Almost over
I’m almost there. 5 days from now, I’ll be done with the studying and I can get back to normal life again. You know. Running and whining about it. :)
I went to see Karen tonight to finally get a look at my running video analysis. What she does is send it in to the head ART guru and they do a web conference call thing with other paticipants and then he runs the video and analyzes is on the web while other people can comment about what’s going on. Karen videotaped the session on the computer screen, which was kinda bizarre to see but it worked out well.
He talked about the same problems that Karen had pointed out but with stop/slow motion he could draw lines and stuff and show what was lining up and what wasn’t. In the video my right knee actually comes in behind my left knee as it moves forward again after the push off, and then whips around the left knee and then whips back in again.
From behind I could see the effect of the foot rotation problem on the left foot when I toed off. As the heel is coming off the ground, the femur begins to rotate inward (knee coming inward), the heel then rotates outward to accomodate the imbalance, the toe rotates inward to accomodate that imbalance, and I get the funky toe inward look in the “trailing” foot. You can’t see this exactly in a side shot, but dead-on from behind its obvious.
Here’s a shot of my feet from the marathon. Take a look at my right floppy foot. The heel rotates outward, the toe rotates inward, the femur rotates inward (see the direction of my knee).
Have a look at the pic of my feet with Dianna’s again (Mine are the hairy ones :) ) and you can see me doing it there with the right foot again.
In the video it seemed as though it was mostly with my left foot though and not so much on the right (I think I remembered that correctly). Uh, please ignore the BLATANT heel strike and locked front knee in both photos. Geeeez. How embarassing.
This is all linked ofcourse to other problems farther up the chain. My hips, glutes, and adductors. The adductors are way too tight and need to be lengthened (as opposed to just made more flexible). My glutes are too weak, and allow my hip to drop when my foot is up, and also are not strong enough to oppose the over tight adductors. My hips have a general problem of inflexibility which prevents me from opening my stride up behind me as I run.
So as this leg that is twisting comes down, all the force goes to the abductors, to try and hold it from totally buckling inwards. Since it is turned partially already, and the abductors are fighting tight adductors, the abductors eventually fatigue and I end up with ITB pain (uh, yeah, again). .
At least that’s the theory. Karen feels that if I can eliminate or significantly reduce this problem, then the shin pain will go away as well. The calves balance all that stuff, and the twisting foot and all on the ground makes them work extra hard.
So on TUESDAY when I can finally begin to workout again, I start with my stretching work, and working my glutes and adductors. Wasn’t I here before? I think I was doing this for my first attempt at a marathon. The only difference was, that I also worked the adductors and did NOT work on flexibility. So maybe I built up good muscles to oppose tight adductors, but did not fix the root problem.
Sigh.
Lots of work to do.
November 9th, 2005 22:50
abductors, adductors, who can keep it all straight?? it all sounds sadly familiar though. When you get done with whatever exciting thing you are doing, can you tell/show us what exercises you do for tight add/abds? This is such a cool analysis. Very helpful!
November 9th, 2005 23:06
Good analysis. And I’m glad you’re trying to find the root of the problem instead of trying to run through it. Have you tried yoga? Great for flexibility, especially Bikram (hot) yoga. Oh, by the way, when you get the video CD I sent you, play it on your computer, not your TV. It works better that way.
November 10th, 2005 05:20
Jon, this sounds so familiar. My PT has me doing new exercises to strengthen and stretch those areas as well. He had me do the exercises in front of a mirror and darn if my left knee didn’t cave in each time I tried to squat or lunge.(I thought I was strong, but it was only my quads) This morning I can really feel it in my hips! Good luck. Let’s share exercises:)
November 10th, 2005 07:20
What a great analysis they gave you! That’s really cool. In the past couple of months I’ve started yoga and I’ve really noticed that I’m rarely sore the day after a long run. My flexibilty is really starting to come along. I doubt I’ll ever be able to contort myself into a pretzel and join the circus, but if it helps me be able to sit down and stand up without groaning on Mondays then I’m all for it! Good luck on your exam!!
November 10th, 2005 07:48
Jon, I feel your form pain. I have the exact same problem with my form, but mostly with my right foot. I kick my right heel out and my knee rolls in (both but more with my right). I am thinking of sending a video to the chirunning website and have it analyized. Let me know how it goes with this place. I’m excited to hear what your results are.
November 10th, 2005 09:27
That’s an excellent analysis. It may be a lot of work, but on the bright side, you know exactly what needs to be done. It’s all about having a plan, yo.
November 10th, 2005 12:58
jeebus, it all sounds so painful when you put it that way!
November 10th, 2005 14:35
Good luck with it Jon. By the way…nice legs. :-)
November 10th, 2005 15:02
Jon,
Tight hamstrings are the #1 cause of low back pain. Tight calves contribute significantly to decreased strength and flexibility in a number of proper posture forms. For example, it’s nearly impossible to do a perfect squat (without weights) if you have tight calves. As a result, your entire trunk will lean forward to compensate. It’s amazing how everything in the body affects everything else: from head to toe! Best wishes for your recovery and retraining your muscles to work properly. Does Karen do muscle retraining with vibratory platforms for proprioception work?
November 10th, 2005 18:04
my feet do the exact same thing! And are the root of my shin problems as well.
November 10th, 2005 18:12
Yikes. Who would have thought that putting one foot in front of the other could be so complicated? Good luck with resolving things.
November 10th, 2005 22:28
Can you just trade in your whole body and get a new one??
Poor Jon. Good luck at the House of Pain.
November 11th, 2005 12:20
I have to concur about the yoga — when I was going regularly, I feel like I ran better. It helps relax you, too. Unfortunately, no time to do both and running wins out.
That’s a great analysis — makes me want to try it, but I’m afraid to see the thighs that close up. On screen. In motion. Anyhoo, hope you can put that info to good use.
November 11th, 2005 15:29
Wow! How cool was *that* little exercise?! It was completely obvious to me ~ a total layman ~ that something is going on there. What a good idea. And then to have somebody who knows about these things give you next steps, that’s just brilliant.
November 12th, 2005 08:40
Wow, that inward swinging knee in the marathon pic is impressive! Looks like your legs are doing alot of extra work. It seems as though you’ve hooked up with the right people to guide you in correcting the imbalances though, so you’ll be totally ready for our 30K!!
Good luck on your test!!
November 12th, 2005 17:48
Comment number three supporting YOGA. If you lived in CT, I would drag your cute little legs with me to my yoga class. You would love it, you can’t help but love yoga. I swear it is the fountain of youth, trust me. Sign up for a course. Good luck with your recovery, can’t wait to read about your next step. Extra good luck on your test.
November 12th, 2005 23:10
I too advocate the yoga thing! And for me…the hotter the better!! I think the work you are doing with Karen is great and you’re obviously getting to the core of the problem. Best of luck with everything (test too!) Be well.
November 13th, 2005 20:54
but how great to know what to do!