Elmwood Varsity Sports Running Club
About the Program
The Elmwood Varsity Sports Running Club is a year-round running program offered by the Elmwood Fitness Center and Varsity Sports. The program is designed for athletes of all ability levels and the emphasis is on participation, moral support, and fun. During the spring and summer, the focus is on base mileage training, easy running, and having fun. During the fall and winter months, the program is designed to prepare participants for either the marathon or ½ marathon race distances.
- Weekly group training runs, Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:00 a.m. Start/finish at the Ochsner Hospital main campus facility.
- Weekly e-mails containing information on running, cross-training, injury prevention, running gear, and much more
- Elmwood Varsity Sports Running Club Facebook page
- Fun and camaraderie!
Fred Klinge, Elmwood Varsity Sports manager, will be leading the program and attending each group training run. Fred has completed 30 marathons with a personal best time of 2:18.15. He participated in the 1984 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and has served as a Training Coach for Little Rock Marathon Training Program. Fred is currently certified as a Health/Fitness Specialist by the American College of Sports Medicine.
Program Logistics
- Group training runs start/finish at the Ochsner Hospital Main Campus in Jefferson, Louisiana. We meet on the River Road side of the facility and park in the Gayle and Tom Benson Cancer Center parking lot.
- In September, the program participants will start following a training program designed to prepare them for the marathon and half-marathon race distances. *Target race events will include the 2012 Jazz Half-marathon (Sunday, October 28, 2012) and the 2013 Rock n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon and Half-marathon.
- The program is free of charge and open to the public. All participants must complete a registration form and sign an implied consent agreement.
*Elmwood Varsity Sports Running Club participants are responsible for race entry fees.
For more information, contact Fred Klinge at (985) 773-8765
or fred@varsityrunning.com
Tips on Running from Fred:
Good Pain, Bad Pain
“No pain, no gain”….this old-school training phrase has fallen out of favor in recent years, but there is some truth to the old adage. We endurance athletes often talk about the “burn” we feel during a high-intensity workout and we know that in order to strengthen muscles, some “tearing down” must first occur. Overloading a system (within limits) leads to adaptation and an improvement in endurance and/or strength and hopefully, athletic performance.
The mild pain we associate with the “no pain, no gain” phrase is usually caused by muscle fatigue and should subside quickly after a workout. But when does this “good pain” cross the line and become “bad pain” leading to chronic fatigue and injuries?
Bad Pain
Fatigue and muscle soreness are common byproducts of a strenuous workout. If fatigue and soreness last longer than several days there’s a strong likelihood you pushed a workout too hard and need to throttle back on your exercising intensity level and/or duration. It’s also important to allow enough recovery time in between workouts.
If fatigue and soreness linger after an adequate rest period, this could indicate a more serious underlying health issue like anemia, diabetes, or some other metabolic disorder.
Exercise-related Pain
Our musculoskeletal tissues adjust slowly to exercise and stressful workloads. If we push too hard or too fast, our muscles, bones, and connective tissues sometimes “fail” and there’s damage at the cellular level, resulting in significant pain. A good example of this might be if someone has done very little training for two years and then decides to participate in a local 10K road race. Experts call this type of soreness “delayed onset muscle soreness”, or DOMS for short. DOMS is usually a dull, aching pain that rears its ugly head about 24 to 48 hours after a strenuous athletic effort.
If an extremely out of shape person performs intense exercise, occasionally there’s significant damage to the muscle cells that results in proteins being released into the blood stream and this can cause severe problems with the kidneys. This condition is sometimes referred to as exertional rhabdomyalosis and can sometimes result in hospitalization and even death. Other factors that can contribute to exertional rhabdomyalisis include hot/humid weather conditions, dehydration, and even some medications.
Ligaments and tendons are what we often refer to as “connective tissue”. If we exercise too hard and/or too fast, the connective tissues can become inflamed and irritated. Our bones need to be considered as well. They need to adjust to weight-bearing exercise gradually. Too hard and/or too fast can sometimes result in a stress fracture that might require weeks of full rest to allow the bone to heal.
If you gradually build-up your exercise volume and intensity, your musculoskeletal tissues will strengthen in a healthy way. A little bit of pain is okay – it means you’re stressing the system in order to strengthen the system. The stronger your system becomes, the more resistant you will be to injuries.
Dealing With the Pain
There are several strategies in dealing with exercise-related pain. The first and easiest is to reduce your exercise volume and/or intensity levels. You’ll have to be your own good judge when it comes to deciding how much rest is necessary. I have two hard-and-fast rules I follow when it comes to training with pain:
- It’s okay to continue training as long as the pain isn’t getting any worse.
- It’s okay to train through mild pain as long as I’m not altering my exercise motion to compensate for the pain.
For many exercise-induced injuries, ice is a great way to relieve some of the discomfort and aid the healing process. Ice does reduce pain and inflammation and it’s best to massage the ice on the problem area.
And of course there’s good old “Vitamin I” (aka Ibuprophen) and acetaminophen, both helpful over-the-counter pain relievers. I’ve found that ibuprophen seems to be more effective at reducing inflammations and tendonitis. Follow the dosage recommendations on the label.
See Your Doctor If….
- Pain is getting worse with exercise
- Pain lasts for hours or days after exercise
- Pain doesn’t decrease with complete rest
- Pain adversely effects how you sleep or function in daily activities
- Pain requires increasing amounts of pain medication
- Constant pain or pain while resting, as opposed to intermittent pain
These are all symptoms of “bad pain” requiring professional medical attention.
In Summary
You’re your own best judge when it comes judging your “good pain, bad pain” boundary line. A little bit of soreness isn’t necessary a bad thing and it’s a normal byproduct of many athletic activities, but sharp, severe pain often indicates you’ve done some damage and it’s time to rest or seek medical assistance.
I’ve learned that self-honesty is critical when it comes to dealing with my own pain boundaries. Always remember it’s okay to rest and your body will heal if you give it the opportunity.
http://runfreddierun.com
