I guess I should explain. I am a Physiotherapist by trade I helped design EEGO flip flops and I like to run. There is the link. By no means am I a fast runner and will never break any marathon speed records but I have been blessed with the ability to go “long”. I have never run an official marathon before but I have run 100km in a day, 450km in 10 days and also 550km in 12 days as part of some crazy adventures. This year on November the 4th I will run in (well compete in) my first official marathon, The New York Marathon. I have been lucky enough to have been granted a ticket to compete so that I can accompany a client and friend, Mina Guli, on the start of her epic journey. This journey is 100 marathons in 100 days all to raise awareness of the Worlds Water Shortage. We are not going to go fast as there are 99 more to do after this one but we do have to make sure we break the 6.5 hour mark.
Running 100 marathons in 100 days is no easy task. Combine this with the fact they are all over the world and it just becomes ridiculous. We complete our first two marathons in New York, then we jump on a plane and fly to London where we run pretty much straight from the airport. Over the next ten days we run a marathon a day whilst making our way to Rome. By this stage we are only 13 marathons into our 100. The trip then goes to Uzbekistan, India, Hong Kong, China, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, South America and Central America before returning to North America to finish in New York again exactly 100 days after that first marathon.
How do you train for something like this? I would say there is no one specific way to train. You need to make sure you are doing something that would test you like you are going to be tested in your activity. When trying to complete 100 marathons you are not going to be going for speed. You need endurance. Therefore you must train long and slow. Spending long amounts of time on your feet is a must. You do not have to run marathons every day but you have to make sure you can spend long periods of time on your feet day after day after day. This is of course not the only thing you need but to list everything here would take pages and thousands of words and that would put even the most avid runner to sleep.
The mention of sleep leads nicely into the next piece of advice I have. If there is one major thing I have learnt having been involved in these adventures twice previously it is that you have make sure you do everything you can to recover after a days running. You must listen to your body, fuel and hydrate it properly. You must also rest and get off your feet. If you have to walk around you should be in comfortable footwear. Unfortunately after being in running shoes for hours a day you want to give your feet a rest from being enclosed, so that means your footwear choices are limited. I would generally like to be in flip flops to give my feet that rest. They should be supportive if possible. Listening to your body allows you to give it what it needs. Sometimes I don’t care what the text books or scientists say, if your body wants a peanut butter sandwich or a bag of potato chips then have it. On an event of this nature you are burning through calories fast. As I mentioned before we are not trying to break speed records so one tenth of a second is not going to change the result. You need to run, drink, eat, rest, sleep and then do it all again.
If you are ever thinking of attempting something crazy of the running/adventure nature and would like to hear from some people that have tried some truly ridiculous stuff then give us a shout. Hopefully we can help to make your preparation that little bit easier and also give you some idea of what to expect. Good luck with your own adventures.
]]>Traditionally people are told they have flat feet or high arches. Whilst this may be the case, having flat feet does not automatically mean that this is the cause of your pain and high arches does not mean you are immune to the same problems. The issue is the amount of movement that occurs at your feet as you walk or run. If you have flat feet that start flat and stay flat when you walk or run, you may have no issues. The same applies to high arches. The problems occur when you put your heels down and they roll inwards causing a knock on effect. The more movement that occurs after heel strike the more likely you are to have problems. As your foot rotates inwards the lower leg also turns in. This causes the knee to turn in which can have an effect on the lower back. The lower back is not the only part affected. The inward rotation of the knee can cause problems such as runners knee or ITB friction syndrome. There is the possibility of shin splints or, even worse, stress fractures in your lower leg due to excess rotation. The feet are not immune either. There is achilles tendonitis/tendinosis and plantar fasciitis. All big words for pain around the heel. Big words or not I can assure you they can be very painful.
All this from having mobile feet! What can you do about it. The key is control. If you control the mechanics of the feet then you can help correct the knock on effects up the body. How do you control your feet? There are a few ways. You can become extremely strong in the postural muscles around your feet, ankles, knees, hips and low back. This requires a lot of effort and constant work. The alternative is to control your feet with orthotics. When designed by a qualified podiatrist they can be extremely comfortable and very effective in controlling your foot mechanics. A podiatrist can try taping your feet to simulate the control of orthotics before prescribing them to you. The best orthotics look to control your heel and support your arch. This combination offers the ultimate in stability and comfort for your feet. When first wearing orthotics you should listen to your podiatrist and wear them in gradually. A few hours a day at first then two hours extra per day until you can wear them whenever you like. On wearing them you should experience no sharp pains or get any blisters. Some aching can be expected as you get used to your orthotics. You can have them designed for your running shoes, exercise shoes and work shoes, so there is really no excuse not to be wearing them everywhere.]]>