Saturday, October 22, 2011

Hair Doesn’t Grow Overnight

Today’s run: 8.0 miles/1 hour, 12 mins/9 min mile avg.

I wanted to say that my run completely sucked, but there was this:

pella1

And this:

pella2

I mean, really. Even if you are puking or being carried off in as stretcher with a broken leg, how can you not appreciate the beauty around you? Being grateful for these gifts takes the edge off of our own personal crises. Sometimes we just need to get over ourselves and our drama.

Other positive things about the run were that the weather was perfect and I pooped before I left and did not soil myself or need to enlist the help of bushes or fields.

No run is ever that easy for me. But today’s was especially difficult. Like any good runner, it is my job to analyze every little thing to find out why the run was more difficult than normal so that I can reassure myself I am not completely out of shape and a loser runner.

  1. I had no juice. That’s the only way I can describe it. I really wanted to be out there, but I felt fatigued. My chest still hurts where I fell last week. Even though it is not a broken rib, something must be pulled or strained because I just don’t feel like my cardio is up to par and swear it’s related to breathing or lack thereof.
  2. I am working on my gait/form. Long story, but doc thinks my left side crap is due to over striding, not leaning forward and heel striking. My biomechanics are way off, causing issues to continue to resurface. I am re-learning how to run. This means having tons of mental and physical awareness, which I kind of don’t like to have when I run. See for yourself:

As I trudged up the last hill towards home, wondering why a mere 8 miles felt so difficult, I stopped and beat myself over the head with a bat. DUH! I’ve got a lot going on. I just need to cut myself a break sometimes. I wish I could say running was the only area of my life where I am hard on myself, but it is about EVERY thing and I need to back the hell off.

I came home and rolled. Yes, my look tells how I felt. Get any closer and I will kick you in the crotch.

P1110204

Tomorrow’s another day. Rome wasn’t built in a day and pubic hair doesn’t grow overnight. Healing and change take time.

Have you had a crappy run lately?

Ever had to make significant adjustments to your running form? This is the first time I am really committing to making changes. It is very slow going. You can only do a tiny bit at a time. Mostly, I am doing tons of drills/exercises to help my body learn how it “should” feel when I do it right.

SUAR

 

33 comments:

  1. spent 3 mos in pt last year due to PFPS from my own biomech's.
    worked on the same changes-it does require thought at first to relearn. you'll get it. Do you run with a metronome?

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  2. I have been trying to change the way I run for the last year, maybe year and a half. What can I say? I am a slow learner. I will say though, that I have stopped getting these little injuries, and now it feels weird if I hit my heel, so... progress!

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  3. Lately most of my runs have been crap. My times have progressively gotten slower and I find myself stopping before the intended mileage because of this. Then I realized... 1.my runs hadn't been the same since my son suffered his first seizure a few months back, 2.I was letting this fact get to me. 3. We just moved pretty far south and the air, route, temps were different. 4. I no longer sleep the way I did pre-seizure. I finally had to stop and tell myself... just get to that place, where you were when you were happy to have simply completed the mileage. Forget the pace, stop looking at the watch, don't worry about the hills... JUST RUN. So I did, and I have been. Today I ran 8 miles too. And Alabama and I woke up together. I watched the sun rise and the dew lift off of the grass and I felt fantastic. Had my girls not had a soccer game at 8, I would have run longer. I was happy to simply be running.

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  4. You might be surprised at how quickly you can change form. I actually did it in 6 weeks and that's after 14 years of overstriding heel striking. Good luck with it.

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  5. I loved this post! When I get down on myself for not feeling great during a run or it being slower than I wanted it to be, I have to remind myself that even if I just ran one mile, that's still more than 90% of Americans! As for biomechanics, I love having my buddy Leonie run with me because she gives me pointers to correct my form when I start to get tired.

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  6. I learned this week in PT that I don't *stand* properly. So once i can do that, I can move toward walking and running. It's looking like a very long, slow road. But it will be good in the long run (that's what i keep telling myself).

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  7. Beth - you inspire me. Please don't beat up yourself on your 8 miler - you are a great runner; in perspective, alot of people will love to be able to run in that pace.

    Re: form. When I first started running 3 years ago, I am one of those toe strikers (lazy toe strikers) and I don't lift my feet high enough. It took me a summer (and calf pains) to correct it.

    Re: the heel striking - you may want to consider shoes like the kinvara (saucony) where there's a less heel to toe drop for SHORTER miles. Those shoes really do encourage folks to run in a more mid-foot striking manner.

    Good luck!

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  8. While I finished my first 2 sprint tri's and my first 5k's this summer/fall, I am still building from "couch potato" and am not quite able to run an entire 5K yet - so, in short, ALL RUNS SUCK! Some suck less (like those with nice scenery or beautiful weather), but I do look forward to the day where not every single one sucks. I'm sure part of my problem is form (I have no idea what I am doing - need to find someone to help me there) and some is the extra 40 lbs that I need to lose (although I see other fat chicks that can whoop me on a run) and some is just building the proverbial base (and I try to focus on what I can do now that I couldn't do six months ago when I started this journey). Hope your LAC and rib issues feel better soon and you are able to give yourself the much-deserved break. Sometimes we just have a bad day too, right? ((HUGS))

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  9. I live in the beautiful part of the world. I get to run by the ocean. What's not to like about that? Walking by the ocean because I've torn my hip flexors (the left ones too).

    So I'm rolling (loved the look on your face) - they call it "good pain".

    And when I do get the all-clear to run again, I will have to change my form. I have read Chi Running and was pretty sure I was not over-striding or heel-striking. But in the last few runs I just ran. Guess it wasn't such a good idea.

    Pubic hair does indeed do it's best growing overnight.

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  10. I have crappy runs all the time... I am beginning to think they are my norm.

    I taught myself how to run like a normal person back in my 20's...before I did I looked positively freakish when I ran. Since my long hiatus, I seem to have reverted back from the gazelle to wounded water buffalo with two peg legs...not pretty. I need to re-change it. Exercises and drills sound like what I should be doing, too.

    Nonetheless, a 9-min avg pace for 8 miles ... that part sounds pretty darn non-crappy.

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  11. Ha ha - you said "left side crap." :) Just ran my first marathon last weekend and after looking at the pics online thought - must be someone else because I don't run like that! So yes, working on my form too - major heel striker.

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  12. wow! I'm just trying to run consistently 3.2 miles! :(

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  13. I have battled ITBS since 10K training Spring 2010. I ran this year's race but still hobbled through it. My faults: weak gluts, over-striding, heel strike. I started doing a run/walk combo while watching my cadence on a very expensive Garmin. That way I know if I am taking enough steps per minute. I am sticking with running by time rather than mileage so I am not trying to race to the finish. Only 10% increase per week. Slow progress, but able to run without pain. Yay! I ran just 4.3 miles the other night. Now just 3 weeks before my 8K, I have to take a week off due to surgery. If I didn't love running so much, and want to get back to bonding with my buddies, I would just give up.

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  14. Retrained my stride this year. After constant knee and hip issues, I drank the kool-aid and tried the Pose Method. I got some of those goofy toe shoes and stared by walking around in them. Then I ran a mile in them. It seemed really stupid...but it broke me of the heel striking. I now wear zero-drop shoes (Saucony Kinvara) and run on the pads of my feet with a very quick turnover. No more pain...it took about 6 months.

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  15. Many of my runs lately have been difficult and I'm the same way--I beat myself about everything.
    Dear lord I hate foam rolling. I don't care if it's good for me or not, it freaking hurts.
    I transitioned into a more minimalist style shoe back in June to try to encourage a mid-foot strike. It takes time to make those changes.
    Hope you feel better soon!

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  16. I can so relate. I am having the same issues and I had a crap run today to. I sucks starting over.

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  17. If you were to think about how a T Rex trying to run in a shallow tar pit, you've got a pretty good idea of what my run looks like. So from that point of view, all my runs are crappy. But from MY point of view I've very seldom had a crappy run. Some have been not quite what I expected or hoped for, but when you consider the alternatives at my age, it's all good.

    My change is to pick up the cadence to about 90 steps per minute, and I seem to be about 86 to 88 most of the time, which is a great improvement over the ~60 I used to do.

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  18. I overhauled my running form recently. It took a long time before I could just run w/out thinking about it. Like you I was a heavy heel striker and it was killing my whole lower body and I was getting injured constantly. But now, every time I check in w my feet they seem to be landing mid foot. If I would stop doing stupid crap my quad would finish healing and I would finally be injury free. However, I haven't had a single pain in my knee or shin like I had before, so I know it's worked. It's very hard but even while you have to think about it non stop, those runs are helping you recover.
    Also, have you tried using a porcupine ball for self massage? I use one for my pains in the butt - piriformis issues - and it's been a miracle.

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  19. So I totally tried to pause/play/pause/play the video, which didn't work all that well, but a few things I could tell from it are that your hip flexors are really tight, which puts too much strain on your gluts/HS (which also look like they could be weak, but you're running downhill so it's hard to truly tell). Weird question but have you had your leg length checked? You seem to hit harder on the left than the right. Also the left foot doesn't appear (from my poor stop-motion attempts) to heel strike as much as you'd think, but you're also cutting off the toe-off (calf work) a little more than usual. Hips could also be a little weak.

    Try foam-rolling the quads, hip flexors; doing some single leg balance ex on the left moreso than the right; and do some ex to strengthen up the hamstrings. :)

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  20. I am currently in PT for an IT band injury caused by my right leg being out of alignment. So I am working really hard to change my form .... slowly but surely I am seeing progress. It is rough going though!

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  21. I'm in PT for very early signs of IT band trouble...the problems all seem to lie in my hip flexors and piriformis. Already I've noticed a huge improvement in my form (and pace) if I keep those areas loose while I run, and have had some great runs with zero pain since starting PT two weeks ago. I've been overhauling my form all year, switched to minimalist shoe, and the results are paying off. I love your blog and I'm betting if anyone can do it, you can!

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  22. Aw, dang. But, great perspective. This makes my wheels spin...my PF isn't horrible, but if I don't changes something it could be.

    Knowing you, you will be a quick study and making adjustments to help relieve your LAC.

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  23. Destination Athlete: thanks for the input. leg length is fineand has been analyzed. I am working closely with my doctor on the things he sees in the video and I'm sure we'll make progress.

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  24. Have a love/hate thing with foam-rolling myself. Haven't really been running for the past couple of months - IT band - but just saw a new physiotherapist on Thursday and I now have hope that he'll be able to sort this out for me. Basically, my gait is good but thoracic spine is so tight that I'm having to compensate in the hip area, causing my IT band injury. So, haven't been changing how I run yet, but will be working on flexibility. I think there will be some drills down the road to make sure the right muscles are firing and my biomechanics are good. And yeah, you DO have a lot going on, so cut yourself some slack, will ya? :)

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  25. I've been recently training for my second half-marathon and trying to study for my series 7 exam all at the same time. About a month ago I basically had a panic attack over all of it and I was so tired all the time. My runs sucked, they were slow and my motivation was at about zero to run. As soon as I came off the edge and gave myself a break and calmed down about the whole thing I started seeing faster times, more motivation and better sleep! Turns out I was stressing myself out over it all. I think sometimes we can be our best and worst critics.

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  26. not so sure I was appreciating the beauty around me when i WAS carried off the mountain in a stretcher with three broken bones! BUT today, 10 months later, I can appreciate the beauty and the fact that I wasn't hurt worse! And....I did bike rabbit mountain this morning, cold, 38degrees, but so beautiful....so thankful to be out there......so yeah, I HEAR YOU GIRL

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  27. Definitely had a crappy run lately. I ended my run today by limping home w knee pain. Tight IT band I think. After some rolling it feels better.

    I never learned to run properly, so my form in scary.

    I am sorry you had a shitty run, but those were some gorgeous views!'

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  28. I totally had a crappy run THIS MORNING. Then I came home and read this. Thank you for the perspective. :)

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  29. My runs have been so crappy lately that I'm giving myself the week (or two) off. There's just way too much going on in my life and it's the end of the comp season so I figure now is as good a time as any to recharge. I hope you get your running mojo back soon.

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  30. I changed my form mid-training for my first half-marathon this summer when over striding, leaning back, and heel striking, along with rotatin my right leg out slightly from the hip led to major calf pain on my right leg. Being a total rookie, I changed my form over the course of one week and did not reduce mileage. Now my knee and IT band on my left leg is all messed up. Sheesh!

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  31. Beautiful pictures!! I love fall running :) I actually signed up for a good form running class and hope they will teach me not to heel strike.

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  32. Those pics are gorgeous.

    Never changed my run on purpose but have noticed lately that when I am breathing too heavy I have changed how I breathe and then lengthen my stride and I am not huffing and puffing and going as fast if not faster with less effort.

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  33. On my last 10 mile run, I partially dislocated my shoulder. No, I did not fall. All I did was try to scratch my back. I'm just special like that. Now I'm back in PT for my tricky shoulder, but the running is still going strong ;)

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