So, is it safe to start running after the menopause?
The short answer to that is, ‘Yes, absolutely!’
But there are certain things you've got to keep in mind to help you avoid injury.
So, in this video, we're going to look at why it's actually a good idea to take up running
after the menopause.
And then second, I'm going to share some tips that can help you avoid injuries if you really
want to take up running.
For those of you don't know me, my name is Maryke.
I'm one of the physiotherapists from sports-injury-physio.com, where you can get online physiotherapy assessment
as well as treatment for your injuries.
Have a look at the description of this video if you want a link to our website.
Okay, so why would you possibly consider taking up running after the menopause?
Now, there are specific benefits that running can offer you if you've gone through the menopause.
We've done a previous video about all the different things, how the menopause affects
your body.
Now, some of the main things that happen, and this is mainly due to the oestrogen levels
decreasing, is that you lose some of your muscle mass, or more quickly.
You struggle to build new muscle, and your tendons can be affected, that they struggle
to produce new cells and they struggle to replenish themselves, and you are quite prone
to injury then.
Also, it affects your mood and your sleep, which isn't brilliant.
Now, the good news is that it's been shown that exercise can help either alleviate all
of these things or at least decrease how badly it affects you.
And running is a brilliant choice of exercise for that, because firstly, it helps to stimulate
your bones.
So, the weight bearing impact of that has been shown to keep your bones stronger for
longer and also help rebuild new bone.
Also, it's a strength training exercise really, because it helps to strengthen the legs, so
it can help maintain muscle strength for you in your legs.
And it improves your mood and your sleep as well, so it can help in that way.
Also, it helps to strengthen your tendons, because you use your tendons of your lower
body during that ... when you run.
So, now that we know that running is actually a beneficial thing to do after the menopause,
how can you do it cleverly, or start running if you've not run before, or you've had a
long break from running, and you've gone through the menopause?
The first thing is that we have to remember that once you've gone through the menopause,
your body can't recover as quickly from exercise as it would do before.
And this is even for people who's run all their life.
If they don't adapt how they train after the menopause, they're more prone to injury.
And the reason for this is that whenever we do exercise, doesn't matter what you do, even
if it's just cleaning the house, our body accumulates micro-damage.
And this is absolutely normal and actually what we want, because it's that micro-damage
that signals to the brain that, 'We've got to rebuild these cells stronger and tougher,
because I want to be able to do these things.'
Now, it takes a certain number of hours after an exercise session for the body to take away
the injured cells and rebuild them and make the new cells lovely and strong, that you
can do more exercise afterwards.
If you don't allow that full recovery period to happen, that's when injuries happen.
And when you have … When you've gone through the menopause, because your oestrogen levels
are lower, you don't quite recover as quickly as you used to.
So, it's important to keep that in mind, because I'm going to come back to that in all of these
points.
Now, you've not run before, or you’ve had a break of several months or a year or so
from running.
What's the first step to do?
Is build up your walking endurance.
So, if you've not been walking regularly for at least 30 minutes at a brisk pace for two
or three times a week for the last six weeks, you should first work on your walking endurance.
And this is for two reasons.
One, it helps to ... It places a load on your tendons and your bones and your muscles, and
it produces the base strength that you need in them to actually then take up a run-walk
programme, which is the next step.
So, you have to build up that strength and endurance for walking first before you can
go on.
But the second important thing about that is, it can help you to start understand your
body; it can help you understand how your legs and your body feel and experience the
exercise you're doing and how many recovery days you require, for instance.
So, whenever you do exercise, especially when you've gone through the menopause, use the
period after that – the next few days – to see, ‘How do I feel this morning?
I did my exercise yesterday.
How am I feeling when I wake up?
Can I feel I've exercised, or does it feel quite OK?
Do I feel fine to go again by the afternoon, or can I still feel that my muscles have worked?’
Because those are all signals that will tell you whether you've actually recovered fully
or not.
Now the second point for if you want to take up running is, once you've built up your run
… your walking endurance, start with a run-walk programme then.
Now, a run-walk programme is simply a programme where you do a minute or so of running and
then a bit of walking.
And the reason for that is, your tendons and your muscles and your bones all take a lot
more strain, or there's a lot more stress put on them, when you start jogging than when
you just walk.
So, they won't be strong enough yet to cope with continuous running for long periods of
time.
Also, you may find, if you've not done other cardiovascular exercise, you're going to get
out of breath, and it's going to feel like really hard work.
And it's so common that … I've got so many friends who never run in their life, and then
take up running and say, ‘Oh, I can't run because I get too out of breath!’
Well, it's actually because you're trying to do too much for your level of fitness;
you've got to allow your body to adapt.
So, a run-walk programme is brilliant for that, because you do a short bout of running,
easy jogging, not fast, and then you're walk and allow recovery, and then you can jog again.
Now, there are quite a few different programmes out there that you can look at, but the NHS
has a couch-to-5K programme that works quite well for people, usually.
Let me just see if I'm not letting anything out from that bit … Oh yes!
The other important bit for this is – besides the point that your body needs to strengthen
through the run-walk bits – is that running form is quite important.
So, what do I mean by running form?
It's how your body moves when you're running or jogging.
Now, when we get tired, we have poorer form; we just don't control our bodies, we sag into
things.
So, it's better to, especially at the beginning, use a run-walk programme and concentrate when
you're doing that minute of running.
‘How am I feeling?
Am I being nice and upright?
Am I keeping a good posture?
Or am I slagging?
Am I allowing my legs to turn in too much?’
So, those are all things that a physio can help you with and advise you on.
But yes, so, walk-run programme is absolutely brilliant.
So then, if we look at Point Number 3: It can be quite challenging when you're training
with other people, or you have other people around you to not feel that you're too slow
or you want to be faster.
But remember, speed is relative to what you've done in the last six weeks.
So, if you've not run at all, then even a slow jog is quite fast for your body, and
to run faster, our muscles have to contract more forcefully.
They'll be more forceful … more force going through your tendons as well as your bones.
And those are all things that you have to build the strength in those structures over
time.
So, remember that cycle that I spoke about earlier, where every time you exercise, you
accumulate a little bit of micro damage, but then the body repairs it stronger for the
next session, so you can do a little bit more?
And that process literally takes months and months and months, and to get from not running
at all to running a really nice fast 5K … can take a couple of years sometimes.
So, speed is always relative to what you've done in the past.
And honestly, don't even worry about building or trying to do speed workouts until you've
built a good volume of slow jogging in a week, and you got to that point where you can do
5Ks at an easy pace without even thinking about it.
Only then should you start thinking about building speed into it.
You will find in any case that if you just continue to run on a regular interval, so
two to three times a week, your speed will naturally improve, because you're going to
get stronger, you're going to get fitter, your cardiovascular system is going to improve,
your muscle strength is going to improve.
The way you run – your running style – will improve, because you'll just get fitter.
So, for new runners the best way to get faster is just to keep on jogging and get fitter.
So, please do not worry about how ... or what your pace is; run at the pace that's good
for you.
And usually, a good guideline for that is, you have to be able to have a conversation
with somebody while you're running; that shows you that actually, your breathing is not too
heavy and it's an easy jog.
Now, if you've got a fancy watch like mine, Garmin, or any other type that can tell you
about your pace or your heart rate, something like that, have a look on the Internet.
There are … You can find programmes that go on heart rate, that we call ‘heart rate
training’.
And they make you look at how fast your heart is beating rather than what pace you're running
at, because your heartbeat tells you how hard you're working at, actually.
Now, don't be shocked; it always annoys the living daylights out of me when I start one
of those programmes, because I always feel I should be fitter, and I should be able to
run faster.
But my heart rate usually gives me a reality check and goes, ‘Uh-uh, you're not actually
this fit at the moment.
You have that fit in your head, but you've been lying on the couch for three weeks.
You're not that fit, really.
You’ve got to go slower.’
So, those programmes can be really good to help you avoid injuries and go slow enough
at the beginning.
Good!
Enough about that.
So then, if we look at Point 4.
Point 4 is, take your time.
And with that, I mean that whenever you have a training programme … Say, for instance,
you get one from the Internet or you even have a running coach who prescribes you a
programme; they can't tell how quickly your body's going to react and recover after a
training session and how well you'll be able to keep up with that.
Usually, we give programmes that is a best guess for your situation, but then you've
got to observe and see what your body does.
So, I would say, for somebody who's totally new to running, running two to three times
a week is max, because you need enough recovery times in that week.
Also, you'll see, a typical run-walk programme will start with just walking and then after
a while you start adding in a minute or two minutes of running.
And then, as you build the volume, the running will … the minutes of running will become
more, and the minutes of walking will become fewer.
But what I want you to do is not follow that programme like a slave.
So, for instance, say, my programme says, today I've gotta do two minutes of running,
one minute of walking, repeated six or seven times, and I feel that actually, I'm quite
happy when the walks come, that I'm quite tired, and by the end of the programme I go,
‘Ooh, that was a relatively hard session!’
That means that I'm likely not okay to do more the next session.
It would be better for me if I repeat that session a few times, that I become totally
accustomed to it.
Because remember, it's not just about my tenacity; ‘Can I do this?’
It's actually about, is my cardiovascular system adapting to this; are my muscles and
my tendons able to build the strength they need in such a short space?
So, say for instance, you do a session today, and then in two days’ time you're meant
to do a session that's slightly harder or more running or something like that, and you
still found this session quite hard, I would say, repeat that session until you feel, 'Okay,
now I'm ready to move on.'
You'll do yourself a favour to take it a little bit slower at the beginning rather than trying
to push.
Good!
So that's Point Number 4: taking your time.
Then lastly, the fifth one is strength training.
Now, the term strength training can put people off, because immediately when you think, or
when I think of strength training, I see people sweating, I see people lifting heavy weights
and getting quite tired.
Now, that is not what I mean; strength training comes in many forms.
Now, if you're somebody who's regularly strength trained, you've gone to the gym, you've done
all your classes, you've been doing stuff, then that may be how strength training looks
for you.
If you've not done any strength training or any exercise that's strength building in the
last six months or even longer, then even just doing body weight exercises will count
as strength training for you, because the level you enter at is quite low.
And also, it doesn't have to take masses of time, because that's the other thing, people
think: ‘I don't have time in my day to fit in strength training.’
But actually, if you go to somebody who can look at your situation, look at, ‘Okay,
how much time do you have in the day?’ and pick three or four exercises that work several
muscles at the same time, you can get away with 20 minutes twice a week of strength training,
and that will already make a difference.
I've just realized I've not told you why you should be doing strength training.
The whole reason why strength training is important to avoid injuries or to prevent
injuries – and this is even for people who are regular runners, it's not just for people
after the menopause – is, you need a good base strength in your body to keep a good
running pattern and to help your muscles have better endurance and cope with running.
So, there's a lot of research out there to show that regular strength training for runners
can help to prevent injuries.
Very well!
Hope you found this useful.
Now remember, if you need any help with any of these aspects, we can help you at sports-injury-physio.com.
We can help assess your base strength.
We can work out – depending on what you tell us you want to be doing, what equipment
you want to be doing – what exercises would be best for you.
And then we can look at what type of running programme you want to be doing and possibly
advise you on how to best adjust it around your life.
Because that's something else to remember: If you have certain days in the week when
you're already on your feet a lot and doing lots and lots of walking or standing, those
may not be the best days to go for your run afterwards or do you strength training afterwards,
because your legs are already tired.
So, thinking about the whole day as well and where best to fit these things in that your
body can recover properly.
Brilliant!
Let us know if you've got any questions.
And remember, if you need more help with an injury, you're welcome to consult one of our
physios by video call; link to the website is in the description of this video.
Take care!