Re: Headaches hours after long runs

If not due to dehydration, then I would next look at muscle tension in
shoulders and neck. If you are tightening up arms or shoulders as you
run longer...and get tired, then the muscles up the neck will feel the
tension. If they are not released from the tension, the tightness can
and will often cause a headache. Even more likely the problem would be
not balancing the head on the shoulders which is caused by looking down
from 6 to 10 feet in front of you. By doing that, the neck muscles are
having to hold up a 10 to 13 pound bowling ball, i.e. you head for 15 to
26 miles. So not looking at the horizon can be a pain not only in the
neck but in the head as those neck muscles are so tight that they pull
the tendon sheaths inserting into your skull.

What to do:

1. You have a sky hook in the top of your head. It is attached to a
helicopter which continually pulls your head vertically upward so that
your head is balanced over the shoulders. When you look down, you lower
your chin not your neck. May be where the saying "Get your head screwed
on straight" started.

2. To loosen the neck muscles. Interlace your fingers together with
the thumbs pointing up. Place the interlaced hands behind your head so
that the thumbs are resting on either side of the back of the neck. By
relaxing your shoulders and letting your elbows move slightly forward
you can put a lot of pressure with your thumbs on the neck muscles on
either side of the neck. If you nod yes a quarter of an inch up and a
quarter of an inch down, you can feel those muscles under your thumbs
relaxing. Start again and this time nod "No" and your can feel the
torque of the muscles under your thumbs.

3. Sit erect in a straight back chair. Have a friend, significant
other place their elbows in your shoulders on either side of the neck.
As they push down with their elbows into your shoulders with pressure
and some discomfort, but not creating pain, slowly raise your arms from
either side without raising the shoulders.

Remember the arms are pendulums that swing forward and backward in sync
with your foot stride. The pendulum is from the shoulder to the elbow.
If your arms are not swinging then you are carrying them for 15 to 26.2
miles. That lack of movement can be another cause of the headache.

Finally, if you are able to rotate your ring, you would be close fisted
to some extent. After 20+ years of running, I run with what Tai Chi
people call "Fair Maidens Hands." My hands are open and relaxed.
Sometimes as I run, as the hand swings forward, I stretch the fingers
forward.

Let me know which, if any, worked for you.

In health and on the run,

Ozzie Gontang
gontang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Maintainer - rec.running FAQ
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-newsgroup/rec/rec.running.html
Director, San Diego Marathon Clinic, est. 1975

Mindful Running http://www.mindfulness.com/mr.asp



In article <1133287943.640258.305620@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
lanceandrew@xxxxxxx wrote:

> Just wondering if anyone had some advice on what might be causing my
> headaches after long runs. In general, I wind up with a somewhat
> incapacitating headache several hours after I finish a long run--I'm
> currently working on building up for the LA marathon, so I'd like to
> take
> care of the problem before the runs get much longer. The headaches are
>
> consistent with what occured the last time I was training for the LA
> marathon (back in 2000) and they increased in severity as the long runs
>
> approached the 20 mile mark.
>
>
> My first thought about this was that it must be a dehydration issue,
> but
> that seems to have not panned out. I'm guessing that drinking enough
> water
> to have clear urine and a need to urinate about once an hour is
> sufficient
> to prove that I've got enough water in me.
>--------snip---------
> Thanks,
> Drew
.

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