Getting greedy

Last week total running miles: 16 miles
Monday: 10 miles mountain bike/ 3 miles elliptical
Tuesday :6 miles mountain bike
Wednesday: PT
Thursday: 8 miles running
Friday: nothing
Saturday: 6 miles mountain bike/ 8 miles running
Sunday: nothing

Wednesday, I told the physical therapist I would keep the daily runs to around 4 miles, and then the next day I went and did 8 miles and then I did the same thing on Saturday. The run feels good, but the next day I end up being sore.I have to stop being so greedy and be happy with more limited miles.

I took out my box of old VHS tapes after reading Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and the Greatest Race Ever Run hoping to see if I have a copy of the 1989 Hawaii Ironman. I guess I didn't always label things well. I have a bunch of tapes that just have "Ironman" printed on them and there are tapes with all types of races from the 1980s and 1990s including triathlons, Olympics, World Championships, the Tour de France and other bike races and more. I am slowly going through them to see what it on the tapes and digitizing them. Here are two interesting segments I have found. The first is from the 2000 Boston Marathon when my school district would not allow me a personal day to run the Boston Marathon as the superintendent called it a "free and leisure time activity" that should not interfere with the school day. Instead of running the race, I taught a full day at school and then I went down to Hopkinton at 4:00 pm where I met racer director Dave McGillivray and I joined him in his "midnight shift" running of the Boston Marathon. I should have a few other news interviews from before and after the race on other tapes. This is the first one I found.



The other clip I found comes from the 1986 Bruce Jenner Classic 3000m race. I must have popped a tape in quickly while watching this race as I missed the beginning. My former Wheaton College teammate Danny Henderson was in the race. He is the guy at the back of the pack who quickly moves to leading the race as the tape starts. When I googled the race to find out more information, I found out that this was the last race run by Jeff Drenth. He suddenly died two days later according to this Sports Illustrated article.



 Jeff is the runner second from the right at the back of the pack at the first corner with the short arm swing. He is one of the Athletics West runners .

The Gait Guys on Hip Mechanics

 I am trying to strengthen my hips and straighten out my stride and mechanics after surgery for a labral tear in my hip. I have been doing PT and hearing and working on the same dysfunctions that I previously had (inward rotating knee and outward flared foot as well as post run glute medius problems), I have returned to The Gait Guys (they have moved their website) to find some interesting videos.

The first shows how to do a single leg squat as well as how not to do one (that collapsing hip and knee!).

How to (and how not to) do a single leg squat, CORRECTLY ! Here Dr. Allen has one of his elite marathon and triathletes demonstrate how to correctly and incorrectly do a single leg squat. The single leg squat can show many of the pathologic movement patterns that occur in a lunge. The single leg squat is more difficult however because it requires balance and more strength. Many people do not do the single leg squat correctly as you will see in this video. Many drop the opposite hip which means that there is an inability to control the frontal plane pelvis via the stance leg gluteus medius and the entire orchestrated abdominal core. Most folks will drop the suspended hip and pelvis and thus collapse the stance phase knee medially. This can lead to medial knee pain (tracking disorder in the beginning) , a driving of the foot arch into collapse and impingement at the hip labrum. We know that when the knee moves medially that the foot arch is under duress. This problem is often the subliminal cause of all things foot arch collapse in nature, such as plantar fascitis to name a common one. Remember, optimal gluteus medius is necessary here. And the gluteus maximus is working to eccentrically lower the pelvis through hip flexion. So, if you do not consider the gluteus maximus a hip flexor then you are mistaken. Everyone thinks of it as a powerful hip extensor and external rotator. But do not be mistaken, in the closed chain it is a powerful eccentric controller of hip flexion and internal hip rotation. We are The Gait Guys, Shawn and Ivo (visit our blog daily at http://www.thegaitguys.tumblr.com)is/ some more information that they added:

Here is some more information that they added: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2hX4qry5jY&feature=player_embedded

Now, Lets take another look from a little different perspective....


Watch carefully. Did you pick up the bunion forming on both feet (Hallux Abducto Valgus)? This tells us that this individual has a faulty foot tripod, and is not able to get the base of the first metatarsal to the ground (remember the tripod is the base of the 1st metatarsal (big toe), the base of the 5th metatarsal (little toe) and the center of the heel). As a result, the muscles which are supposed to be assisting in forming the longitudinal and transverse arches are pulling the big toe (hallux) laterally. This also means that the medial side of the tripod is collapsing and unstable. This can be seen at :05 as she descends into the squat. You will also notice that this drives the knee medially and is causing some collapse of the arch. You also see the big toe flexing to try and create some arch stability through the flexor hallucis brevis.

As Dr Allen Points out, keeping the arch stable requires core stability, muscular strength and good proprioception. It also requires adequate flexibility (ie Range of Motion) of the 1st ray complex (the proximal and distal phalynx of the great toe and the 1st metatarsal). This range of motion can be seen from :12 to :20 and again from :42 to :51

Dr. Shawn Allen of The Gait Guys discusses Gait Biomechanics again, this time pure hip biomechanics and how it applies to gait and running and compensation patterns. This is Part 1 of the Hip Biomechanics. This is essentially applied biomechanics.

In this second installment of applied hip biomechanics, Dr. Allen of The Gait Guys delves deeper into a complex topic and attempts to bring it to a level that everyone can understand and implement. Here he talks about the hip mechanics in relation to pelvic stability and gait. It is our goal to share as much of our collective 37 years of clinical experience as we can in a medium that is usable, friendly and understandable to all viewers. Thanks for taking time out of your busy lives to care about watching our videos. Shawn & Ivo, ....... The Gait Guys

I have read a lot about the mechanics of the hip, but these videos are starting to give me a clearer picture of exactly what is going on. Dr. Allen helps demonstrate the workings of the hip in an easier to understand way. Here is another set of three videos showing you how to engage your glute medius and abdominal muscles to create a pattern for correcting form patterns.

Here Dr. Shawn Allen of The Gait Guys works with elite athlete Jack Driggs to reduce a power leak in his running form. The Cross-over gait is a product of gluteus medius and abdominal weakness and leaves the runner with much frontal plane hip movement, very little separation of the knees and a "cross over" of the feet, rendering a near "tight rope" running appearance where the feet seem to land on a straight line path. In Part 2, Dr. Allen will discuss a more detailed specific method to fix this. You will see this problem in well over 50% of runners. This problem leads to injury at the hip, knee and foot levels quite frequently. To date we have not met anyone who had a good grasp on this clinical issue or a remedy quite like ours. Help us make this video go viral so we can help more runners with this problem. Forward it to your coaches, your friends, everyone. Thanks for watching our video, thanks for your time. -Dr. Shawn Allen, The Gait Guys

Here Dr. Shawn Allen of The Gait Guys further discusses this gait problem in running form. The Cross-over gait is a product of gluteus medius and abdominal weakness and leaves the runner with much frontal plane hip movement, very little separation of the knees and a "cross over" of the feet, rendering a near "tight rope" running appearance where the feet seem to land on a straight line path. In Part 2, Dr. Allen will discuss a more detailed specific method to fix this. You will see this problem in well over 50% of runners. This problem leads to injury at the hip, knee and foot levels quite frequently. To date we have not met anyone who had a good grasp on this clinical issue or a remedy quite like ours. Help us make this video go viral so we can help more runners with this problem. Forward it to your coaches, your friends, everyone.

Here Dr. Shawn Allen of The Gait Guys summarizes this gait problem in running form. The Cross-over gait is a product of gluteus medius and abdominal weakness and leaves the runner with much frontal plane hip movement, very little separation of the knees and a "cross over" of the feet, rendering a near "tight rope" running appearance where the feet seem to land on a straight line path. In Part 3, Dr. Allen will discuss a more detailed specific method to fix this. You will see this problem in well over 50% of runners. This problem leads to injury at the hip, knee and foot levels quite frequently. To date we have not met anyone who had a good grasp on this clinical issue or a remedy quite like ours. Help us make this video go viral so we can help more runners with this problem. Forward it to your coaches, your friends, everyone. Thanks for watching our video -Shawn and Ivo......The Gait Guys

Just be careful about how much work you do!





Update:
This new book from the author of The Entrepreneurial Patient blog is a must read book for anyone with hip problems and is thinking about about arthroscopic hip surgery or has had arthroscopic hip surgery for a labral tear or FAI.

Goals

Total: 20 miles running this week

Monday: 11 miles mountain bike
Tuesday: 2 miles on Treadmill (first time post surgery on treadmill).
Wednesday: PT
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: 4 miles
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 6 miles mountain bike followed by 4 miles running.

The goal this week was to try to hit 20 miles of total running without doing any 8 milers. It wasn't easy. It still feels like I need a full day off after each run, so to do four days in a row of running was stretching it. I feel OK when running, it is after running that the muscles around both hips get really tight. I have been doing strength work using ankle weights to work on the hip muscles, but there is a lot of work yet still to be done.

I am still very happy to be out running as I am way ahead of schedule. I have an appointment with my hip surgeon at the end of this month and I thought then when I had surgery and was given this appointment back in July that I would not start running until after seeing the surgeon.

My main goal is to be able to run pain-free and to get back to the conditioning that I had a year ago. Being able to run each day would just be great. Of course, I would like to be able to run as fast or faster than I had been doing before the surgery. Unless some setback happens, I can't see why this would not happen, although I am giving it a year post surgery to regain what I lost in my year off from running (and paradaoxically to lose what I gained in the year of not running- ice cream weight!). I feel I am well on my way towards this goal as the surgery seems to be a huge success for me. Before surgery, I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to run again.

I do have specific time and race goals I would love to reach once I am fully recovered. If I get to that point I would be thrilled, but I know it will take time and a lot of work. I won't publish those as some may think I am nuts. I do have one specific goal for the next couple of years that I truly wish to make as long as I remain injury free and can run more efficiently . I would like to go sub 3 hours in a marathon again. If I can do the training without the pain and imbalances that I have had for years, then I think that after 2-3 years of solid running I could reach this goal. In May of 1980, I ran my first sub 3 hour marathon and if I run another one I would make this international list of longest time spans between first and last sub-3 hour marathons. I am a long way off from even racing a 5k, but a healthy me will definitely put a year or two of dedicated effort to reach this goal.

Back in 1985 I could swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles,
and run 26.2 miles in 10:20:13, could I ever
do those same distances again?

This week, I finished reading Iron War about the epic Hawaii Ironman battle between Dave Scott and Mark Allen back in 1989. It reminded me how much I loved doing triathlons in the 1980s and being somewhat of a pioneer in the sport in New England during that time. I completed 5 Ironman distance triathlons between 1983 and 1987 and always wished to get back into triathlons again. I have also come to realize that the way I set up my bike and pedals for triathlon racing probably is what started to destroy my hip as I have been fighting that bad hip ever since that first year of triathloning. It would be a a great statement to my body to complete another Ironman distance triathlon one day in the future. I could get truly behind that goal, but I am not sure I want to make it a real goal as I have already done that in my past. I do think once I have done a marathon again, that I could do a 2.4 mile swim (easy), and then get back to biking and build up to complete 112 miles on a bike. I wouldn't have to do the events on the same day in race, but to do all three distances again in the same year, season, month, or week would be a goal that I could someday certainly accomplish and I think that doing so would be a wonderful goal for me. So I have goals, they are a long way off as I just try to get a few miles in at a time right now, but I have goals, and that makes for good motivation!

Slowly buildling up mileage

Total of 17 miles of running this week. Probably should not do the 8 milers just yet, but a run doesn't feel like real training if it is not at least 8 miles. Saturday's run felt pretty good stretching out my legs for the first time to a somewhat decent pace. Sunday and Monday however, I felt the efects of the run in various muscles surrounding both hips and the lower back.

Monday: 3 miles recumbent bike, 1 mile run, 2 miles elliptical at the YMCA
Tuesday: 8 mile run
Wednesday: PT
Thursday: 0
Friday: 0
Sat: 8 miles 7 minutes faster than previous two 8 milers
Sun: 0 miles

I am enjoying doing all my running post surgery in the Hoka One One Bondi B. They look huge, but are lightweight and feel very good when running in them. I wasn't sure how I would like them, as I usually can't stand built up shoes and always like lightweight racers, but these feel surprisingly more like a lightwieght racer than a built up shoe.

The Purple Runner

More miles and Physical Therapy

Before I had my arthroscopic hip surgery for a labral tear, I had read to expect to start running 2-3 months post surgery if all things went well. This Monday was the 8th week post surgery and today was exactly 2 months. I did not expect to start running until the end of October. This week I ran 21 miles. Things are going real well.

 Monday: 5 miles in Mine Falls
Tuesday: 4 miles (first run on roads post surgery)
Wednesday: recovery
Thursday: first physical therapy appointment
Friday: 8 miles on the road (felt good- about 2 minutes slower per mile than normal)
Saturday: 4 miles road
Sunday: 10 miles mountain bike
Total 21 miles
I was really tempted to run 4 more miles today to make it 25. I could have, but it wouldn't have been smart. My hip feels good, but I still get tight hip flexors and a day off from running sounds smarter than to just push things.

Thursday I went to physical therapy for the first time post surgery. I had to ask for it, just to make sure I am doing things correctly and to move things along without getting hurt. It was a smart decision. I went back to Leigh Boyle at Pinnacle Physical Therapy. Leigh also runs the excellent Athletes Treating Athletes website and blog. It is an hour drive to get there and I am sure there are thousands of physical therapists working closer, but I want to go where I can get the right treatment and advice. Leigh worked on my hip last winter, so it was interesting to see what she thought of my surgery. I think she was surprised that I was running already as she said most doctors don't give the OK to run until 3 months post surgery. I had been told to start light jogging just weeks after surgery and as long as I felt OK, I could run. This is partially why I wanted to see a physical therapist. Why ruin the surgery by running too soon.

 Leigh tested out my hips range of motion and she was impressed by what it can now do, that it couldn't do last winter. My internal and external rotation is greatly improved. I asked her about the "synovial impingement" that was debrided. She said that along with the labrum (which was torn) this tissue was supposed to hold my femur in place. It was not. When she would mobilize my hip last winter, it was just clunking around with no support. Now post surgery, it is good and secure. She said that I was really messed up last winter and that my leg could not extend back properly. I was given four stretches to work on. It is nice to do them as they take away the tension in the muscles around my hips after a workout. They are all stretches that I have tried in the past with my bad hip, and that I learned to avoid because they would pull my femur around in my hip and lead to problems more often then a solution. Now I feel that my hip joint is solid and it stretches the surrounding muscles rather than mess up the joint itself.

This has more meaning for me post surgery: it wasn't the win, it was how I did it.

Anyhow, the discovery of the tear, the surgery, and now the recovery makes me feel strangely proud of the many years I have been running with this bad hip. I recall many times trying to explain how that hip didn't seem to work right, how it had no stability and clunked around, and how I literally had to concentrate on every running step for years just trying to make it work. I am sure many people thought I was nuts and just liked complaining. Last summer, my goal was to beat that hip up and work it as hard as possible to try to fix it and I knew that if nothing worked, I had to consider a "tear" or possibly surgery of some other kind. In July I ran a week of 75 miles and another week of 85 miles (52 miles in 3 days). I raced a lot. In August I ran 12 races before finally giving up at the end of the month knowing that my hip really needed fixing. I think of one race in particular, the Moose on the Loose 10 miler. I wanted to win my age group because it was an RRCA state championship race. My hip felt horrible in this race. I felt like I was running on one leg and using the left leg for support and balance, but it just seemed to be "stuck" in positions that didn't make it easy to run. Every step was miserable. I had to work hard to pass a guy ahead of me win my age group, but no one will really know how hard it was to move during that race. Performances like that are something I hope I never have to replicate, but it makes me proud that I persevered.



I also showed Leigh the pictures from my surgery (as seen here). She said ideally they should look white. The labral tear (in red) shows how bad it was and the yellow in the bottom pictures show old debris. It is a good thing I got that surgery and it feels good to know I am on the path back to running pain free again.

Congratulation to Patrick Makau for setting an official world record in the marathon this morning in Berlin. I still think the two faster times run at Boston this year by Geoffrey Mutai and Moses Mosop should be recognized with Mutai being the world record holder.

Watch more video of 38th BMW Berlin Marathon 2011 on flotrack.org



Update:
This new book from the author of The Entrepreneurial Patient blog is a must read book for anyone with hip problems and is thinking about about arthroscopic hip surgery or has had arthroscopic hip surgery for a labral tear or FAI.

Beating Galen Rupp

Week 7 post hip surgery. After two weeks where my running mileage totaled 12 miles each week, I dipped back into single digits this week hitting just 8 miles of running. I am just being careful of my hip (actually the surrounding muscles and just giving them time to adjust). My hip flexors and left glute medias or piriformis gets tight after running some days. I did have a few post surgery landmarks, however. Anyhow this weeks totals: Monday: zippo Tuesday: 5K miles Mine Falls Wednesday: 5 miles recumbent cycle, 5 miles indoor cycle, 2 miles elliptical Thursday: 10 miles on the elliptical machine at the YMCA- former best was 7 miles Friday: 10 miles mountain bike in Mine Falls Saturday: 3 miles indoor cycle, 1 mile in 7:14, 3 miles recumbent cycle, 1 mile in 6:53 Sunday: 5k run in Mine Falls then 3 miles cool-down on the recumbent cycle at the YMCA Friday I did 10 miles on the elliptical before the program finished. It won't let you go beyond 2 hours. Saturday, I was inspired to try to break 7 minutes for a mile on the YMCA indoor track (previous best post surgery was 7:30. I was happy to do that the second time around, but was sucking wind big-time. The corners on this track (9 laps = 1 mile) are not as easy for my hip. Sunday I was inspired enough by Galen Rupp's recent 10,000 meter American record to beat his time for 1/2 the distance. Galen ran 26:48 in Brussels. I wondered if I could run that fast on the Mine Falls 5k course. My best time post surgery had been 27:29. I was happy to run the course in 25:33. By next spring, I hope to shave another 6 minutes off that time to be where I was last summer with a bad hip, and then if all keeps going well, to start getting faster after that!

Starting All Over Again

I had another successful week testing out my hip to see what I can do. For the second week in a row I did 12 miles of running, however last week I did no gym work. This week I also went back to the YMCA to work on the bikes, elliptical, and indoor track. I also went out mountain biking for the first time post surgery.
Monday: nothing
Tuesday: 5 miles run. I felt OK during the run, but my piriformis or glute medius got real tight after the run and into the next day. I decided to be careful of pushing too much.
Wednesday: 10 miles recumbent bike, 5 miles stationary bike, 2 miles elliptical
Thursday 5 miles stationary bike, 2 miles elliptical, 1 mile run
Friday: nothing
Saturday 10 miles mountain biking-felt great- only a bit of difficulty getting my leg over the crossbar, 1 mile run, 1 mile elliptical, 1 mile run, 1 mile elliptical, 1 mile run
Sunday: 5k run through Mine Falls Park

I am being careful to not hurt things, my hip feels fine, but the muscles around it can act up a bit. Last Monday, I called my doctor's' office to see if I really was OK to run. I was told it was find as long as it doesn't hurt. I called again today and asked for a referral for PT, just to make sure I know which exercises to do and which to avoid to speed things along.

I saw this video posted on two sites that I follow last week:  Better Movement and Conditioning Research. It shows one of the greatest explorers of all, a human baby, as she learns to move. Babies work hard to figure things out, we sometimes forget how to move and our bodies become rigid and locked. This leads to a lot of aches, pains, and improper movement patterns. The video reminded me to continue to practice Feldenkrais movements, particularly after surgery. I have written plenty on Feldenkrais before as it is a gentle and powerful way to get back in touch with how your body should move, just like the baby in this video. Despite having plenty of Feldenkrais audio lessons I decided to try out The Fundamentals of Better Movement as well as Becoming Bulletproof: An Uncommon Approach to Building a Resilient Body. I will review them later at another time as well as review Martha Peterson's The Essential Somatics Pain Relief Through Movement DVD. I found her website through this link on labral tears two days before heading to Kenya and learned a few of her Somatic exercises that literally kept me out of pain for the longest time in over 25 years (you have to explore more on her website- look for posts written in February on the hip). I was free from the pain that I normally get and can never fix the whole trip. Except for the day when we flew to Kenya, I was able to control all pain by doing less than 5 minutes of exercises that I found on her website. The whole flight to London, I was very uncomfortable because I did no exercises that day. When we stopped to change flights to Nairobi, I did the exercises and I was fine the rest of the way as well as the rest of the trip. Every time I felt like things were getting out of balance, I did the exercises and I was fine. Some of the exercises are similar, but presented in different way with the Feldenkrais movements on "The Fundamentals of Better Movement".