•	Coming back after a layoff from running
•	It hurts!
•	No energy…
•	Side Pain
•	I feel great one day—but the next day…
•	No motivation
•	Cramps in my leg muscles
•	Upset stomach or Diarrhea
•	Headache
•	Should I run when I have a cold?
•	Street safety
•	Dogs
•	Heart Disease and Running

How do I start back when I’ve had time off?

The longer you’ve been away from running, the slower you must return. I want to warn you now that you will reach a point when you feel totally back in shape—but you are not. Stay with the plan below for your return, and when in doubt, be more conservative. Remember that you are in this for the long run!

Less than 2 weeks off You will feel like you are starting over again, but should come back quickly. Let’s say that you were at week # 20, but had to take 10 days off. Start back at week #2 for the first week. If all is well, skip to week # 4 or 5 for the second week. If that works well, gradually transition back to the schedule you were using before you had your layoff over the next 2-3 weeks.

14 days to 29 days off You will also feel like you are starting over again, and it will take longer to get it all back: within about 5-6 weeks you should be back to normal. Use the schedule of your choice (from week # 1) for two weeks. If there are no aches, pains or lingering fatigue, then use the schedule, but skip every other week. After the 5th week, transition back into what you were doing before the layoff.

One month or more off If you have not run for a month or more, start over again, like a beginner. Use one of the three schedules in this book following it exactly (from week # 1) for the first few weeks. After 2-3 weeks, the safest plan is to continue with the schedule.

But if you’re having no aches and pains, and no lingering fatigue, you could increase more rapidly by skipping one week out of three. After 2 months of no problems, you could skip every other week if everything is still feeling great.

It hurts!

Is it just a passing ache, or a real injury?

Most of the aches and pains you feel when running will go away within a minute or two. If the pain comes on when running, just walk for an additional 2 minutes, jog a few strides, and walk another 2 minutes.

If the pain comes back after doing this 4 or 5 times, stop running and walk. If the pain goes away when you walk, just walk for the rest of the workout.

Walking pain When the pain stays around when walking, try a very short stride. Walk for a 30-60 seconds. If it still hurts when walking, try sitting down, and massaging the area that hurts if you can. Sit for 2-4 minutes. When you try again to walk, and it still hurts, call it a day; your workout is over.

It’s an injury if….you have any of the following:

There’s inflammation—swelling in the area.

There’s loss of function—the foot, knee, etc. doesn’t work correctly.

There’s pain—it hurts and keeps hurting or gets worse.

Treatment suggestions:

1.	See a doctor who has treated other runners very successfully and wants to get you back on the road or trail.

2.	Take at least 2-5 days off from any activity that could irritate it to get the healing started, more if needed.

3.	If the area is next to the skin (tendon, foot, etc.), rub a chunk of ice on the area(s)—constantly rubbing for 15 minutes until the area gets numb. Continue to do this for a week after you feel no symptoms. Ice bags and gel ice do no good at all in most cases.

4.	If the problem is inside a joint or muscle, call your doctor and ask if you can use prescription strength anti-inflammatory medication. Don’t take any medication without a doctor’s advice—and follow that advice.

5.	If you have a muscle injury, see a veteran sports massage therapist. Try to find one who has a lot of successful experience treating the area where you are injured. The magic fingers and hands can often work wonders.

This is advice from one runner to another. For more info on injuries, treatment, etc. see the “injury free” chapter in this book, and Galloway’s Book On Running (second edition).

No energy today

There will be a number of days each year when you will not feel like exercising. On most of these, you can turn it around and feel great. Occasionally, you will not be able to do this because of an infection, lingering fatigue, or other physical problems. Here’s a list of things that can give you energy. If these actions don’t lead you to a run, then read the nutrition sections—particularly the blood sugar chapter in this book—or in Galloway’s Book on Running.

1.	Eat an energy bar, with water or caffeinated beverage, about an hour before the run.

2.	Instead of #1, half an hour before exercising, you could drink 100-200 calories of a sports drink that has a mix of 80% simple carbohydrate and 20% protein. The product Accelerade has this already put together.

3.	Just walk for 5 minutes away from your house, office, etc., and the energy often kicks in. Forward movement gets the attitude moving, too.

4.	One of the prime reasons for no energy is that you didn’t re-load within 30 minutes after your last exercise session: 200-300 calories of a mix that is 80% simple carbohydrate and 20% protein (Endurox R4 is the product that has this formulated).

5.	Low carb diets will result in low energy to get motivated before a workout, and often no energy to finish the workout.

6.

In most cases, it is fine to keep going even if you aren’t energetic. But if you sense an infection, see a doctor. If the low energy stays around for several days, see a nutritionist that knows about the special needs of exercisers and/or get some blood work done. This may be due to inadequate iron, B vitamins, energy stores, etc.

Note:

if you have any problems with caffeine, don’t consume any products containing it. As always, if you sense any health problem, see a doctor.

Side pain

This is very common, and usually has a simple fix. Normally, it is not anything to worry about…it just hurts. This condition is due to 1) the lack of deep breathing, and 2) going a little too fast from the beginning of the run. You can correct #2 easily by walking more at the beginning, and slowing down your running pace.

Deep breathing from the beginning of a run can prevent side pain. This way of inhaling air is performed by diverting the air you breathe into your lower lungs. Also called “belly breathing”, this is how we breathe when asleep, and it provides maximum opportunity for oxygen absorption. If you don’t deep breathe when you run, and you are not getting the oxygen you need, the side pain will tell you. By slowing down, walking, and breathing deeply for a while, the pain may go away. But sometimes it does not. Most runners just continue to run and walk with the side pain. In 50 years of running and helping others run, I’ve not seen any lasting negative effect from those who run with a side pain.

Tip:	Some runners have found that side pain goes away if they tightly grasp a rock in the hand that is on the side of the pain. Squeeze it for 15 seconds or so. Keep squeezing 3-5 times.

You don’t have to take in a maximum breath to perform this technique. Simply breathe a normal breath, but send it to the lower lungs. You know that you have done this if your stomach goes up and down as you inhale and exhale. If your chest goes up and down, you are breathing shallowly.

Note:

never breathe in and out rapidly. This can lead to hyperventilation, dizziness, and fainting.

I feel great one day…and not the next

If you can solve this problem, you could become a very wealthy person. There are a few common reasons for this, but there will always be “those days” when the body doesn’t seem to work right, or the gravity seems heavier than normal—and you cannot find a reason.

1.	Pushing Through. In most cases, this is a one-day occurrence. Most runners just put more walking into the mix, and get through it. Before pushing, however, make sure that you don’t have a medical reason why you feel bad.

2.	Heat and/or Humidity will make you feel worse. You will often feel great when the temperature is below 60°F and miserable when 75°F or above.

3.	Low blood sugar can make any run a bad run. You may feel good at the start and suddenly feel like you have no energy. Every step seems to take a major effort. Read the chapter in this book about this topic.

4.	Low motivation. Use the rehearsal techniques in the “staying motivated” chapter to get you out the door on a bad day. These have helped numerous runners turn their minds around—even in the middle of a run.

5.	Infection can leave you feeling lethargic, achy, and unable to run at the same pace that was easy a few days earlier. Check the normal signs (fever, chills, swollen lymph glands, etc.) and at least call your doctor if you suspect something.

6.	Medication and alcohol, even when taken the day before, can leave a hangover that dampens a workout.

7.	A slower start can make the difference between a good day and a bad day. When your body is on the edge of fatigue or other stress, it only takes a few seconds too fast per mile, walking and/or running, to push into discomfort or worse.

Cramps in the muscles

At some point, most people who run experience cramps. These muscle contractions usually occur in the feet or the calf muscles, and may come during a run or walk, or they may hit at random. Most commonly, they will occur at night, or when you are sitting around at your desk or watching TV in the afternoon or evening.

Cramps vary in severity. Most are mild, but some can grab so hard that they shut down the muscles and hurt when they seize up. Massage, and a short and gentle movement of the muscle can help to bring most of the cramps around. Odds are that stretching will make the cramp worse, or tear the muscle fibers.

Most cramps are due to overuse—doing more than in the recent past, or continuing to put yourself at your limit, especially in warm weather. Look at the pace and distance of your runs and walks in your training journal to see if you have been running too far, or too fast, or both.

•	Continuous running increases cramping. Taking walk breaks more often can reduce or eliminate cramps. Several runners who used to cramp when they ran a minute and walked a minute, stopped cramping with a ratio of run 30 seconds and walk 30-60 seconds.

•	During hot weather, a good electrolyte beverage can help to replace the salts that your body loses in sweating. A drink like Accelerade, for example, can help to top off these minerals by drinking 6-8 oz. every 1-2 hours.

•	On very long hikes, walks or runs, however, the continuous sweating, especially when drinking a lot of fluid, can push your sodium levels too low and produce muscle cramping. If this happens regularly, a buffered salt tablet has helped greatly: Succeed.

•	Many medications, especially those designed to lower cholesterol, have as one of their known side effects muscle cramps. Runners who use medications and cramp should ask their doctor if there are alternatives.

Here are several ways of dealing with cramps:

1.	Take a longer and more gentle warmup.

2.	Shorten your run segment.

3.	Slow down your walk, and walk more.

4.	Shorten your distance on a hot/humid day.

5.	Break your run up into two segments.

6.	Look at any other exercise that could be causing the cramps.

7.	Take a buffered salt tablet at the beginning of your exercise.

Note:

if you have high blood pressure, ask your doctor before taking any salt product.

Upset stomach or diarrhea

Sooner or later, virtually every runner has at least one episode with nausea or diarrhea. It comes from the buildup of total stress that you accumulate. Most commonly, it is the stress of running on that day due to the causes listed below.

But stress is the result of many unique conditions within the individual. Your body triggers the nausea/diarrhea to get you to reduce the exercise, which will reduce the stress. Here are the common causes:

1.	Running too fast or too far is the most common cause. Runners are confused about this because the pace doesn’t feel too fast in the beginning. Each person has a level of fatigue that triggers these conditions. Slowing down and taking more walk breaks will help you manage the problem.

2.

Eating too much or too soon before the run. Your system has to work hard running, and works hard to digest food. Doing both at the same time raises stress and results in nausea, etc. Having food in your stomach, in the process of being digested, is an extra stress and a likely target for elimination.

3.	Eating a high fat or high protein diet. Even one meal that has over 50% of the calories in fat or protein can lead to N/D hours later.

4.	Eating too much the afternoon or evening of the day before. A big evening meal will still be in the gut the next morning, being digested. When you bounce up and down on a run, which you will, you add stress to the system and results in nausea/diarrhea (N/D).

5.

Heat and humidity are a major cause of these problems. Some people don’t adapt to heat well and experience N/D with minimal buildup of temperature or humidity. But in hot conditions, everyone has a core body temperature increase that will result in significant stress to the system—often causing nausea, and sometimes diarrhea. By slowing down, taking more walk breaks, and pouring water over your head, you can manage this better.

6.	Drinking too much water before a run. If you have too much water in your stomach, and you are bouncing around, you put stress on the digestive system. Reduce your intake to the bare minimum. Most runners don’t need to drink any fluid before a run that is 60 minutes or less.

7.

Drinking too much of a sugar/electrolyte drink. Water is the easiest substance for the body to process. The addition of sugar and/or electrolyte minerals, as in a sports drink, makes the substance harder to digest. During a run (especially on a hot day) it is best to drink only water. Cold water is best.

8.

Drinking too much fluid too soon after a run. Even if you are very thirsty, don’t gulp down large quantities of any fluid. Try to drink no more than 6-8 oz., every 20 minutes or so. If you are particularly prone to this N/D, just take 2-4 sips, every 5 minutes or so. When the body is very stressed and tired, it’s not a good idea to consume a sugar drink. The extra stress of digesting the sugar can lead to problems.

9.	Don’t let running be stressful to you. Some runners get too obsessed about getting their run in or running at a specific pace. This adds stress to your life. Relax and let your run diffuse some of the other tensions in your life.

Headache

There are several reasons why runners get headaches on runs. While uncommon, they happen to the average runner about 1-5 times a year. The extra stress that running puts on the body can trigger a headache on a tough day—even considering the relaxation that comes from the run. Many runners find that a dose of an over-the-counter headache medication takes care of the problem. As always, consult with your doctor about use of medication. Here are the causes/solutions.

Dehydration—if you run in the morning, make sure that you hydrate well the day before. Avoid alcohol if you run in the mornings and have headaches. Also watch the salt in your dinner meal the night before. A good sports drink like Accelerade, taken throughout the day the day before, will help to keep your fluid levels and your electrolytes “topped off.” If you run in the afternoon, follow the same advice leading up to your run, on the day of the run.

Medications can often produce dehydration—There are some medications that make runners more prone to headaches. Check with your doctor.

Too hot for you—run at a cooler time of the day (usually in the morning before the sun gets above the horizon). When on a hot run, pour water over your head.

Running a little too fast—start all runs more slowly; walk more during the first half of the run

Running further than you have run in the recent past—monitor your mileage and don’t increase more than about 15% further than you have run on any single run in the past week.

Low blood sugar level—be sure that you boost your BLS with a snack, about 30-60 minutes before you run. If you are used to having it, caffeine in a beverage can sometimes help this situation also.

If prone to migraines—generally avoid caffeine, and try your best to avoid dehydration. Talk to your doctor about other possibilities.

Watch your neck and lower back—If you have a slight forward lean as you run, you can put pressure on the spine—particularly in the neck and lower back. Read the form chapter in this book and run upright.

Should I run when I have a cold?

There are so many individual health issues with a cold that you must talk with a doctor before you exercise when you have an infection.

Lung infection—don’t run! A virus in the lungs can move into the heart and kill you. Lung infections are usually indicated by coughing.

Common Cold? There are many infections that initially seem to be a normal cold, but are not. At least call your doctor’s office to get clearance before running. Be sure to explain how much you are running, and what, if any medication you are taking.

Throat infection and above—most runners will be given the OK, but check with the doctor.

Street safety

Each year several runners are hit by cars when running. Most of these are preventable. Here are the primary reasons, and what you can do about them.

1.	The driver is intoxicated or preoccupied by cellphone, etc.

Always be on guard—even when running on the sidewalk or pedestrian trail. Many of the fatal crashes occurred when the driver lost control of the car, and came up behind the runner on the wrong side of the road. I know it is wonderful to be on “cruise control” in your right brain, but you can avoid a life threatening situation if you will just keep looking around, and anticipate.

2.	The runner dashes across an intersection against the traffic light

When running or walking with another person, don’t try to follow blindly across an intersection. Runners who quickly sprint across the street without looking are often surprised by cars coming from unexpected directions. The best rule is the one that you heard as a child: when you get to an intersection, stop, see what the traffic situation is. Look both ways, and look both ways again (and again) before crossing. Have an option to bail out of the crossing if a car surprises you from any direction.

3.	Sometimes, runners wander out into the street as they talk and run

One of the very positive aspects of running becomes a negative one, in this case. Yes, chat and enjoy time with your friends. But every runner in a group needs to be responsible for his or her own safety, footing, etc. The biggest mistake I see is that the runners at the back of a group assume that they don’t have to be concerned about traffic at all. This lack of concern is a very risky situation.

•	In general, be ready to save yourself from a variety of traffic problems by following the rules below and any other that apply to specific situations. Even though the rules below seem obvious, many runners get hit by cars each year by ignoring them.

•	Be constantly aware of vehicular traffic at all times.

•	Assume that all drivers are drunk or crazy or both. When you see a strange movement by a car, be ready to get out of the way.

•	Mentally practice running for safety. Get into the practice of thinking ahead at all times with a plan for that current stretch of road.

•	Run as far off the road as you can. If possible, run on a sidewalk or pedestrian trail.

•	Run facing traffic. A high percentage of traffic deaths come from those who run with the flow of traffic, and do not see the threat from behind.

•	Wear reflective gear at night. I’ve heard the accounts and this apparel has saved lives.

•	Take control over your safety you are the only one on the road who will usually save yourself.

Dogs

When you enter a dog’s territory, you may be in for a confrontation. Here are my suggestions for dealing with your “dog days”:

1.	There are several good devices that will help deter dogs: an old fashioned stick, rocks, some electronic signal devices, and pepper spray. If you are in a new area, or an area of known dogs, I recommend that you have one of these at all times.

2.	At the first sign of a dog ahead, or barking, try to figure out where the dog is located, whether the dog is a real threat, and what territory the dog is guarding.

3.	The best option is to run a different route.

4.	If you really want or need to run past the dog, pick up a rock if you don’t have another anti-dog device.

5.	Watch the tail. If the tail does not wag, beware.

6.	As you approach the dog, it is natural for the dog to bark and head toward you. Raise your rock as if you will throw it at the dog. In my experience, the dog withdraws about 90% of the time. You may need to do this several times before getting through the dog’s territory. Keep your arms up.

7.	In a few cases, you will need to throw the rock, and sometimes another if the dog keeps coming.

8.

In less that 1% of the hundreds of dog confrontations I’ve had, there is something wrong with the dog, and it continues to move toward you. Usually the hair will be up on the dog’s back. Try to find a barrier to get behind, yell loudly in hopes that the owner or someone will help you. If a car comes by, try to flag down the driver, and either stay behind the car as you get out of the dog’s territory, or get in the car for protection if that is appropriate.

9.	Develop your own voice. Some use a deep commanding voice, some use a high pitched voice. Whichever you use, exude confidence and command.