SPACE-AGE WAY TO KEEP FIT
Fell-runner finds hi-tech way to train after injury
RUNNING UP mountains may sound like an unusual interest for a 22-year-old, but superfit Ruth Jones can’t get enough of it.
When most people would struggle just to walk up Yorkshire’s highest peaks, Ruth runs up them – for fun.
The Leeds physiotherapist, who was chosen to represent her country at the sport just a few months after taking it up, now has her sights firmly on a team GB vest.
But there is one thing putting her dream at risk – injury.
Ruth, 22, felt a severe stabbing pain in her right thigh which later moved to her hip while out on a training run.
“Considering what I do for a living I suppose I should have known better,” says Ruth. “I’d had a similar thing in my right femur, but not as serious. I probably didn’t help things as I went back to training a bit too soon.”
She was diagnosed with a stress response in her left femur, which is one step away from a stress fracture, and caused by overuse.
For Ruth the idea of months being unable to train was a nightmare.
“If I didn’t train then my fitness levels would fall and once the injury was healed it would take me even longer to get back to the level of fitness I need to compete at a high level.”
It was only after she started working at the Spire Leeds Hospital earlier this year that Ruth learnt they had a specialist piece of equipment which would not only aid her recovery, it would help to maintain her levels of fitness.
She is currently following rehabilitation programme which involved the support of a state-ofthe-art piece of equipment called the AlterG zero-gravity treadmill.
It is a machine used by elite athletes such as Mo Farah and Gareth Bale to recover from serious injury, which enables them to run without weight bearing. The AlterG is part of the hi-tech equipment in Perform Leeds, a rehabilitation, sports and exercise medicine and human performance centre based at the hospital where Ruth works.
“I’m lucky to have access to the AlterG which is part of the worldclass equipment we have at Spire Leeds Hospital,” says Ruth.
“I’m using it as part of my rehab programme which also includes strengthening exercises for glutes and hip muscles and using a watt bike. Nothing gives me the buzz that running provides though and it means I can still run to get my fitness back, which I wouldn’t be able to do without the AlterG. The hospital has been great and let me use the machine after work which is really helping my recovery.”
Developed by Nasa in the 1990s, the technology was originally designed to create a downward force and allow astronauts to exercise in space to prevent muscle atrophy.
Users are zipped into a pair of specialist neoprene shorts and a waist-high airtight bag which encloses the treadmill.
The space around their legs fills with air, lifting them up, allowing them to exercise at a fraction of their body weight and reducing impact and pressure on joints as they run.
“The AlterG accelerates recovery time. Marathon runners love it, athletes can train longer without risking injury, and those in recovery, like me, can continue training and get moving more quickly.
“I think the worst thing for me was not being able to run because I will run through anything, including pain, if I can. But being told that running would make it worse was upsetting. I think a lot of athletes would agree that the effects on your wellbeing are greater than the physical effect of the injury because running is how I deal with stress and it’s what helps me to unwind.
“Without this physio programme I don’t think I’d be anywhere near getting back on my feet. The plan is to be back at full fitness ready for next summer’s mountain running season and I’m hoping to achieve many more England vests and hopefully a GB vest.”
Ruth’s love of running first started with cross country running while at St John Fisher’s School in Harrogate and as a member of Harrogate Harriers.
She attended Salford University where she studied physiotherapy and it was there that she met her current coach Duncan Mason. “I represented Lancashire at cross country – my mum is from Lancashire so I am something of a pink rose.
Her coach suggested she do some fell running.
“I wasn’t really sure but I thought I’d give it a go and in my first race I came home the first female to get to the top but I took the wrong track on the way back down and so finished second.”
She started fell running for Lancashire and soon qualified for her England vest.
She represented England at the Home International Mountain Running Championships, was awarded individual bronze and won a gold team medal as part of the England mountain running team.
She then went on to represent England at the Smarna Gora mountain race in Slovenia where she finished seventh amongst some top international athletes.
“Running in Slovenia was an amazing experience,” recalls Ruth. “There is just something about running up hills that I love. When I am doing it I swear I will never do it again, but then you get to the top and the sense of achievement is amazing.”
Her favourite hills to run up are Ingleborough and Whernside – two of Yorkshire’s Three Peaks and at 2,372ft and 2,415ft respectively, they are a challenge for many to just walk up, let alone run up – but Ruth runs up them for fun. She is looking forward to being back training outside and getting her Team GB dream back on track.
The worst thing for me was not being able to run. England mountain runner Ruth Jones is using space technology to recovery from injury.