Physio advice from Pivotal Health
By Nathan Vanderkuip from Pivotal Health:
Light at the End of the Tunnel!
We can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Congratulations to all who’ve made it this far –
race day is only three Saturdays away!
As a physio, I’ve seen the toll that running can take on the body. As a novice runner and first
time Knee Knacker participant, I have now been on the other side of that experience.
Having gone through the training, I can say that my foam roller and I have become very good
friends – I’m always much happier when we’ve had visits together. Regular physio and
massage treatments have helped to work out the kinks I can’t get at myself. In addition to
staying on top of physical care, I now understand more deeply the trials of nutrition and
hydration (boo to water sloshing in my belly; hooray for maple syrup!). Learning to modify my
goals as challenges come along with injury and illness has been tough for me as well.
Addressing the physical and mental components play a huge part in the success of reaching the
start line and being able to reach our goals.
At this point in the training, it’s pretty easy to get too excited or too down about our training and
current status as we continue to test our limits mentally and physically. It’s important to address
any physical concerns by staying on top of proper stretching and it can be beneficial to see a
professional who knows the sport to help with proper stretching exercises or to take your
training to the next level. Get some IMS into that hip flexor, have a massage on your ITBand,
ART on your calf or work on your gait. Taking care of yourself physically now will make these
last weeks more enjoyable and improve performance on July 14th. Trust a friend’s
recommendation, come and see us at Pivotal Health in North Vancouver or I’d be happy to
recommend someone from your area. Mentally, it’s best to focus on the why: Why did you enter
an event like this. Maybe it’s the joy in seeing the training through to the end, to pushing
yourself as much as possible, or maybe it’s a springboard to further summer adventures.
Whatever the reason you signed up for this crazy adventure, keep your focus on that feeling to
help get through these last couple weekends of training.
