Advice from runners please.

[Lizcanrun]

Hello all, I just did my 1st half marathon (😀😀😀), but had several injuries in the run up (no pun intended) and during the event battled with pain in my groin, quad & hip in my right leg.

Up until now, my strengthening exercises have been a mixture of things given to me by the physio to fix injuries. I need to do more preventative than reactive exercises.

My question is this. If I were to do something like yoga or pilates would that do the job? Or do I need to do stuff specifically for running?

Thanks in advance

Liz

My question

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold]

Hia, that is just such a difficult question to answer, as I think everyone is different. I think your visits to physio will continue to add very targeted exercises which I think are - in my limited experience with physios - almost as always very effective.

A daily short-ish Yoga or Pilates practice (15-25min) has proven for me to be very effective for a baseline flexibility and strength.

So my practice has always (or rather since graduating C25k and starting S&F some years ago) included daily flexibility (yoga or stretches) and I top it up with some targeted work a few times per week.

But yes, I found the YWA daily yoga sessions immensely helpful to my running.

[Lizcanrun in reply to CBDB]

Thanks CBDB.

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to Lizcanrun]

One added thing to mention, I originally only used foam rollers rather than daily yoga. But when starting daily yoga, I could stop with foam rolling almost completely and only did this once in a while. So there must have been something to it, with daily yoga practice providing a great all round flexibility session, with some gentle strength work thrown in.

So if I had to choose only one single daily S&F activity to support my running, I’d go for Yoga.

(And I’d go for Yoga more than Pilates, as it is slightly more all rounded and holistic looking at your whole body and specifically breathing)

Yoga with Adriene YouTube channel is great for getting into a daily short practice.

(But I think you may know all that already)

[Lizcanrun in reply to CBDB]

Thanks, it all sounds very time consuming!

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to Lizcanrun]

Have you looked at the Yoga with Adriene daily calendar? It was actually quite easy to fit this in in the morning or evening. Many sessions are quite short and as long as you have a smartphone and access to YouTube. You’ve got your follow-along workouts right there:

yogawithadriene.com/calendar/

Hope you find something that you can fit in.