Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Still Recovering

On Sunday I half hobbled to Tektonic for our Woodlands Fit seminar on Running economy. Yes I said half hobbled, my quads were so fatigued from my long run on Saturday. Mentally I was fine but to get out of the car or walk up and down the stairs or shit just to get out of my recliner was a bit of a challenge. The seminar was really informative and Dr. Sutton shed some light on running economy and biomechanics. I signed up for the biomechanics test (for Monday night) so I could see where I needed work and where I was weak.

Monday morning my soreness and muscle fatigue had gone away until Monday night when I went on my training run. I had planned a 40 min. loop around my neighborhood but about .15 into the run I decided my quads were still very much fatigued. I cut the run short to 2.1 approximately 27mins. and took it very slow. We had a few days of great weather with temps about 67 degrees and no humidity. But Monday the heat was back and the humidity was about 90% :(! After my run I went home and took a shower to get ready for my biomechanics testing. Yes a shower just so I could go run on a treadmill and sweat some more. Did I mention that in the short 2 miles I ran that the humidity sucked and I was dripping wet.

I arrived at Tektonic around 7:45 and "fast Robin" or "special K" was finishing her testing as well. She told me to have fun and then I was scared! This testing was really cool, first of all I HATE yes HATE running on a treadmill, but this one was not so bad it did not have a convaer belt, this was made with wood. Very cool and easy to run on. Dr. Sutton videoed my walking at 3.8 miles per hour, then running at 5.5 and then at 6.5. The whole test was about 3-1/2 mins long. Afterward we looked at my video and evaluated my running economy. OK so what I learned from this is on the left side I am just pretty much screwed...my gluts are weak, my quads are weak and my calf's are ok but still need work. The right side.. my gluts are weak, my quads are pretty good but work needed and my calf's are ok but need work. All of this causes my hips to drop, over pronation, and my left strike is horrifying. My upper body I need to show more movement in my arms- they need to come back more. The best thing about my running economy is my heal to toe strike is pretty good, but not great on the right side. In a few days I will get my video and a report on how to correct and strengthen these running economy throw ups I have.

2 comments:

E said...

Hope your quads feel better soon.

Sounds like you learned a whole lot from that test. I'm looking forward to hearing how you will work on your running economy.

K said...

That test sounds really cool! Wish I could make those Sunday clinics. Too many church committments.