September 2000 Newsletter

Women in Motion
September 2000
Newsletter

enhancing female performance

Vol 2. Issue 2
September 2000

WOMEN IN MOTION NEWSLETTER - September 2000
Vol. 2, No. 2

This Month Contains:

~News

~Articles

Plantar Fasciitis

~From Around the 'Net

1. Downhill Running
2. Indoor Training
3. Rest can be Hard Work
4. Walker Support
5. Safe Skin in the Sun
6. Sticking With Your Goals
7. Signs of Overtraining
8. Energy Out
9. Know Your Feet
10. Glucosamine Sulfate, is it for you?

~Words of Inspiration

~The Running Woman Board

-The Runner's Club

Survey Results

Women in Motion August Survey: How did you start running?

The responses were as follows:

Time Based Program- 45%

Distance Based Program- 00%

No Program- 55%

Thanks for taking the time to help in this survey.

Visit the site to see the September survey and weekly results.

Advance Article:

Plantar Fasciitis

What is it?

It is an inflammation of the plantar fascia, a thick, fibrous band of tissue in the bottom of the foot, running from the heel to the base of the toes. When placed under too much stress, the fascia stretches too far and tears, causing inflammation of the fascia and surrounding tissues. The tears are soon covered with scar tissue, which is less flexible than the fascia and only aggravates the problem.

Plantar fasciitis and other heel pains send more people to foot specialists than any other complaint.

Symptoms:

Pain at the base of the heel. Plantar fasciitis is most severe in the morning when you get out of bed or at the beginning of a run, because the fascia is tighter at those times. The pain may lessen as you walk or run.

The bottom of your foot can also be stiff and achy? Running can become uncomfortable, even agonizing.

The plantar fascia, consists of a long band of fibres that attaches at the bottom of the heel bone and extends to the base of the toes. Pain occurs when these tissues become irritated or inflamed a condition known as fasciitis or when small spurs begin to grow on the heel bone itself.

If you have plantar fasciitis, you may feel a sharp pain first thing in the morning because the plantar fascia shortens during the night, while you're asleep. When you get out of bed in the morning and start walking around, the band along the bottom of your foot stretches and pulls on the heel. When it pulls too hard, pain results. The first several steps are a killer!

Causes:

Stress, tension and pulling on the plantar fascia.

Runners with tight achilles tendons which tend to put more stress on the fasciae, or high arches and rigid feet, or flat feet that overpronate are most susceptible. Worn-out shoes, which allow feet to overpronate, or shoes that are too stiff, which stretch the fasciae, can also make you more susceptible.

The most frequent cause is an abnormal motion of the foot called excessive pronation. Normally, while walking or during long distance running, your foot will strike the ground on the heel, then roll forward toward your toes and inward to the arch. Your arch should only dip slightly during this motion. If it lowers too much, you have what is known as excessive pronation.

Other factors which may contribute to plantar fasciitis and heel spurs include:

...A sudden increase in daily activities, increase in weight (not usually a problem with runners), or a change of shoes.

...Dramatic increase in training intensity or duration may cause plantar fasciitis.

...Shoes that are too flexible in the middle of the arch or shoes that bend before the toe joints will cause an increase in tension in the plantar fascia.

...A change in running style, such as starting speed work, running on the ball of your foot or sudden increase in hill workouts.

It may take six weeks to three months to heal, or even longer.

Self Treatment:

As with most running related injuries, an evaluation of changes in your training should be done.

A decrease in workout intensity and duration is important. The most important part of self treatment for this condition is being sure that your shoes offer motion control and are optimal controlling the forces that contribute to plantar fasciitis and heel spurs.

Check your running shoes to make sure that they are not excessively worn. They should bend only at the ball of the foot, where your toes attach to the foot. Avoid any shoe that bends in the center of the arch or behind the ball of the foot. It offers insufficient support and will stress your plantar fascia.

Icing after running can also be helpful. Gentle calf stretching should also be done. To strengthen the muscles in your arch toe curls or "doming" can be done. Toe curls may be done by placing a towel on a kitchen floor and then curling your toes to pull the towel towards you. This exercise may also be done without the towel against the resistance of the floor.

Experts may also recommend wearing a heel cup or heel cushion in both running and regular shoes. They may suggest women either permanently switch from heels to flats or at least try to run in the morning, before putting on heels.

Prevention:

Preventive measures: Stretch calf muscles. Strengthen muscles of the foot by picking up marbles or golf balls with your toes or pulling a towel toward you with your toes. (Grab some of the towel with your toes and pull, then release, grab, and pull some more.)

To help stretch the fascia, you can perform a similar motion using a golf ball. Start with the golf ball under the base of your big toe and roll the foot forward over the ball, then back again; then move the golf ball to the base of the second toe and repeat. Do the same motion starting from each toe, always exerting enough pressure so that you feel a little tenderness.

Plantar fascia stretch:

Seated on the floor, with one knee bent and ankle flexed toward you, pull the toes back toward the ankle. Hold for a count of 10. Do 10 times.

SUMMARY:

Plantar fasciitis is worth avoiding. There are many simple, effective ways to prevent it.

--Wear well-cushioned shoes and don't forget to replace shoes before 350 miles.

--Run on soft surfaces where ever you can. Try to avoid asphalt and concrete.

--Keep your mileage consistent. Increase total weekly miles by no more than 10 percent per week.

--When doing speedwork, ease into it gradually over several weeks.

--Do achilles tendon stretches regularly.

--Women: don't wear high heels during the day and then switch to running shoes in the evening. Run in the morning and then put on your heels.

Women in Motion September 2000

FROM AROUND THE 'NET

1. Downhill Running

Running up a steep hill can be a challenging moment in a race or while training.
What is more important than running the uphill is what waits on the other side. The downhill portion is actually tougher on a runner's legs, with greater impact on joints and quads. After the
effort required getting up the hill, it's easy to relax and forget running
form on the way down.
To descend the hill under control, don't fight gravity, but use it to your advantage by
increasing your leg turnover rate. Accelerate into the flat section after a hill.
Check out:
http://www.runningnetwork.com/cgi-bin/rn_display.phtml?id=25656

2. Indoor Training

Treadmills are machines of convenience. When the weather is poor,
or when you're trying to fit running into your gym workout, a
treadmill may be what you need.. But step for step, does it
equal of an outdoors workout? Yes and no. An article at FitnessLink
this week explores the pros and cons of the treadmill workout.
The treadmill's motion, along with the lack of wind resistance,
means that an indoor workout is slightly less challenging than
running the roads. But runners can compensate by increasing the
incline of the treadmill. And it turns out that interval and
speedwork may actually be more challenging on a treadmill.
Check out:
http://www.fitnesslink.com/exercise/treadmill.shtml

3. Rest can be hard work

After logging hundreds of kilometres of training before a marathon, the taper period in the two weeks before the big event can be anti-climactic to a seasoned runner. This is the time when marathoners need to cut their mileage way back to give their legs needed rest and to conserve strength and endurance for the 42.2 km. But after weeks and months of training, not running takes as much discipline as the high-mileage training itself.
Active.com this week puts these final days before the marathon under the microscope, offering a day-by-day schedule for the last week of training.
Check out:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=2233

4. Walker Support

Marathoners can be categorized into two broad camps: the run-all-the-way camp and the take-frequent-walk-breaks camp. While the gut-it-out spirit of the first group tends to have broad appeal, For seasoned runners, the use of walk breaks during marathon training and the race itself can prevent injury and even get you to the finish line faster.
Joe Henderson, a Runner's World columnist and a walk-break advocate, has a new and somewhat appealing way of viewing these walk breaks. "If you don't like that word 'walk,'" Henderson writes in his weekly column, "then think of it as 'interval training.' This sounds better to some of you than that the W-word."

On the track, interval training means running several fast repetitions with walk breaks in between. Henderson's suggestion is that this classic interval training isn't all that different from walk breaks during long runs. "Interval training is an honorable practice for helping runners go faster," he writes. "So why not use
it also for going longer?"

For more, check out:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/131.html

5. Safe Skin in the Sun

The warm weather has us thinking of sunny summer runs -- and preparing for proper skin protection during those sunny runs. BeWell.com has a feature on the best steps to protect against skin cancer when exercising in the elements. From running at the proper time of day to selecting the right waterproof sunblock, the article offers prudent pointers for protection.

Check out:
http://www.bewell.com/healthy/athlete/2000/sunscreen/index.asp

6. Sticking With Your Goals

The most experienced, most talented, most enthusiastic runners sometimes feel their motivation die and their focus slip. This means that it's time to assess training goals and set new targets to help inject new energy and excitement into the running routine.
Setting those goals is no easy task, and it often turns out to be difficult to select goals that are challenging but still attainable. The Web site of Washington Running Report offers advice for setting appropriate goals and keeping your fitness routine on track.
Check out:
http://www.runwashington.com/tips/motivated.html

7. Signs of Overtraining

Soreness, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, waning ambition, irritability.

They're all the warning signs of overtraining, and signals that it's time to pull back in your training.
About.com's sports medicine site puts the focus on overtraining syndrome, describing detailed symptoms as well as
appropriate treatment.
For details check out:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/library/weekly/aa040600.htm

8. Energy Out

Basal metabolism is the process by which energy is produced by the body. The amount of energy used by the body at rest is called the basal metabolic rate, or the BMR. About 60 to 70 percent of the energy used by your body during the day is to maintain the body's systems, such as digestion of food, beating of the heart, breathing, maintaining body temperature, and many other life-sustaining functions. If you consume more calories than needed for basal metabolism, you will need to burn these calories off with some form of physical activity.

Several factors determine the basal metabolic rate. Age is the one of most influencing factors; generally, the younger you are, the higher your BMR. This is due to the fact that during infancy and childhood there are many growth spurts requiring high amounts of calories. After you reach 30, your BMR slows down by a rate of one to two percent a year. It becomes increasingly harder to lose and keep weight off as you grow older. The "middle-age spread" is often a result of a slowing of the BMR and an inclination to be inactive.

Another significant factor is the influence of your body composition.
Muscle tissue is highly active even at rest. The more muscle tissue in your body, the higher your BMR. Men usually have a higher BMR because of their greater tendency toward lean muscle tissue.

Hormones also play an important part in basal metabolism. The BMR is likely to change during puberty and pregnancy due to hormonal changes.

Estimating basal metabolic rate (BMR).

To change body weight from pounds to kilograms, divide your body weight by 2.2. The answer is your body weight in kilograms. Your answer is _____kg.

To find your BMR, multiply your weight in kg by the BMR factor (1.0 males or .95 females). Your answer is _____ calories per hour.

To find your BMR for 24 hours, multiply the calories per hour by 24.
Your daily BMR is _____ calories. Your answer represents the number of calories needed daily for the functioning of your body at rest.

Estimation of the level of energy expended on physical activity (PA).

Multiply your daily BMR (answer from Step 1, in our previous tip) by the energy cost factor.

If you're sedentary (you sit most of the day; you stand two hours and move about slowly; you sew, study, or type), multiply your BMR by .30.
If your activity is light (you do some walking and much standing but no strenuous exercise), multiply your BMR by .40.

If your activity is moderate (you do considerable walking with little sitting but no limited strenuous exercise), multiply your BMR by .50.

If your activity is strenuous (little sitting with fairly strenuous activity), multiply your BMR by .65.

If your activity is very strenuous (little sitting with strenuous activity most of the day), multiply your BMR by .80.

The answer is your PA. This answer represents the number of calories needed to maintain your weight with your daily activity.

Estimation of the specific dynamic effect (SDE) of food.

Add the daily BMR and the PA. Multiply this answer by .10 to find the SDE. This answer represents the number of calories needed each day, including activity and the digestion of food.

Figuring the sum of calories expended on BMR, PA, and SDE to obtain the total estimated energy expenditure.

Add together the BMR, PA, and SDE, this answer represents the total number of calories needed each day to maintain your present weight.

9. Know Your Feet

The foot is the main base of support for the body. There are 26 bones, 33 joints, and 20 muscles that control movement in the foot. The height and shape of the toes are different for each individual. It's when the arches and toes deviate from the normal that problems occur.
The three basic foot types are normal, cavos, and flat. The ball of the normal foot rests on the ground regardless of whether the heel is raised. The cavos foot has a high arch and tends to absorb shock
poorly. The flatfoot has a poor arch and has no rise to the top portion of the foot when viewed from the side.
When you're selecting shoes, it's important to take into consideration
your type of foot. You can avoid foot problems by finding a store that employs a professional shoe fitter who knows about the different shapes and styles of shoes.
Heel pain is a common problem that's caused by the chronic pulling of the muscles and tendons on the bottom of the foot. Sometimes this condition is referred to as heel spurs. Runners and other athletes who subject the arch to strain or receive a direct blow to the heel may experience this problem.
The treatment consists of rest, heat, medication, stretching exercises, and shoe modification. In a serious case of heel pain, a physician may prescribe injections.
Walking and shoe pressure can lead to Morton's neuroma. This occurs when a nerve to a toe becomes pinched between the toe joints, toe knuckles, and the shoe. A change in shoe wear, the use of pads, and the avoidance of irritating activity can help treat a neuroma. A physician may prescribe medication and injections. If symptoms persist, surgery will be required to release or remove the nerve.

Flexibility exercises are needed to keep our feet in good shape.

Toe-foot exercises:
- Toe raises-toe point: Sit, placing foot at the edge of a smooth, flat surface, with toes extending beyond the edge. Bend toes downward and hold as far as possible for three seconds. Return to starting position. Hold for three seconds. Repetitions: 10 times twice a day, increasing to 30 times, twice a day. This exercise is recommended for people with hammertoes or toe cramps.
- Toe squeeze: Use cigarette filters or small corks. Place them between your toes and hold a squeeze for three seconds. Repetitions: 10 times twice a day, increasing to 30 times, twice a day. This exercise is recommended for people with hammertoes or toe cramps.
- Golf ball roll: Roll a golf ball under the ball of your foot for two minutes. This is a great massage for the bottom of the foot and is recommended for people with heel pain, arch strain, and foot cramps.
- Marble pick-up: Place 20 marbles on the floor. With your toes, pick up one marble at a time and put it in a small bowl. Do this exercise until you have picked up all 20 marbles. Recommended for people with pain in the ball of the foot, hammertoes, and toe cramps.
- Sand walking: A walk at the beach will strengthen your toes and is good for general foot conditioning.

Tired, aching feet love a good massage:
- Moisturize your feet with a foot lotion.
- Give yourself a general foot rub for several minutes.
- Dust your feet with a foot powder.
- Continue foot rub until feet are smooth.
- Practice thumb walking. Hold one foot at the toes, heel, or ankle, and place the thumb of your other hand on the sole of the held foot. Apply steady pressure with that thumb, moving up and down the sole.

10. Glucosamine Sulfate, is it for you?

Tissues in the joints can become damaged when the lubricating synovial fluids in the joints become thin and watery. The normal cushioning is lost, and the bones and cartilage scrape against each other. Weakened bursa sacs in the joints can cause tendons to rub against the edges of bones, increasing the chance that the cartilage will erode and cause problems.
Glucosamine is an amino sugar normally formed from glucose. A deficiency can cause specific tissue weakness found in the tendons, ligaments, and synovial fluids in the joints. Glucosamine sulfate is a natural compound that can relieve the pain of joint injuries and osteoarthritis. The dosage will vary depending on body size. To find out how many milligrams you need a day, multiply your weight in pounds by 9. Divide the answer into three doses a day. Expect results in two months. After 3 to 6 months, you can reduce your daily dosage by one-third, and after another one to two months, you can reduce by another one-third. Some people will need to take the dosages with food to prevent stomach upset, heartburn, nausea, or indigestion.

Words of Inspiration

"People who run find their lives so much more enjoyable.
Everything works better: their cardiovascular system, their
gastrointestinal system, even their ability to think."

-Dr. Ralph Paffenbarger, runner and scientist

The Running Woman Message Board in Diet and Fitness
The Running Woman Message board continues to be active. We continue to offer advise to all posts. Thanks to all of you who have provided assistance to members old and new. Good Luck and Continued Running to all.
Gord
The Runner's Club
The RUNNER'S CLUB is still quiet, but with the number of members just over 500. If you are a member, please take the time to ensure that your email address is the one you want to use.
A reminder that two features of the CLUB still remain the ability of members to communicate with each other privately in the CLUB and the ability to arrange to chat with each other in the 24 hour chat facility.

Look for monthly chats to resume in September.

Good Luck and Great Runs
Gord

About This Newsletter
A reminder that experts - we are not. Information presented here is a collection of research with a taste of experience and opinion added for flavour. We don't get upset if someone disagrees with anything that has been said or written. In our experience with running groups here at home, it is difficult to get agreement on most anything. If it works for you, then it works.
Neither Women in Motion nor the author of this newsletter provides professional medical advice. The information in this newsletter is intended to help you better understand running issues. It is not intended to replace the advice of a physician. If you read something in the newsletter that contradicts what your physician tells you in any way, always follow your physician's advice.

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Gordon Samson, Editor
Women in Motion

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Women in Motion September 2000