Check out the leg...

During the last park run I did, Matt was chief photographer and it wasn’t until we were looking at the photos a couple of days later that I noticed just how bad my lower limb biomechanics are :o(

Looking at this picture I’m sure you can see that my left leg (the ‘dodgy one’) is massively rotating inwards as I’m swinging the leg through, no-wonder I get injured so easily, my gluteal muscles are clearly crap! My left knee wants to kiss my right knee, and although I don’t have a picture of the same stance on the opposite side, I’m pretty sure the problem is not as severe, and I certainly haven’t had any symptoms to tell me otherwise!

So where did these problems all start?  That is the question. Could it be something that’s been building over the years of misuse or being very right-handed/footed? Or maybe a congenital problem? I know for a fact that my mum has hip dysplasia so could I have it too? and if I do would it present like this? On the other hand could it be due to my flat feet? So many questions and as a physiotherapist it’s always easy to assess others and give out professional opinion on diagnosis but there’s always the question of what came first the chicken or the egg!?  Did my thigh pain come as a result of flat feet, or did my flat feet come from dodgy hips and weak gluts!? Who knows and does it really matter? At the end of the day lets treat what we see (refer back to photo). Going back to one my first blog posts about my form (31^st July2011), this picture shows a classic example of the twister-see how my arm is crossing over my body and my hip is twisting inwards (internally rotating). Ideally the toes on the left foot should be facing the floor, NOT the opposite ankle argh!!

So it seems after all my ‘form’ practice, its not quite there yet-I’ll keep working on it- lunges, squats, single leg dips, clams and continuing with the old ITB foam roller is much required and for much longer I’d say before its perfect….and maybe I really do need to think about a regular Pilates fix...or running barefoot to get the muscle we were made with working properly again!?

What I have learned from this is that no matter how you think you run, there’s nothing forgiving about a photo/video so get someone to snap you and you can start working on any issues you seems to have!

Good luck!  

OMG

(oh my Garmin!!!)

So I'm sure u remember when I first starting to rant and moan about my bleeping poorly Garmin a couple of weeks ago which was irritating both myself and other runners during my first park run!? Well since then I got in touch with the nice and extremely helpful people at Garmin who went through some trouble shooting with me but unfortunately nothing seemed to be working so I had to pack him up and send him off to be fixed :( I've coped ok, running with a buddy helps and iPhone apps are always easy to fall back on although having no way to carry my phone was a bit

pants-tucking it under my sweatband was uncomfortable, precarious and very inconvenient if I was to have any idea of my current pace or distance. The sensitive touch screen meant that every time I tried to pull back the sweatband to see how far I’d run, I ended up at the home screen or opening up another random app! Anyway after a week and a

bit UPS pulled up and yippee my Garmin - just in time for a trip to my parents down in Cambridge and a scheduled 18-20 miler phew! Only it wasn't my Garmin... They'd only gone and sent a brand spanking new one-Score!!! :) How's that for customer service! With a full year warranty to boot. So now I will no longer feel lost in transition while running (slightly worrying how reliant you can become on the old GPS)!

So three days later I’m back home having secured a new 5k PB of 20:52 at Milton country park in Cambridge (second female to a 12 year old who’s mother was very unimpressed that her other daughter wasn’t second!!) ahhhh well!

Then just yesterday I did an epic 18 miles accompanied by my wonderful mum (on her bike) who helped me along the way providing jelly babies, water and encouragement. Scenic views along the way and a torrential rain down pour made it more bearable, although for mum just cold and wet :o( !! Towards the end of the 18 miles, my legs started to cease up so mum and I decided it would be a good idea to take Eddy Izzards ‘Marathon man’ advice of an ice-bath (in my case just a bloody cold bath as not enough ice cubes to fill a bath), I lasted all of 5 minutes before caving in to a hot shower!! And the banana and strawberry smoothie a-la-mum for recovery was awesome J

But today I am ache-free so maybe there is something in the ice bath theory and protein recovery shake?

EPIC FAIL...(ish)

So after a week of building up and hoping to be first lady again, it all went to pot on the day. I suppose everyone has good and bad days and in theory this should have been an easy win, however drinking too much water before leaving, and arriving late are two bad combinations for success!!! Walking from the car park to the start line, hubbie in tow to take photos, he tells me ‘you have 3 minutes’!

PANIC, I need the loo first argh!! So I leg it to the track and everyone is braced and ready to start, the usual pre-run brief is happening so I just say to myself, hold I in, it’s only 3.1 miles, be over in 20ish minutes, then I can go.

On your marks, get set, GO….and were off!.....uh oh this isn’t good, round the track and out onto the park, Matts to my left snapping away and I just think, I’ve gotta go, so spin round and run back to the club house. Shouts from fellow runners ‘you can’t give up that easily’ (thanks Simon!), and Matt-‘well you’ve blown it now’-I’m sorry but I have no choice-really didn’t want to do a Paula Radcliffe on a 5K park run! Ironic really as this is the running club she trained at as a junior! Once I’m out of the loo pretty much everyone is out of the track and on the park, right sod it just go for it…….I feel light and energetic so maybe this won’t turn out too bad after all, overtake a few mums running with buggy’s, a guy with a dog and a few chilled out runners having a chin-wag while ‘jogging’, they’re obviously not too fussed about getting a PB, down the slop, round a corner and hear a shout ‘go Sam’…its one of my patients who volunteers to marshal the park runs! argh-how embarrassing, the steep hill hits but its all good-I have energy in my legs (must have been that banana I had before I left), overtake a few more people puffing and panting, and a guy with a kid on his shoulders-good on him, round the corner about half way and Matts there on a bench camera at the ready-‘smile’ J (see pic!!)...

Suddenly I notice there is only a few ladies in front-hmmm maybe I can come near the top/1st after all, come on legs and lungs lets get ‘em! Down the slope again more encouraging shouts from my patient really help especially as the killer hill is coming up again, second time round always a feels like running through treacle!! Ahhh back onto the flat and I can see the finish, round into the track, Matt encouraging me ‘your third lady’!...well that I wasn’t expecting, I wonder if I would have got a PB if it wasn’t for the pit stop? So I did it in 23:25, only 1 minute 16 seconds after the first lady-YAY!! Not so annoyed with myself after all!    

Lost without my Garmin :o(

So another week and another weekend of successful running…Garmin-less as its been sent off to the fixed/replaced!!

I completed the Park run this Saturday knocking 6 seconds off last weeks time and coming 10^th overall (out of 94), 1^st lady :o) (shame it wasn’t next week as it’s Woodbank parks’  2 year Park-run anniversary so may have got a prize!!). Plus I should point out I’d been out until 2am drinking cocktails the night before!!.....I know I said last week this probably wasn’t advisable, but I woke up early and thought oh sod it why not!!

Then on Sunday I had 14 miles on the schedule- this would be a 1^st for me as up until then I had only completed 13.1 miles and that was while racing. So a bit daunting to say the least but I had a good running partner whom I met on ‘Jogging buddy’, he’s also working up to Chester Marathon so we took it in our stride together. Having said that, he’s a bit ahead of me and did 19miles in total, he ran to mine, did 14 with me then ran back….that’ll be me an a couple of weeks I hope! We kept it steady at 8:30 pace, this is sooooo much easier to do when running with someone, and it seems conversing while running is a good way to maintain a steady pace, if you can’t talk for shortness of breath, your running too fast!! A bit of sun and a few drizzly spells also helped, not like the scorcher of a run I did a few weeks ago that nearly melted me! Gladly Jason had his running watch to check distance and pace-otherwise I’d have had no idea, at one point I felt like I was going super fast-but no it was the lead-legs coming on towards the end that made an ‘easy’ pace not so easy!!

So in conclusion, a good weekend of running with no niggles so lets look onwards and upwards for the next challenge…16-18 next Sunday……and maybe being 1^st again in the park run!??......

Less is more...

So this weekend I decided to vary my training and signed up to do a ‘Park-run’. These are organized runs all over the UK www.parkrun.com (and randomly Denmark and Austarlia!).  You basically sign up online, get sent a barcode and just show up for the run at 9am on Saturday morning, and its free-bargain :o)

This Saturday I had ‘intervals’ on my plan but figured seeing as the Woodbank park run is so hilly, a short sharp couple of laps of the park with a 50% (ish) gradient would do it! It was pretty fun actually, arrived at the club stuck my bar code on the table with the other 87, lined up with everyone and off we went. I had that kind of nervous feeling you always get before a race, even though it was just 5k, there’s something about lining up at the start line with other runners that gets the adrenaline pumping! As usual a pack of speedy gonazalis-runners sped off into the distance, having no idea of the route I followed as closely as I could, then the heavens opened, and my Garmin packed in-great!! It proceeded to bleep intermittently for the rest of the run turning itself on and off and no matter what I did to try and stop it, it was having none of it. So I had no idea how well I’d done, until I got home and a couple of hours later got the text confirmation of my time 21:52-not too shoddy I’d say, 2^nd female, 19^th overall, and a £15 voucher for spending in sweatshop! So anyone wanting to vary their training sessions who hasn’t yet tried these park runs-providing you’ve not been out drinking the day before and are prepared to get up for a 9am kick-off, I’d definitely recommend it!

So for my next challenge……beat my 5k PB…bring on next Saturday!!

To bare or not to bare...?

As I’m sure you all know that when training for, well anything really, it’s a good idea to vary the type of exercise to help prevent injury. This is even more important if you are injured….soooo still in slight recovery mindset I thought I’d dig out some ‘unusual’ footwear that I purchased on a whim a few months ago but never actually got round to wearing and to try them out during a walk.

They’re called ‘Vibram five fingers’ and the theory behind these is that we were made to roam the earth in bare feet, so really our biomechanics have/did evolve to walk in this way. Imagine legging it for a train you’re about to miss in barefoot or canvas pumps with virtually no cushioning in the sole, you will automatically run on your toes to avoid the high impact of heel striking the hard ground. BUT we’re now so used to having solid, cushioned soled shoes strapped to our feet, claiming to be the best for ‘shock absorption’ and the most ‘supportive comfortable’ trainer yet, that we have forgotten our roots. Has it ever occurred to you that all these years of walking/running in these types of shoes has made us ‘lazy’? Has it made us ‘forget’ how to run properly? Has it made us adopt awkward postures? And has this made us more prone to injury? Our close relation between the soles of our feet and floor has reduced; less proprioceptive feedback to our brain has caused connections to be lost and our intrinsic foot muscles and ligaments have weakened. Weakness and laxity  gives rise to biomechanical problems such as flat feet, lazy bums, knock-knees…the list goes on?! So we compensate, but there is only so far we can take our bodies before they eventually decide they can’t go on in this unnatural way before we become injured.

Enough about that for the moment, I’ve read up on these shoe, they recommend to gradually wean into running with them, but start on soft ground for short distances and gradually build up as your body adapts. Expect to feel new aches and pains, as you will be using muscles that simply aren’t used to this kind of activity.

SO…this Sunday morning my cross training was taking me for a bike ride around Macclesfield forest, however a few ailments prevented this (namely and hungover hubbie and a flat tyre with no spare), so we opted for a walk instead, this prompted me to realise a great opportunity to try out my ‘five fingers’, soft ground and walking, that’s got to be the best way to wean into using them surely?

The model I bought are Bikila and I just found out after recently reading the book  Born to Run that Bikila is an Ethiopian Olympian marathon winner. He was meant to be wearing a pair of Adidas trainers for the 1960 Marathon race, but as they were so uncomfortable he decided to run barefoot the way he’d trained for the race. Needless to say he won in a record time of 2:15:16.2, becoming the first Sub-Saharan African to win an Olympic gold medal!!!

Anyway back to Mac and our walk, we were aiming for a couple of hours worth of walking followed by a pub lunch-this ended up as 3.5 hours….and VERY TIRED LEGS!!!

The shoes themselves are extremely comfortable, I feel like I can almost grip the floor-a bit like ‘Beast’ in X-Men!! Quite weird really, and you can literally feel every lump and bump underfoot, but not in a painful stone-in-shoe type of way. I even felt the grass between my toes, I had to keep checking there were no holes in the seams as everything thing felt so hypersensitive (this would be the proprioception I mentioned earlier!).

All in all, I can say I’d certainly consider trying to build up my training in them, maybe it will sort out all the nagging niggles I keep getting while training for longer distances’ than 13.1 miles!? But while I’m half way there now I’ll stick to my Asics (Kyanos- the most supportive stability shoe!!!) as I’m sure going from one extreme to the other is no good either. A thought to consider, a colleague (podiatrist) pointed out, we were made to walk in barefoot, but we weren’t made to walk on concrete…