some pounds to get to my ideal race weight once again.  Until then I am left with this stupid pain in my right glute.  Literally, my entire hip section back to my glute are in pain.  Acupuncture helped last night free up some of the tension locally and I have a PT session next week with Marisa.  This pain kinda crept up on me quickly and I am sure that running the uneven and hilly trails last weekend didn’t help at all.

With all that is going on I sometimes wonder, when will I ever run pain free again.  The “anti-runner because it is bad for you” group will say “I told you so”- but I still don’t agree that running is bad for you.  I think that if you are not in shape and are not smart then running can be bad for your body.  Maybe that is my problem, maybe I need to totally look at how I approach running and training.

Many things swimming around my head today, but I will continue to find a solution that gets my body prepared for the races I have planned coming up.

Do you usually have some sort of lingering pain? What is the most important part of your training that keeps you healthy? What advice would you share to new runners who don’t want to get hurt? Do you think heavier people have more running injury problems?

- Scott