The 1st of February I went into the physical therapists office thinking this month was going to start off great. Was hoping to get the news I could start running and she said YES!!! I wanted to start jumping up and down right there but held it back, it was hard. I'm sure I had a huge smile on my face.
......AND then I realized they were going to put me on the treadmill and have my running gait analyzed and check my cadence. I wasn't feeling too thrilled about having 2 ladies starting at my backside while running and staring at a wall. I really don't enjoy running on a treadmill and I'm much happier outside that I think I run totally different, but I tried to make myself as comfortable as possible.
So here is everything that is apparently wrong with my form (at least on a treadmill):
1. I'm a loud treadmill runner (my foot is striking hard and not using enough muscle to balance my stride)
2. I'm a foot whipper, with my left foot only
3. I land mid-foot on my right foot and more between my mid and heel on my left
4. I run on a very narrow base - morso with the left than the right (cross my feet too much to my middle)
5. I basically don't move my right leg from it's form during running (probably from my knee injury last year and I keep that leg as stiff as possible)
6. My cadence is at 160 and should be closer to 180, so I need to speed my little legs up!!
ALL of these are contributing factors to what caused my left leg inner shin splints and now that I can finally start running, I have to try and correct all of these things now!! I'm feeling slighly overwhelmed by all these issues and really nervous I will start to feel the dreaded pain again since it's come back twice now. Tonight will be my first attempt at 4 minutes walking/1 minute running for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I really need to learn how to make that device my friend.
Remind me never to go through that again, since my form pretty much blows!!!
What a bummer. Try not to feel overwhelmed - you don't need to "fix" all of these things to be a healthy, happy runner. Do some research on Pose or Chi running.. you might pick up some info that's helpful.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I saw on DM that you had some pain with your first run. I've always found that if I'm feeling pain, I need more time off. My PT said I should be able to walk briskly for 45 minutes at a time without pain before trying running after ANY injury.
Sending magical healing vibes your way..
Don't be discouraged! you'll get there. Take it slow. It's great you had this analysis and know what to fix. I second the motion on the Chi Running. Great book--helped me a ton!
ReplyDelete