This may be a basic workout, but we give some tips to make sure you are getting the most our of it!

Check out the video blog to learn about a great routine, and here is the link to the article that is open access if you want to read more!

Article

Check out other great core routines in the RunDNA app for easy prescription to your athletes. ([email protected] for app questions)

A little sneak peek behind the scenes of filming level 2 and a view into the materials we cover during the course. Being a Level 2 Certified Running Gait Analyst will give you the tools to confidently handle complex cases, but sometimes you still need to know how to adjust when things don't go according to plan!

Ask yourself what you would do in the case below. What are the "it depends" factors that would inform your decision?

Here is what we talk about during the course specifically saying what we would do:

1. When someone switches from a rearfoot to a forefoot strike patter we advise 72 hours between runs for the first two weeks. This allows for Type 1 Collagen (Achilles) to fully recover. The shift in foot strike position puts increased strain on the Achilles, so we must give it every opportunity to accept the load
2. Doing the squat ankle dorsiflexion program before all runs will help improve ankle dorsiflexion mobility. The runner may go into excessive eversion at...

Working with elite athletes is a great opportunity to test out your knowledge and skills. You need to have a comprehensive approach to treating the whole athlete, which the RunDNA ecosystem provides all the tools you need. 

Elite athlete are a different kind of athlete and there are things that must be taken into consideration. 

Watch the video to see Drew Hunter and I talk about three key elements of treating elite runners. 

I was very fortunate to have Andrea Toppin on the blog this week! Andrea is an amazing runner and is starting her career as a DC!

We cover topics ranging from her own training and what it is like to run in Olympic Marathon Trials to starting out a career focused on treating runners. We even dive into creating a sub specialty within treating runners. 

You can find more about Andrea on her Instagram @atop1212

Sorry you missed the video, we only had permission to share for one week! 

Below are some great takeaways from the interview!

• The role of the muscles is to hold the tendons stable while it recoils energy, especially in the bi-articulate muscles for runners
• Providing uniform strain through the tendon promotes steady remodeling within a tendon
• Achilles Tendinosis can be related to a strain distribution problem, leading to an alteration of load in the tendon. 
• Specific Factors Overloading the Achilles:
  1. Limited Dorsiflexion
  2. Poor Rearfoot on forefoot stability *
  3. Positive Ankle power on contact
  4. Poor hip contribution in gait
•  Patients need to earn eccentrics by being able to control rearfoot  while stabilizing forefoot
  • A great test is to watch someone doing multiple single leg heel raise and observe for a lack of rearfoot inversion at the top portion. If they fall into eversion before 20 reps they do not pass because this puts the Achilles into an elongated...

I get lots of questions about the most common changes in running gait, and overstriding is at the top of the list! Check out the video to learn what overstriding is and quick/easy ways to identify and correct it. 

I have also included a link to one of my favorite drills that you can download to help your runners improve form!

We will go into depth into overstriding in the Level 1 course, and in Level 2 we talk about the 4 sub-categories of overstriding. 

Runners love a good excuse not to run, so they secretly want you to tell them that they shouldn't run because they are having pain (Except not, they hate not being able to run and will likely not return to you if all you do is tell them not to run!)

So...if you want to work with runners getting their pain down is essential so that they can keep running without making things worse. Getting back to health ( and rid of pain) requires a comprehensive approach, but there are times that you just need to get an angry tissue calmed down so that you can continue with your other skills/knowledge. For me, laser has been a great way to get rid of pain so we can do the strengthening, gait retraining, and other things that will keep the pain away. 

I recorded a lecture with LightForce lasers for the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy that you can see how I use laser in my practice and how to appropriately dose laser for different conditions. 

Happy to share my own experiences...

Stephen Littlewood joins this post for an expanded look at Cardiac Drift and breathing. Stephen is a retired Marine Intelligence Officer who specializes in ultra endurance athletes and has a great practice in Virginia doing gait analysis and metabolic testing.

This expands on our previous blog post identifying what Cardiac Drift is. Check that out if you aren't familiar with it first, then dive into more detail here.

In this episode you will find:

• 3:00 For clients using smart devices that show heart rate, when should they monitor for cardiac drift and how will they know if it may be affecting their training
• 5:03 Cardiac drift impact on interval sessions and importance of recovery
• 6:57 Cardiac drift is something that we can monitor and train for, and we discuss training methods to limit the negative impact of cardiac drift
• 9:20 Heat acclimation
• 10:50 Saunas and why I want my wife to let me get one!
• 13:00 Non-training things we can do including nutrition, hydration, weight lifting
• ...

If you had to pick the two most influential articles that you read this year (could be from any year, you just have to have read them this year), what would they be?

One of my favorite parts about working with runners is that there is endless learning opportunities. I have a list of articles to read that would take me a month to get through, but these two below rose to the top of my list this year!

Below are the articles with brief summary and link. Please leave a comment here or in the Facebook group with your top 2 articles you read in 2020!

1. Moving Beyond Weekly “Distance”: Optimizing Quantification of Training Load in Runners Paquette et al 2020 (Think this is a free JOSPT article)
   • This clinical commentary discuss the enormous challenge in quantifying training load and why weekly miles is probably not the key. The articles discusses alternative methods including Session RPE and Acute to Chronic Workload ratios. Future research may look...