Hi all I am looking for some perspective to help me have realistic expectations. I have never been athletic my entire life (including public or high school). When I turned 48, I decided to start working out, found running, and fell in love. I run to stay healthy and I happen to enjoy beer and salty snacks (my only vices ) so I must run to avoid middle age spread. But I'd like to continue to run and race longer distances. I have struggled, though, every time I try to increase my distance. I run into piriformis problems, my ITB yells at me and now I've discovered shin splints. Is this normal? I don't even run fast - I'm a back of the packer as they say, and I really don't feel that I'm over-doing it. My theory is that since I don't have a good strong base developed in my formative years, I need to lower my expectations with respect to improvement in speed or distance. Anyone else here have a similar situation? How do I remain injury and pain free and achieve my goal of a half marathon next year? Thanks Ruru

Ruru, I had a killer case of ITBS my first year running (3 yrs ago). I've had piriformis problems too. In fact, I think ignoring and running through my piriformis problems contributed to my ITBS. Now having been a lifelong athlete in other sports, I did the totally stupid thing: ran too darn long on both issues and got full-blown, ugly cases of each. What I had to do was some acupuncture (because of aggravating the injuries by running on them!), and then myofasical release massage with a fantastic massage therapist. She's not a sports-specialty person, but had been previously a physical therapist, and an occupational therapist, and she's just flat out "present" as we strategized over my issues. We also combed the internet and developed a stretching routine (including using a foam roller) that has kept me injury free for well over a year now. And, come to think of it, I haven't had a massage since April due to family issues and have kept running, so I guess that routine we developed is really working! Here's a lot of what we did: http://www.anaerobic.net/runnersguide.html Also, I got rid of my motion control shoes and switched to all neutral running shoes. I really think that as a barefoot person most of the time, too much shoe really got in the way of "me". I'm not saying this is so for everyone, but if you are in motion control shoes, it might be worth trying a neutral shoe in your rotation. Also shoe related is that I have scoliosis (since birth) and have a 7 mm leg differential. Since I'm a mid-foot lander, using a heel lift is useless. I now build my own left shoe up in each shoe (not the full 7 mm -- just about 4 mm net) to keep me in a more normal range. I have to say that luckily, I have my MD/acupuncturist, chiropractor and massage therapist all on the same page, supporting my running fully. Everyone agreed on an active recovery -- run right up to the point where the first twinge happened and then stop. It really helped me add the 1/10s and then miles back to my schedule. Another thing they all agreed on was to not run slower than a 10 min mile. They said stay fast and short, vs. long and slow for these injuries. So, I really worked on my speed. I wasn't to increase my distance without maintaining pace. I have to say that even now, when I get tired and slow way down, I can feel my ITB and piriformis issues, so I'm truly a believer in the maintain pace thing, though I have no idea if it would work for anyone else. Good luck and let us know your progress!

Ruru, I also started really running at 52 after a very non-athletic life. I can also say that the most problems I had with knees and other nagging pains were in the first two or so years. Then I gradually modified my mechanics, went to a podiatrist and sorted out my shoe issues (got prescription orthotics), and from then on it was a steady improvement in durability. So I am just going to encourage you to keep at it and things might just toughen up enough that these injuries will go away. Good luck in your fitness pursuit!

Lots of good points already posted..... but I'll go ahead and throw in my 2 cents. I've found as I've grown older (now 58), that the injuries come a lot quicker than they did in my 30's and 40's ... in fact I ran for over 15 years without an injury. Since then I've been an injury waiting to happen ...... I've had ITBS, piriformus syndrome, PF (now in both feet), strained calf muscles, popping knees and I'm sure I'm missing a few. Every injury is different in the way you have to deal with it and if you can train through it or not. When I had ITBS I found that the long runs killed me, but I could do speed work without much stress on the ITB. Piriformus syndrome virtually crippled me for a few months and I don't know if it was the stretching I was doing or stopping all running for 6 weeks that made it go away. A few of the things that I've learned in my 50's is that a good slow base building can help prevent injuries as well as proper form and not over striding. I was amazed when I tried shortening my stride and going for a quicker turnover.....my popping knees became instantly cured. Tetsujin's suggestion of running barefoot to try to teach your feet a mid-foot strike really works...one of my last bouts of PF, while everyone told me to always wear shoes with cushioned heels, I decided to see what running barefoot would do for me...even though I limited the amount of barefoot running, within a few weeks I wasn't heel striking anymore. I think bottom line is to listen to your body....pay attention to those little aches and pains and try to correct any problems before they get too big. Whenever I have an injury, I will try to get as many points of view as I can for curing or preventing the injury. These running boards are a great resource of knowledge. Some things work for one person and may not work for others....but just about anything is worth a try.

Ruru, I love your determination to start running, keep running and aim for a half marathon. You've received lots of good advice. Here's my bit: 1.) Are you really at peace about being a slow runner or do you secretly hope that sometime everything will click and you will be faster and healthy? A total non athlete I started running at 60 and was excited about each small achievement. I was very slow but thought I'd see steady improvement. 5 years later I run about a min/mi faster. In my third year of running I decided to drop the frustration and commit to the goal of enjoying what I was doing and staying healthy period. Sometimes I "race" but only for the experience. It's so easy to watch others progress and think "if I go four days a week like X does then I'll be faster" or "breathing like Z does will help me go longer".... Assess your own goals and know that we all think you're awesome no matter how fast or how far you go. The HM goal can be a motivator, but don't let it be a bully. 2.) Do you do any cross training? Running does pound the body and regular stretching sessions, swimming, biking...can help balance the stresses and maintain fitness. 2 x week yoga classes and core classes are crucial to making my 3x week runs possible. Be sure to check in again and keep us up to date on your progress to your first HM.

Wow! I am overwhelmed by the support and advice. Very very very much appreciated. I have found such great information on this site on how to detect and treat injuries and I'm using that to take care of my current challenges. (Ice, foam roller, ibuprofen, etc.) I was - and still am - worried about the cause of these injuries. During the past 3 years I have seen a sports doctor, had physiotherapy and was running in orthotics and stability shoes. I think what's going on here are 2 things. First, I increased my mileage, and that is just going to take time to get used too. I don't think I overdid it too much but I am slowing down a bit now that I have finished my 15k birthday celebration run. The other thing that happened was that I got new shoes. I have been wearing the same pair sanctioned by my pedorthist for about 6 months, and they were wearing down and I could feel twinges of pain so I went to my local running store (a chain) to get new shoes. The person there told me to get more neutral shoes so I bought his recommendation. I have worn and run in these shoes for about a month. I suspected that shoes might be contributing to the problem, so I went back to the store and a different staff member said that the ones he sold me were not neutral shoes but actually had more stability than the ones I had originally came to buy. Soooooo.....I am going to do a few things 1. Run long runs with my orthotics and the new (same as the old) shoes. 2. Run short runs without my orthotics in the old shoes (Hate to see them go to waste) 3. Start cross-training. I will re-start my pilates class. 4. Do the exercises (for ankle and gluteus medius (sp?)) as recommended by physiotherapist daily. I'll let you know! ~R

{{{{{{Ruth}}}}}}}} The single thing that made the biggest difference in my running health was by adopting the "running by heart rate" philosophy. Parker and Maffetone have written excellent books on the subject, and I think there is probably a low heart rate training thread on one of the other forums. Basically, I was tired of having PF, ITBS, hamstring injuries, etc. Even though I had to do 14 minute miles to keep my heart within my easy aerobic zone, I stuck with it. I didn't see the phenomenal success within weeks that some people report, but after a few years, I can do 9 and 10 minute miles with my heart rate at an easy aerobic rate. Best of all, I haven't had any significant running injuries since I started this training. If you don't want to mess with a heart rate monitor, just keep 70% of your runs at a conversational pace, and you will reap the benefits.

The continuing saga... Well, the shoes I was told were more stable are not, so that's not the problem. I sent a note to the running store chain because it is frustrating to get conflicting information. I have kept up the exercises: clam, bridge, ankle, squats. I am trying the mid-foot strike suggestion. I find that if I lean forward so my head is over my toes, I feel much better. I think that's an element of the chi running philosophy. I do find that I feel that I'm running very slowly, but I know that every mile builds my fitness, so I'm not going to worry about it. Thanks again for all your help!