Q:

Hi Lauren!

I just finished a road racing season. It wasn’t that intense, but I definitely feel it. I want to take some downtime, but I was wondering your thoughts of taking time completely off running to recover? Should I run at all?

Leah

A:

Hi Leah!

Even if you think your season wasn’t crazy demanding, the fact that you had a “racing season” means you would probably benefit from a “resting season.” Definitely take some time completely off running. Even multiple world record holder Paul Tergat told me he takes four weeks completely off after each season and doesn’t run a step, instead focusing on his family and his business. The minimum amount of time I’d recommend is a week completely off with another week of only running every other day or so for 2-5 miles.

If this isn't a great sell for rollerblading on your break, I don't know what is!

I finished my season on Sunday after the NYC Marathon so I’ll provide an example of what I’ll be doing for my time off for reference:

• Two weeks with no running (with the exception of one 15 min run tomorrow to make sure I don’t have any injuries from the marathon that need special attention during my break.
• The first week I’ll be lazy as hell physically and focus on work.
• The second week I’ll go on some walks with my sister-in-law, and maybe ride my bike or ElliptiGo at sunset a couple times to get fresh air. Anything I do will be strictly for pleasure and I won’t exert myself much.
• The third week I’ll exercise every day and some of those days will be running. The focus will be on fun so I’ll choose some trails I rarely run, go on a long hike to a hot spring on the weekend, and ride my road bike with my husband once or twice if the weather is nice. Might even bust out my roller blades.
• The fourth week I’ll be fully invested mentally and physically.

Structure your break around what you think you need. Will you get out of shape? Yep. Will you gain a few pounds? Probably. But you will replenish those deep stores of vitamins and minerals, your structures will rebuild, and your hormones will find their equilibrium. Plus you’ll have time to catch up with friends you don’t see much or finish that scarf you started three years ago.
Running can become overly structured and automatic over time; you have to stop moving to fully appreciate the view. If you’re like me, during your break you’ll be a little depressed from missing the endorphins, but you’ll miss the hell out of running and will be chomping at the bit to get back. A break makes you appreciate running and feel like you have a lot of work to do to get back in shape. It’s a good time to think about the bigger picture of your goals and make changes to last year’s approach. A training diary is a good place to process things and kick-start your new season.

Good luck!

Lauren

Q:

Dear Lauren,

I really look up to you and I’m hoping you might have some advice for me.  I am a college runner and just had the best summer of training of my life.  My first week back at pre-season went extremely well too (great workouts, feeling good). However, at the beginning of the second week I started to feel really fatigued and dizzy. I dropped out of a tempo workout, and now for the past two weeks I’ve been struggling with everything. I’m tired all the time. I’ve been severely anemic before and my body feels that way again. I just don’t feel like myself. It’s like I’m in someone else’s body. I have no bounce in my step and midway through any workout I just feel so tired I have to stop – which is not like me at all!

I got blood work done, and the results showed no signs of infection or anemia. The only other thing I’m thinking it could be might be related to the weight I’ve lost over the summer. I didn’t really realize it until I got back to school and people started commenting, but I’ve lost 5 – 10 lbs. And right when I did get to school there was a marked decrease in what I was eating due to getting settled and wanting to look extra lean in my sports bra at practice (silly, I know). My symptoms showed up about a week or so after I started eating less. I also have not gotten a period in three months.

And now, I can’t tell how much of my fatigue is related to emotions. I’m just so anxious and upset over the whole thing. Running has always been my de-stressor, my happy place. I would normally go to practice each day not worrying about the workout or if I’ll crash and burn midway through a run, I knew I could push through it. But now I can’t help stressing over how I will feel each day, wondering when I’ll feel like myself again and when will I feel ready to race. And, unfortunately, the anxiety is affecting my usually ravenous appetite and my ability to sleep.
Therefore, my question to you is have you ever experienced anything like this yourself or seen anyone else go through something similar?  Could it be overtraining, the result of a long summer, or eating habits?  Or could it be possible that by now I’ve freaked myself out so much that my anxiety is causing all my physical symptoms?
Sorry for the long post, but I really hope you might have some thoughts on the matter.
Amy

A:

Hi Amy,

This advice is given with the assumption that you don’t have any hormonal issue. Your symptoms could be related to a thyroid problem, (hyperthyroid can cause rapid weight loss and other symptoms you describe) which if it were me, I’d test for immediately. That being said, I’ve seen and experienced similar issues that were not thyroid related, so the following advice will hopefully be helpful to someone, even if not for you.

What you have described is a common mistake female runners make when they are trying to take their running to the next level. If its not thyroid, I’d bet my favorite Nike Lunarglides that the root of your symptoms are in fact related to weight loss, and that the problem will be quite straightforward to solve.

The Wheel

Think of running as a wheel. The day you caught the desire to be a runner, you were handed a floppy tire tube. You were told that this is the tire that will transport you through your career, and its up to you to build it into a functioning, strong wheel.

The center of the wheel, the hub, is built when you start to visualize your running potential and make competitive goals related to that. Its the focal point that everything rotates around.

But in order for the hub to connect to the rim, you have to build a bunch of spokes. Those spokes are the supporting structures that take your desire and passion and time on your feet and connect it to your goals and your aims. The way you build those spokes is CRUCIAL to the structure and function of the wheel.

Examples of spokes:

• Nutrition
• Physical Training
• Mental Training
• Community/Social Support
• Recovery Techniques
• Life Balance
• Competition

If you build those spokes evenly over time, your wheel will be strong and carry you with relative ease through your career. Put too much emphasis on one spoke or ignore several of them, and your wheel becomes weak and collapses beneath you.

I am not joking when I say that all of the spokes are equally important. But it is natural when you are learning about a particular subject area to over-do it for a while. Your focus moves away from the hub completely and you dwell on that spoke. Looking the part of a distance runner becomes more important than actually running fast! If your nutrition spoke becomes the center of your wheel, think about how lopsided and wonky it will roll! Think of how dizzy you will get!

Take Action

Here’s what you do: literally grab some paper and draw your wheel (do it. you can do it). Redefine the hub and identify the spokes. Find the weak spots and decide how you will reinforce them. Burn this image of a wheel into your mind and keep coming back to it over the next few weeks. This is called creating a visual cue, which is a way to pull your mind back to the place you need it to be to achieve a particular goal. I use these all the time.

I believe your health will return if you do this and you will get back to kicking ass. It may take a couple weeks, or it may take a couple months, but you have to accept whatever time it takes as part of the repercussions of the decisions you’ve made. Be at peace with that. Its part of the deal.

It would be smart to include your coach in this process as well as a sports nutritionist if possible. And if it were me, I’d ease my training down to 85-90% for a month or two while my body rebuilds. After losing weight and getting weak, there is a time lag in which you are probably more susceptible to injury, even after you tackle the nutrition issues. You have to let your nutrient stores build up a bit without subjecting your body to too much stress. This will take a lot of discipline, but you will save yourself a bigger setback if you heed this advice.

Amy, always remember there is no shame in screwing up. Its a necessary part of reaching out into the unknown of your potential. The only shame would be if you don’t use the resources at your disposal to come through this wiser, stronger, and faster!

Keep us updated!

Lauren

Q:

Hey Lauren,

I was wondering if you could help me. In October last year [11 months ago] I sprained my ankle. I had physio in December through to February. I was diagnosed with a grade 1 (slight sprain) but my physio said that I must of had a Grade 2 because of the discomfort I was in. It hasn’t been hurting from when I stopped my physio until June. I went over it playing Rounders (like softball) and ever since it has been really painful but it comes and goes while playing sport and running. I have been using the stretches I did for my physio but it just seems to get worse.

Do you know stretches to do, which can strengthen my ankle?

Many thanks

Katie P

A:

Hi Katie P,

With all the cross country training people have been doing, I’ve been getting a lot of ankle questions lately!

When you have experienced a bad ankle sprain in the past, you are more likely to re-sprain it, and often it doesn’t take much to turn it over. My husband Jesse has sprained his enough times that even an flat asphalt road will send his ankle over if he’s not paying attention. Its quite amazing…a talent really.

Two things to consider here:

• Not all sprains are created equal. You may have done something more serious or different during ankle roll #2 than your initial sprain, so its important to check back in with a doctor or physio. The rehab exercises you were given the first time might not be the right ones for this particular sprain, and you could be wasting your time without getting a quick check up. Given your description, this is what I suspect is going on.
• General ankle strength exercises are your friend. For people prone to ankle sprains, its a NECESSITY to stay on top of your strength exercises. A bad sprain can loosen the ligaments that support the ankle, leaving it wobbly and unstable. The bottom of your foot has a zillion nerves that read the surface you are on and communicate to all the surrounding tissues to let them know what to do in order to keep you on your feet. Problem is, long after a sprain has “healed,” some of those surrounding tissues remain stupid, and they don’t get the message from your feet or simply can’t react quickly enough. Certain exercises help re-educate the ankle so it can perform they way you need it to.

So first see your doc just in case. When you are cleared, make ankle strengthening part of your routine whenever you start a new season for 4-6 weeks. In my experience, theraband exercises and balance board exercises are the most effective things that you can do at home. They take very little time and you get great results. I do the balance stuff standing on a pillow and find it challenging enough to do the trick.

Q:

Hey Lauren,

My teammates recently told me to check out your site and I’ve been so inspired by coming here…thank you so much.

I’ve struggled with a hamstring injury and a labral tear in my hip for a long time now, and I always felt like I was the only person struggling with such long-term injuries. My question is actually about weight gain after an injury.

I’m about 10 lbs above my target weight thanks to these injuries, and I feel so discouraged in everything I do. Have you had to drop weight coming off an injury before, and if so, how did you tackle that extra obstacle to recovery?

Thanks again for everything,
Elle

A:

Hi Elle,

When I injured my navicular in 2008, I went from 125 to 140.  Yikes.

I totally know what you are going through right now. Coming back to running in a heavier body is not only sucky and hard, but it is an emotional let-down because for months all you’ve wanted to do was run, and now running doesn’t feel anything like what you remember. When you are at your ideal weight, you feel like you are meant to run…like you could go forever.  That is the feeling you are probably missing most right now.

I’ll tell you two things from my experience (that I’ve been able to see in retrospect) that might help you out in your transition:

1. Spending time injured and then at a heavier weight had unintended benefits for me:

• I got my period regularly for the first time in two years, and its been regular ever since.  It restored my hormone and metabolic balance and filled up my mineral and vitamin stores.  My blood tests looked healthier than ever.  It was almost like hitting a reset button after years and years of hard training.
• When I eventually got back to my previous weight, I was stronger and more powerful as a result of my muscles adapting to the larger load from before.  (It was like I had been training with a really heavy sweaty weight vest for several months!)  My drills and weights have more pop, and my finishing kick is better than ever now.
• I learned that I never want to gain that much weight again, and the next time I was injured, I only gained seven pounds, which had all the benefits but was easier to bounce back from.

2. Training while heavier required a different approach that made me feel connected to other runners:

• If you start running as a kid, you never understand how “hard” running actually is until you try to comeback from injury for the first time.  Now I get it.
• It is valuable to experience the struggle to “get back in shape” now, while you have powerful motivation. Think about all the adults you know trying to “get back in shape.”  We’ve been hearing about it all our lives, which tells me it will probably become a theme of our adult life when the structure of competitive sport is done.  How do you want to handle this challenge as you grow older?  This is the first test run…its an opportunity.  Take notes.

When you are getting down on yourself, and you feel like you are breathing like a gorilla in heat while lumbering through the park, try to laugh about it. This is just a temporary thing. You WILL get better. Think of your athletic body as a diamond covered in bits of moss and lichen and clay and sediment.  None of those things actually penetrate through the diamond; they just need to be chipped away at a little bit at a time so you can sparkle.

Thanks for your kind words and for writing in!

Believe,

Lauren

Q:

G’day Lauren,

I stumbled across this website and had a question regarding a navicular injury that I sustained. I shattered it, was in a backslab for 4 weeks until surgery, then I had a cast for 6 weeks and now i’ve been prescribed a cam boot.
I’ve found though that walking without the boot in a regular shoe is easier and much less painful, should I stick with the boot? Or just go with whatever feels comfortable? I’ve only been on my foot for 5 days now and I understand that muscles need to be rebuilt from atrophy, but how can i do that if i can’t put pressure on the leg? My patience is wearing very thin and I’m starting to feel as if recovery is slim. Got any advice?

Cheers,
Marko

A:

Hi Marko,

There is frustratingly little information out there about navicular injuries and what the best way to treat them is. I’m sorry you’ve joined the club, but I’ll tell you that since I had mine operated on in 2008, I’ve met several other world class athletes who have recovered well from a navicular fracture. We inevitably end up sharing war stories, and every person’s experience is different. That makes it pretty tough to give concrete advice to you.
Please, if you are reading this and have knowledge in this area, post it as a comment below.
I personally recommend you do whatever you need to do to stay patient, and treat your injury with respect. It does end some people’s careers, but all you can do is give it every chance to heal, and not take out your overall frustration on the foot.
This was very very hard for me to do. After 8 weeks on crutches, then a scan that showed it still wasn’t healed, then surgery…I was faced with 10-12 more weeks between a wheelchair and

There are very few Halloween costumes that incorporate a wheelchair. We did our best!

crutches in a cam boot, and the frustration was unlike anything else. There was a possibility that I could do everything right and still not be able to return to running, which kind of made me say, “What’s the point?” You will be temped to be reckless with it as a reaction to act like you care less, but the fact is you DO care. VERY MUCH.

Treat your foot like its one of these for 8 weeks and you will thank me later.

Stay strong upstairs and keep summoning patience. Treat your foot like its a princess. You have a long road ahead of you to recover, and that sucks, but the key to getting healthy is accepting your crappy situation for what it is and developing a long term strategy to return to form. For me it took 20 months, but it was worth the wait, and now I never feel it. I don’t worry about it at all. I am truly cured.

The boot is meant to be uncomfortable because you aren’t meant to walk very much. If you do walk, it protects you, but you are still not meant to walk very much. You won’t get much increased strength from walking this way, so it is critical that you boost your rehab, especially in non-weight bearing positions. When you are sitting around, move it around like crazy, rub between all the bones and ligaments and tendons, develop the little muscles in your feet through various non-weight bearing motions, and work your calf and lower leg muscles with a theraband.

I recommend you get a good physical therapist on your side that understands your urgency to maintain as much strength as possible through your recovery period, and get that person to make you an aggressive but smart plan. I went to San Francisco for two weeks to work with Lisa Gianonne and her awesome staff at Active Care, and it gave me a great start as I transitioned out of the boot. I only wish I would have started with them while I still had the boot on…probably would have saved me months in the long run. DEFINITELY START YOUR REHAB BEFORE YOU GET OUT OF THE BOOT!

Hope that helps Marko. Stay positive. I’m living proof that you can return to form after this setback.

-L-Train

Q:

Hi Lauren,
I have been struggling with getting back the competitive edge that I had in high school. I came from a small team and had an amazing relationship with my coach. Running gave me a great outlet to be competitive and have fun with teammates.

Since I started running in college, I struggled to find my niche. My body hasn’t agreed with the coaching style and the atmosphere doesn’t fit with my personality. I know that I have yet to fulfill my potential as an athlete but every time I get that great feeling following a workout where you know that you’re ready to race fast, it’s followed by injury.

I recently decided to transfer to the D-2 school in my hometown in hopes rejuvenating my relationship with running and racing on a new team where I know the coach. I really want to fit in with my new teammates and come in with a great attitude toward running.

At the same time, I’m worried that I won’t be able to live up to the expectations of the running community at home. Do you have any advice for keeping running for yourself and team mates without associating it with expectations from parents and friends?

-Margaret

A:

Hey Margaret!
This is such a good question. I can’t even tell you how glad I am you asked it!

You are going through the quintessential experience of being 20-something (and damn its hard). And so far, you are totally nailing it. Your first college experience was toxic for you, and you had the wisdom to recognize that, and the courage to do something about it.

And now, you are anticipating the things that could hold you back in this new environment and are proactive about preventing them. Double your score there. Well done.

You are going to be great in your new environment, and I’ll tell you how I know: behind everything you wrote is an intense desire to live your life well and be your true self.  ALWAYS MAKE SURE THAT IS THE REASON BEHIND WHAT YOU DO and you will thrive.

So enough patting you on the back (even though you well deserve it).  Here’s what I think you need to do now that you are moving back home: Get your push-up bra on and continue to claim your space as a grown woman.  Spray your pheromones around, I don’t care how you do it, but you need to set boundaries in those relationships you are worried about.

Know this: The harder you lean on someone for support, the more power they have to screw with your balance, even if they have the best of intentions. If you have over-involved people, i.e. parents, you simply need to cut them out of 75% of what goes on in YOUR running.  A healthy adult relationship means discussing your pursuits pretty equally, so if you know less about the other person’s favorite hobby than they know about your running, you need to cut things back.

If your community focuses too much on your running, give them something else to care about: volunteer, be a mentor for an at-risk teen, contribute in some other way and the pressure will dissipate.  Be proactive about lowering the expectations of those around you.  The number of people in your inner circle should be very small, and they should be carefully chosen (parents do not get automatic entry).  Surround yourself with people who are positive and unconditionally supportive, even if you have to find people who know NOTHING about running in order to do that.

Last reminder that I’m sure you already know: You can be a team player, but you don’t run for your team mates.  You run for you.  Team mates change every year, and teams are made up of individuals in various stages of their own lives.  Contribute your best self to your team, and carefully take in the best selves of those around you. The better your filter for negativity, the more successful you will be!

Please check in down the road with an update by commenting on this entry!

-Lauren

Q:

Hi Lauren,

Do you have any tips on handling running with jet lag – both heading out and returning home?
How do you manage training when you are traveling – either domestically or internationally?
On top of that, what country have you not yet gone to that you’d love to race in?

-Michelle

A:

Hi Michelle!

Jet lag is different for me every time. One thing is for sure, it gets easier to adapt with each trip. Here are my biggest pointers for traveling successfully, and planning your training once you get there:

• Go into your trip rested (yeah right, right? It does help apparently).
• Forget where you came from: set your watch to your destination as soon as you get on the plane.
• Drink water CONSTANTLY. I’m talking 8oz every 45 minutes. I don’t care if you aren’t thirsty. Its worth peeing 17 times on the flight and missing crappy sleep on the plane. You will recover from the journey much faster if you are hydrated. Trust me on this one.
• If you can sleep on a plane, do it. Catch sleep where you can get it, but make sure you drink loads of water whenever you wake up.
• Keep the simple carbs in check. I usually sign up in advance for the gluten free or diabetic plane meal because its a bit lighter, and I bring some nuts and Picky Bars to snack on. Avoiding big meals while traveling makes it easier to get on a regular meal plan once I get there, and also prevents me from getting on a 3am poo schedule.

Once you get there:

• Stay awake when you get there until a normal bed time. This part is very hard. To kill time, I always go for a shake-out run of 20-30 minutes once I reach my destination, and then I drag out my various tasks like stretching, unpacking, etc. Then I force myself to go out to dinner even if I’m not hungry because stimulus is the only way to keep myself awake.

• More water.
• I always sleep like a champ on the first night if I do all those things, but its easy to sleep past noon if you aren’t careful. Set an alarm for a generous sleep of 10-12 hours and then get yo-self some coffee!
• Run easy the first day, (I do two short runs) and don’t think about what time it is back home. Just exist like a local (who feels like crap).
• Don’t panic if sleep gets harder: I always struggle for the next 2-3 nights to sleep all the way through the night, but I just read a book and force myself to stay in bed. No computer, no internet, nothing overly stimulating. Just good old fashioned boredom.
• Don’t expect to feel normal: For the first week I’m in a place, I just expect to feel crappy, and I run really slow.
• More water.
• Don’t do anything the first week that you don’t have to: I run normal mileage, but keep my training intensity light. I’ll maybe do a tempo and a fartlek that first week, just enough to keep the rust off, and make sure I have no idea how far or fast I’m really going.

As for the travel home?  Don’t ask me for advice on that one. I always travel home the day after the post-race party of my last competition. Read: hangover, hating my life the entire way home, and swearing I’ll never do it again.

Your final question: I’d like to race in Croatia and stay an extra week and soak it all in. I’ve heard from other athletes that it is the #1 place they wish they could have stayed longer after competing.

Q:

Hi Lauren,

I was wondering, is there something bad about soy milk? I know that with your Picky Bars website, you said that too much soy can be a bad thing. I was just wondering, what exactly does too much soy do, and if drinking soy milk twice daily counts as too much soy? Thank you for your time! By the way, this is really awesome that you have this website to ask you questions!

Sincerely,

Patrick Jeannette

A:

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for the question!  My research tells me that good quality soy in moderation is totally cool, but you should be aware of the issues associated with it.  Like corn, soy has become an extremely popular ingredient in foods and beverages because it is cheap as hell to produce, so there is a huge incentive for food companies to find a way to incorporate it into their recipes.

With mass production of anything comes genetic modifications (GMO) and the use of pesticides to be able to grow massive quantities on mega farms with minimal risks.  You need to look for things like “Non-GMO” and “organic” on your soy products if you want to maximize the health benefits, (and good quality soy does have health benefits).

Alternative Beverages to Soymilk that I Love

You might think you are having two servings of soy per day, but if you look at the ingredients of many other foods you eat, there is a good chance they are beefed up with soy products, especially if you eat packaged foods.  Most energy bars and protein drinks (and a million other things) use soy, and so a lot of athletes get 5-7+ servings of soy per day without realizing it.  There is research to suggest that too much soy is unhealthy (increased risk of certain types of cancer, phytoestrogens affecting testosterone levels in men, etc) as well as the usual amount of counter-research to prove its totally fine.

If there is anything I’ve learned in studying Human Biology and factors that affect human performance over the past 11 years, its that research is always changing, and its often influenced by business, economic, or government interests.  You have to learn to know when you are being manipulated, and when you are being truly educated.  If you don’t have time to figure out what is what, you can develop a food survival strategy similar to mine.
My vibe towards food can be summarized as follows:

• build variety into my menu.
• never go full-steam-ahead into a health fad.  It’ll change within a year.
• stay as natural and local as is reasonable without making my life all about food.

This philosophy is what guides me when I create a Picky Bar recipe.  I avoid ingredients that people are likely to be over-consuming, and I select ingredients that are likely to add variety and micro-nutrients that people might otherwise miss.  Then I make it in a size that is appropriate to what a person actually needs.  Basically, I do the Picky for you.  I figure if I’m doing all the research for myself anyway, I might as well share it.

So long story short, if you start checking labels and find out that you are soy-ing it up way more than you thought, here are two different strategies I recommend:

1. Buy non-GMO and organic soymilk, and avoid it in your other foods so you keep the total servings down.
2. Keep your soy-filled snacks, but switch to Almond or Coconut Milk to balance things out.  Silk brand Coconut Milk is AMAZING.

All the Best,
Lauren