Retraining muscles

This spring I have more time, and I'm absolutely determined to get running as well as I can. Many of you know my story: I spent five years partly paralyzed, eventually unable to walk without sticks. The problem was possibly of neurological origin. With a drastic change of diet and the help of NSAID's, I have got it about 80% back. Now for the remaining 20%.

I still need:
-to understand muscles better: (what makes them cramp? what makes them fatigue? how to avoid these problems, how to recognize why the muscles aren't performing, what the muscles need, and how best to supply it.
-training strategies: how to build up endurance without running myself into the ground.

I am taking a Pilates class, and have physiotherapy advice, but my physio is, alas, not a runner.

In order to make progress efficiently, either I have to understand running physiology, and perhaps a bit of what happens when nerves go wrong physiology a bit better. So books, websites, whatever would help. Or I have to find someone who does, and who would enjoy the challenge of training me!

The latteer is perhaps pie in the sky and probably prohibitively expensive anyway, so lets go for the former. Anybody got any ideas?

Comments

  • Tim Noakes, 'The Lore of Running'. That's pretty much the bible as far as exercise physiology is concerned....
  • Might I add Marlin & Coe, 'Better Training for Distance Runners', Human Kinetics.
  • I did once assist a physio working with someone with MS. They had some technique (cant remember the name of it - named after the person that invented it I think) that involved the patient shutting their eyes and the physio manipulating the patient's hands etc so they were touching different surfaces moving in different ways etc. They had to try and work out what their hands were doing even though they couldn't see them.

    I have totally forgotten the physiological reasons for this but I do know the guy did get benefit from it (well I suppose it could have been coincidence - but he did manage to roll back some of the effects of his MS) and that it was a particular technique/school of thought in physiotherapy.

    Your physio probably is aware of this - I just thought it might be worth mentioning. It is something you need a partner for but they don;t need any special skill once you know what to do.

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