Along my running journey, I've had my fair share of injuries. Back when I was training for my first marathon (when the farthest I had ever run was 5 miles and I was pushing my body to new extremes every week), my knees started flaring up, my calf muscles ached and I experienced regular plantar fasciitis. Looking back, it's a wonder I kept up with the training... I made friends with ice packs and ace bandages, I started rolling around on tennis balls, and I took ibuprofen to ease the pain. More than anything, I just got used to the fact that running was going to be painful.
Fast forward two years, when running is mostly pain-free. Sure, a big part of that is having a better training base by now. I still get a strain or tweak every now and then... For example, my two October marathons left me unable to run for a month and a half. I no longer resort to drugs like ibuprofen to help (especially during runs) because they can be harmful for distance athletes... so what's a runner to do?
I have since found a solution to help speed recovery: a blend of powerful natural anti-inflammatories: turmeric, ginger, yucca root, licorice root, agar and black pepper. Simple, yes, but surprisingly effective.
Sure, you can buy most of these as spices and mix it up into some sort of concoction and drink it up, but that's a lot of trouble... And you better make sure you're getting quality ingredients, because the typical spices you find at your grocery store are not only irradiated (lowering their nutritional quality), but they also may be invisibly moldy and have been sitting around a while. I make sure the herbs I used are fresh and organic, meaning they'll be the most effective for what I need them to do. And I take them in capsules for easy consumption.
If you want to get in on the action, check out Get Back Up. It's the only product of its kind, and you can buy it online right now. It's all-natural, made with organic ingredients, and offers an effective blend of the herbs I mentioned above in easy-to-swallow capsules. It's the product I use personally, and I recommend it to anyone who takes running seriously or who really hates being injured.
Here's my personal protocol: If I ever feel a twinge of pain coming on, I take 2 to 3 capsules after my run (or right away if I'm not running at the time). If it's really bad I'll take another 2 to 3 that evening. It's always best to take them with food—particularly a fat source—because the herbs need to bind to lipids to be used by the body. Usually that squelches whatever injury was beginning to sprout, but if there are still symptoms the next day, I'll continue that protocol until they're gone. If it's a big monster of an injury, I'll take up to 6 capsules in a day.
I've also started preemptively supplementing with these herbs around tough workouts and races. I'll follow the protocol outlined above for the few days leading up to a marathon, or just on the day of a really key workout. And then after a really big effort, I'll take a few capsules. So that's my secret to recovery from running injuries, if you can call it a secret.
I've had great success with this herbal blend, and I've been fine-tuning it over the last several months. Since I've been following the protocol outlined above, I haven't had any injuries that stopped me from running—that's huge for me. I ran my first 50 mile this spring and was back running long the next weekend. It's great stuff.
Check it out!