Running Injuries? Stop Running.

I read this article in Competitor about the 5 most troublesome running injuries. It made me think about my transition from distance running to a more balanced training program. Why? Because, I suffered with 4 of the 5 before I stopped running entirely. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. My lower body was a disaster. My right heel hurt, my shins both hurt, my knees were growing more uncomfortable and my lower back was unstable. My love of running was slowly killing itself through overtraining.

Since running was the only activity in my incredibly unbalanced training program I looked for something different and found CrossFit. I chose it because it looked fun and, most importantly, has almost zero running. My weekly mileage went from over 20 miles to less than a mile. On rare occasion I ran a 5k.

I quickly realized my run-all-the-time training program left me pretty one dimensional. I was weak and inflexible. I failed to complete an Air Squat Tabata after a less-than-impressive 3 rounds and failed like a Plebe trying to do 2 minutes of push-ups. Since I had a lot of room for improvement I decided to give it a year and see what happened.

Over the course of a year (July 2008 to July 2009) I stuck to the plan and barely ran. It was tough. I missed the long trail runs the most. So, when the year was over I went back to one of my favorite trails to test myself on a 7 mile loop I ran once a week before I stopped. To my surprise, I was almost as fast as before. More importantly, I hurt a lot less and suffered none of the injuries that plagued me for years.

I switched to CrossFit Endurance shortly thereafter and follow their programming to this day. I remain injury free and am faster, stronger and more flexible. I should also note that I am not an endurance athlete of any note. Just a regular guy who enjoys running and wants to run with his grandchildren (in 30 years). I have no doubt my lower volume training will allow me to enjoy running even when I'm an old guy.

America is Awesome

Today is the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. I asked my son's teacher if they were discussing it in class. They are not and that's a shame.

It's a shame because the initial response to Pearl Harbor and our stedfast dedication to finish the job in both the Pacific and European theaters speak directly to the American character we must promote to our children. When we entered WWII we were the underdogs. Our economy was still struggling to recover from The Great Depression, we were not overly industrialized and our military was relatively small. Despite the challenges in front of us we thrust forward and eventually won a hard fought victory against Nazism, Fascism and Imperialism.

When FDR spoke to Congress on 8 December 1941 he never mentioned "fairness", he didn't ask "what did we do to deserve this?" he simply stated that (and I'm paraphrasing) America was attacked and now we are going to kick your ass.

When my grandfathers joined the service they did so because they believed that America was worth fighting for. They believed that Liberty was better than tyranny and they were willing to die to make sure I had a chance to live in a World blessed by America's greatness.

This American Spirit must be passed on to our children or they won't understand the wonderful gift God gave us when we were born free humans in the greatest Country in the history of the World. Today they are surrounded by people telling them "America is soft", "America is unfair", "America is no better than Cuba". Rubbish!

America isn't soft, our political leaders are weak and pathetic...on both sides.

America isn't unfair, it's the only place on Earth where a poor kid from a bad neighborhood can become a billionaire in one generation.

America is better than Cuba and every other country on Earth. Period. I'll debate that with anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of the obligation we have as Americans to suck it up, put our boots on and get to work. If that work is destroying three horrible regimes half a world away or getting out of a recession it's possible to succeed with hard work and dedication.

That's why it's a shame that my son won't hear about Pearl Harbor in school today.

God Bless America.

PS: I hope Army crushes Navy this weekend. Go Army!