Hey Reader,

How are you feeling this week? I hope the crud hasn’t infiltrated your house as much as it has mine. So many germs going around… and then we had the bright idea to have my 5 year old’s birthday party at Chuck E Cheese 😷. Needless to say I’ve had a sore throat for 3 days now after a week of sinus issues last week!

Now I’m less than 2 weeks out from my half marathon and have only run two, very short, very slow runs in the past week and a half. I missed my longest long run last week but am still hoping to get in my 8 miles later this weekend 🤞.

Before that half marathon training was going great! I just had one recurring pain after my long runs…

My neck and back hurt for a day or two after my long runs once I really started building my volume. My upper back would actually seize up if I moved too quickly later in the day, not horribly, I could still move through it, but it was annoying.

To prove that coaches are human too, because the pain went away in at most 48 hours and it didn’t stop me from moving, I let this go on for weeks even though I have the tools to address it.

So what was going on and how did I address it?

When I get tired when I run, I tend to hunch over at the top and just look down at the ground in front of me “just put one foot in front of the other.”

This hunching over compresses the front of my ribcage up top and puts me into more of a forward head posture.

You can see it in this before and after photo below. On the left is my posture before 12 miles on the right is my posture after. Note the head further forward and my chest sort of smooshed down in the after photo.

The chest compression and forward head posture makes it harder to breathe and forces me to use more accessory neck muscles to continue pulling air in.

Result: neck and back pain

What did I do about it?

Pre-Run:

I incorporated some breath work to help reinforce my stack, engage the deep core and open up the upper chest wall. Starting with a few breaths with my hands on the wall to get those low ribs down and deep core on and then finished with goal post arms shown at the end to lift those upper front ribs.

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Mid-Run:

Doing my best to keep my gaze 15-20 feet in front of me instead of staring down at the ground

Mentally checking in with my breath, including a few deep diaphragmatic reset breaths, regularly throughout.

Post-Run:

I revisit that Hooklying breathing from above with a more relaxed approach and just using the arms out to the side in the position at the end. Instead of long, “ha” breath exhales in that video I use a long slow hum to calm my nervous system as I get those full exhales. (I always recommend some nervous system reset after long or hard runs).

In my Strength Work:

I’ve also been using a few different strategies to reinforce that stack with my chest up and open during my strength sessions:

In general, I’ve been focusing on getting a full inhale in positions that promote mobility in the front ribs like the bottom of a pushup or chest press. I love this Foam Roller Wall Pushup as a way of doing that while bringing the hamstrings on to help create a good stack of my ribs over my pelvis.

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Additionally, between my front squats, during which I also struggle to keep that chest up, I’ve been adding in this Mini Wall Sit with Chest Wall Expansion. I do about 5 breaths in between each set of squats.

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After employing these strategies for just a week…

The next two long runs, no neck and back pain whatsoever!

I’ve posted little snips about this and what I’ve been doing to help in my stories and have had a lot of conversations via DM about it. This is super common among runners but often poorly understood. I believe this is because the conventional training world often neglects the role of the ribcage and breath.

You know I stay screaming from the rooftops… breathing is the foundation of it all!

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Your Coach,
Alison

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PS. I think something slightly different is happening with neck pain after speed sessions. More on that soon.

Alison Marie Helms, PhD Certified Personal Trainer and Running Coach Unlock your full running potential through physics and physiology. ​Work with me.​