2 Oceans Time

Well, it's Easter so my wife and I are down in Cape town again as she takes on her 2nd 2 Oceans Marathon. With organisers claiming the title 'world's most beautiful marathon' it certainly is picturesque around these parts ('when the weather is nice' shouts the Durbanite in me)

Claire, taking a rather chilly dip at Kosy beach... the Atlantic a more appealing option than the bath for a pre-race icing session

This year Claire is also taking on the Comrades Marathon, and her training program has been structured aound using 2 Oceans as a stepping stone to the longer ultra. I am going to be on the sidelines this year having chosen to take a break from training after 2 years of virtually non-stop training.
Apart from that we'll be hitting the slopes of Table Mountain on foot and MTB with Claire's brother Dave and his wife. Check out this awesome movie Dave and a friend made on his self built trail known as "the other Woman" (a name coined by his wife...)  http://player.vimeo.com/video/39570248
On Sunday afternoon we'll be heading up the mountain along whatever path is most weather friendly and camping out in the Mountain Club hut for the night.
Most of all we'll enjoy taking some time out to relax, enjoying sleeping in late and relaxed sundowners. Just a pity we couldn't bring the pets to enjoy it with us... we miss them!

A peach of a sunset  over the Atlantic on a calm evening

Where do injuries come from part 2

Last month I wrote a post about how injuries are often a result of poor habits in and around the workplace and home.... Well today I'm going to attempt to start explaining how.


More often the not, the typical recreational athlete will have an 8-5 job and be spending significant amounts of time 'chained' to a desk, driving or various other activities that are sedentary, and spent largely not in the ideal position.  For example, most people will tend to sit slumped after having been seated for a period of an hour.
The slumped position is an example of a posture where the body does not have 'mechanical advantage' and the same jobs and actions that are usually done with ease take just a little more effort.  (eg. holding your head upright) 
So what's mechanical advantage? Well when you have a 6 year old and a 12 year old on a see saw together. The 6 year old can move the 12 year old if one of 2 things happen... if the fulcrum is moved towards the heavier kid or if the heavier kid moves toward the fulcrum.  That creates mechanical advantage for the lighter kid because his lever becomes longer making the force he exerts more effective, and its how our joints move massive load with relatively little effort.


But going back to the patterns that develop when we sit, stand and slump lazily for long periods...This results in adaptive patterns that are not quite as efficient as they could be, and these patterns become learned because the activity (or lack of activity) is repeated and repeated. We then go out training and competing on weekends with a body that has learned patterns of movement that are not efficient and can cause issues with joint movement in the extremities because your arm or leg is dependant on your spine and pelvis for stability.  Examples of these patterns are things like forward head posture (which would have an impact on neck, thoracic and shoulder biomechanics and plays a huge role in many headache sufferers) and the short hamstrings with posterior pelvic tilt syndrome that causes a myriad of lower back issues as well as precipitating 'overload' injuries in the lower limb... ITB, achilles, piriformis etc. and may make you think that you have a leg length inequality (when its actually merely a pelvic tilt).
So how do you prevent this slippery slope towards being crocked?
Well you have to balance the consequences of what you are doing during the day at work with a program that specifically targets the areas that get lazy, and stretches the areas that get tight.
More about that next month....