The best exercise ever

The whole thing came entirely out of the blue. In an annual physical at the company where I work, the doctor was finishing up his routine and asked how I was feeling. I said great except for a sore knee. I told him I was worried the injury was going to keep me from running in an upcoming half marathon.

He proceeded to recommend an exercise he called 10x10x20s, which he said thought would help me get through the race.

You lie on you back, raise your leg ten inches off the floor and hold it for ten seconds.  Twenty  reps on each side.  Try to remember to do the “tens” after each run, he said. Then he gave me the name of a good sports doctor in town.

As an aside, next I discover that he's a runner and we’re both competing in the Quebec Marathon, a long-shot coincidence, given the event is a great distance from Des Moines and hardly well known in our parts as any sort of destination race.

But, what a great stroke of luck to have met this fine fellow. His sound advice led me to a successful finish of the race with minimal knee pain. I’ve continued with the exercise as often as I can remember to do so. My favorite time is when watching TV rather than right after a run.

A few years ago, I learned a routine from an excellent physical therapist who was trying to help me stabilize my form. That one’s done while lying on your side. You wear an ankle weight and lift your leg from a little behind your other leg, eight reps three times. She told me it’s probably the single best routine for what I needed at the time.

These exercises aren't miracle cures, but I suspect they kept me going at a time when it was starting to feel like I was coming to the end of the road with long-distance running.