With the new year, I have been hearing everyone discussion about goals, resolutions and intentions. This is great! But, how do we really make that happen?

It is fun to dream about goals but many people forget that we have to start thinking about what we can do now to make them happen even if they seem a long ways away. Even big, big goals are achievable with enough time. 

This is the time to be preparing to train. Preparing? That’s right. It might sound funny, but we need the foundation and basic skills to be able to take off and do the actual specific training for an event and to minimize the risk of injury along the way.

Are you guilty of doing the workouts you love but then skipping the small things? If so you are not alone. As a coach, I see this all of the time. Runners love to run, not lift, so if pressed for time they will always get their run in and most likely tell themselves that they will do the foam rolling or PT work “later.” Triathletes will get their swim, bike or run in but they are much more hit and miss with lifting or stretching. Lifters get in all the strength work but where is that cardio or that mobility?

Over and over, I see my athletes skipping the little stuff. {foam rolling, mobility work, stretching or maybe some PT exercises} It is fantastic that the planned runs or rides are getting done but sometimes it is just as important to get in the little things. Just as recovery is a critical part of being the best athlete one can be these little things are too. 

The little things are a big part of the foundation for achieving goals. If they are always skipped, then the danger is that down the road you will be missing some key building blocks in your athletic foundation. 

As an athlete, it is not only about training the engine and just like it takes time to develop the engine it takes time to develop muscles, tendons, muscle patterning, mobility and flexibility. There aren’t any quick fixes or short cuts. You can’t pop a pill and suddenly not need to stretch any more and there certainly is NOT an app that will do it all for you.  

As runners, we love to run. Right?!?
We don’t love to do all the requisite work that running for most of us requires.

At ChelanCamp this year, we were all reminded of this when listening to our guest speakers Alison Gillespie and Cari Matthews of Prevail Physical Therapy group.

How often do you skip strength work, stretching or foam rolling because there simply is not enough time in the day? Yet, you made sure to get in your running miles?

We are all guilty of this at times. Most of the time we don’t think much about it until an injury creeps upon us or an injury forces us to stop running. Then we frantically put in ALL the strength and stretching we can.

Rinse. Repeat.

We were inspired to learn that there are some simple exercises that take just a few minutes and can give a good baseline of where each runner is. For the beginner or the most seasoned of runners, it is good every now and then to take a minute and rewind and go back to the beginning and think about the little things that running requires and that will keep us all running longer.

Check in and see how you respond and where you may need to do some work. We want you active and running for life. Your body will thank you!

Dreaded pain along the front of the lower leg is a very common issue for runners. Shin Splints, as this is commonly called, occur for a variety of reasons and the pain can run the gamut from mild to debilitating. What are the factors that contribute to shin pain and what can you do to get back to pain-free shins?