What Hurts?

My favorite race is the half marathon. While the 13.1 miles is challenging, training for it is relatively reasonable when compared to marathon training. It comes with significantly less mileage and time commitment. Marathon training alters every aspect of your life. I don’t say these things to discourage you from running marathons. In fact, I encourage everyone to try it at least once. When you do, please factor in the time commitment you’re signing up for. The dietary changes, the sleep pattern, the location of the laundry hamper you put your sweaty clothes in. It’s all going to change. These are things that I discuss with my clients before they begin a training plan. Let’s sort out the potential problems now so that you can focus on your goals exclusively for more time later.

Right now I’m training to run my third marathon ever and attempting to Boston Qualify in that very race. By the end of this month I will have run more miles than in any other month of my entire life and this is only the beginning of the training cycle. It’s a hell-of-a lot of work and I consider myself relatively healthy despite it all, but I’m enjoying the journey.

For the most part my body has held up pretty good. I’ve been spending a lot of time on my runs doing physical assessments and studying ways to improve. There have been a few nagging injuries that I’m working through. I’ll discuss them further below.

While we can talk about the physical causes to these aches & pains, I feel it’s equally important to explore the spiritual meanings behind them as well. Science can answer a lot of questions, but the mind and the spirit can accomplish things that science is yet to comprehend. Just my opinion (Kanye Shrug).

As my marathon training plan progresses, I’m slowly starting to feel the aches and pains that many others have gone through and overcome before. I take these pains as lessons, opportunities to learn, grow and change. Over the past year, I’ve been slowly thumbing through Danny Dryer’s book ChiRunning. ChiRunning is a running technique created to reduce the pressure on the body and to improve the body’s fuel economy by using the age old practice of Tai Chi which is a slow moving martial arts series of motions that focuses on connections with your inner-self. Over the past two years, I’ve spent time incorporating some of the different aspects discussed in the book and applying some of the lessons to each run. It has been extremely helpful in running farther and faster with less effort. The book’s claim is that you can run effortlessly and injury free. I’m not injury free and the runs don’t feel effortless so I’m obviously not where I want to be yet.

Growing Pains

I’ll take you through some of the different obstacles that I’ve been experiencing over the past few weeks, discuss what I believe to be the causes, spiritual meanings and the solutions that I’ll be instituting to reduce them.

Unhappy Feet:

Last week, the outside edges of my feet were hurting after I finished runs. This one was pretty easy to diagnose for me because I’ve known the issue for years. It just didn’t fully surface until I overstressed it with the additional mileage. If you look at the bottom of any of my shoes that I’ve run more than 250 miles in, they’ll all show you the same wear pattern. The outside edge of the shoe will be extremely worn down while the inside will be almost brand new.

The technical term for this is supination. It’s been a long standing issue with my form and it’s absolutely correctable with stretching and strength training.

The Spiritual meaning of feet pain signifies a need for asking yourself such questions regarding the speed or direction of your life. Beyond marathon training, my life is certainly moving at a rapid speed. The Angel Card I just pulled yesterday told me to Make A Plan for my life. The foot is also associated with the root chakra which is your stability. I’ll admit that there have been aspects of my life that have shaken my stability. As a earth sign (Taurus) and a lifelong Californian, I’d quantify it at about a 4.5 on the Richter Scale. You’ll feel it, but you’ll more than likely survive.

On Bended Knee

For decades, I’ve had several issues with my knees. I was a long & triple jumper in high school & college. I suffered some pretty bad injuries early in my career. In long distance running, my IT bands have been a nagging injury. The knee caps occasionally act a donkey as well. This past week, both of them have been on fire.

While running at a decent pace, neither issue flares up, but if I have to stop at a crosswalk, the knee cap might not like me for a few minutes. The IT bands usually flare up more after the runs.

The IT band is a long muscle that runs from your hip, down the outside of your leg, past your knees to the top of your shins. It’s an extremely common long distance running injury. If you have had a pain on the outer side of the knee, then you may have suffered from it as well. I’m not even going to go into how to fix this one, because I have a feeling it’s connected to the issue above (and possibly one below).

I will however, discuss the spiritual meanings behind knee pain to better understand why this issue keeps reoccurring in my life. Physical issues can often be caused by energy blockages. Our store’s Reiki Healer told me that I needed to schedule a session for similar reasons. The last couple years have been trying for us all in too many ways.

What the knee pains are telling me right now is that I need to be more receptive, remove any insecurities and unresolved stress. Every day I pull a spirit animal card. Recently, I’ve been getting the snake very often. What that signifies is the shedding of old beliefs, relationships, insecurities…etc. and walking into the next phase of your life renewed. This resonated with me in many ways.

No Joy In The Groin

Sorry, I’m having way too much fun with these titles. After my runs, I’ve been experiencing some groin pain. Mostly on the top of my left leg. This issue directly relates to the strength of the opposing muscle group (hips) which have been a weak spot for me for quite some time. My hips used to be on fire six miles into any run. I’ve been working to strengthen them and the flame is reducing or at least delaying longer, but it appears that the groin muscle may need some attention as well to keep things in proper balance.

There’s A LOT of interpretations on this spiritual message, but what I received from the research, was to find joy in every moment and connect more with my emotions.

Plan of Action

To help with the knee cap stability, I’ll be adding more air squats and squat lunges to the mix to strengthen the quadriceps.

To help with the IT pain, I’ll be adding some flexibility work into the mix through yoga and stretching. I’ll actually be teaching yoga classes inside Queen Hippie Gypsy next month that are tailored for men to build flexibility, balance and strength. For more information click here.

To reduce the groin issues, I’ll work on the adductor muscles in the inner thigh to balance them out with the increased hip strength.

For the feet issue, I’ve added some resistance band training exercises that will help to strengthen and add flexibility in the ankles & feet.

To keep up the consistency, I’m inviting you to be my accountability partner. On 2-22-22, I’ll be starting FREE group runs every Tuesday morning. We’ll start in downtown Oakland. The routes will vary. For more information, check out our events page or join our Strava Group to stay updated.

Spiritual Takeaway

It sounds like my body is telling me that I need to relax, enjoy each moment and be confident in my life’s plan. Message received & appreciated.

Listening to your own body as well as the signs around you helps you connect with your emotions, what you’re feeling and leaves you receptive to the good things that life has to offer you. Before every run I pull an animal spirit card to see where my focus needs to be that day. I’m thankful for the messages I’ve received and look forward to the ones I learn tomorrow.

Before every race, I list out the Good, Great and Stars times and paces that I want to run. I look at it daily, visualize myself running these paces and work to achieve them. My current marathon PR is 3:24:23 so to run a Boston Qualifying time, I’ll be shaving over 14 minutes off of it. I trust that with consistency and mental preparation, the stars are reachable and I can’t wait to touch them.

If you’re interested in hiring me as your running or life coach visit our website and check out some of the offerings. We look forward to working with you. Thanks for following the journey. I trust that reading my trials will aid you in your journey as well.