After visiting my sports Dr, he suggested that I go to PT and get some exercises to do at home to help alleviate the pain I’ve been struggling with in my glutes. I do several exercises directly related to the hips and glutes now (Myrtle routine), but I figured some professional help could guide me in the best direction.
I expected to get just that – a checkup and some exercises, but what I got was actually much more – a very pleasant surprise! I went to a PT that I had met at the Glass City Marathon expo, Elite PT. Alisha was a very friendly person to chat with, and best of all, she specializes in runners! I have gone to PT before, but I wanted to talk to someone very familiar with running issues.
After going through a discussion of my problem, my past, and my future running goals, she did the usual analysis of my flexibility and strength in my legs, hips, glutes and core. Happy to report I nailed the planking strength test she gave me (although I don’t even do planks or core work on any regular frequency, woohoo!!). She took notes, and then I geared up to the hit the treadmill.
I ran for almost a mile at my goal marathon pace. Sadly, my race pace felt really hard on the treadmill, especially with someone watching me! No, make that, someone recording me! She took lots of video of me running and said things like “Oh!” and “Ah….” very often. After the run she explained that all of the things she noticed on the table exam translated over to my running form. Then she brought up some still clips of me from the video and explained what she saw….
Remember how I mentioned my shoes wear unevenly, and fast on the left foot? It was very clear to see in the video how my left knee lands closer into my body than the right knee does and my foot lands in that position. In general my knees are pretty close together and ideally should have more space between them.
But the most interesting thing for me was the non-symmetrical arm swing that I have. It’s most obvious in the video, but you can see it in the still shot. My left arm swings higher than the left arm. Both arms are a bit out of control!
So for my first task, I have two items to work on. Keeping arms tight when I run, and trying to keep my knees farther apart.
This week I also have two exercises: marching, and lateral toe taps. I actually found it very difficult at first to master the concept of marching in place with the correct alignment! I do it in front of a mirror to insure the right form, for 3 to 5 mins.
Love those dark morning, low lighting basement workout area shots!! 🙂
The lateral toe taps have been even harder to master because I can feel the weakness in one side and it’s hard to maintain the proper form. It’s one of those things that just doesn’t feel right if I don’t have the proper form… so hopefully I am doing it right!
Most interesting though is how good it feels when I mimic the marching moves with my arms when I run. It’s a HUGE difference! Different in a great way. It feels more powerful. I have no idea how the knees are coming along… because I can’t see them 🙂 I am going back on Monday again and we’ll see how I’m doing. I’m hoping for a gold star!!
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Q: Do you have any exercises/warm ups that you do before running? Just a stretching routine, or nothing at all?
Q: It’s almost the weekend… got any plans? Races?
We’re having a garage sale. Two days of selling stuff and sitting in the garage 🙂
Damn lady! I like those basement shots too. 😉
It is always nice to get a professional to analyze gait and assess weaknesses! Reading about your PT adventure makes me want to go get checked out again too!
I stretch after every run. It takes about 15 min. I also did glute/hip stuff a couple times a week but now that I am TRAINING I want to do it 5 times a week!
Sometimes it so silly how little time it takes to do some of those things that will help up, like those exercises, but of course it’s just one more thing at the end of the day!! I’m really trying to find time to do it all 🙂
NICE! So glad that the marching in place exercise is making you feel strong and powerful!
I go through a pre-run warmup routine, but I don’t always do it pre-run. Sometimes I run super easy for a 1/2 mile and then go through my warmup routine which incorporates leg swings and that kind of thing. For some reason, running for just a few minutes and then doing the warmup always feels really good – even though I’m sure you’re supposed to do the warmup first! Oops!
My coach did tell me that the warm ups like the leg swings are supposed to be done after you warm up running a little bit, just like you did. So you’ve got the right idea! I think those start next week for me. That will be quite different for me. I’ve never done that before!