April 2011

[glaconman]

Sweder, what stands out from this is your emphasis on screaming quads. This is a subject close to my heart at the moment as I try and get back into my running stride. I'm no expert on anatomy and am trying to peice the whole thing together. But I have seen a physio for the first time.

Firstly I've been told that I run mainly with my right leg. My left leg seems only to be used to stop me from falling over.

But secondly, I've been told I'm far too dependent upon my quads and calves. The other main running muscles, hamstrings and glutes, are under-used. Particularly glutes as these are the biggest.

Re-engaging them is a tricky business. But seems like a 'big topic' in running circles at the moment. Indeed cadence and glute engagement could be the real issues to tackle as a runner, with footstrike abit of a red-herring.

[Sweder]

I've been told I'm far too dependent upon my quads and calves. The other main running muscles, hamstrings and glutes, are under-used. Particularly glutes as these are the biggest.

Happy birthday Glaconman. I hope you managed to mark it with either a plod or some of that damned fine ale

Oddly enough (or perhaps not) one of the last times I saw a physio it was for hamstring trouble. She assured me this was caused by running downhill on weak quads. I saw a healer (a lady who worked closely with Moyleman through his darkest days). She also diagnosed weak quads, putting me on a vitamin B complex regimen to help beef them up. It helped, though I still occasionally get twinges in my right hamstring and my right calf. Perhaps like you I unwittingly favour a side. I've heard it's often the 'fitter' side that suffers most as it does most of the work, dragging the less effective side along.

I'm persisting with the barefoot therapy and this seems to be helping in all these areas. My glutes are defintiely more engaged, as are my quads, hammies and calves. The usual caveats apply G-man; we're all an experiment of one, one man's meat is another man's poison, yadda yadda yadda. It's important that we believe that the remedy we go with is working and will continue to work. I can honestly say that since I fed barefoot running into my (admittedly sporadic) running diet I've had virtually no injuries. I also accepted Chris McDougall's science & arguments laid out in Born to Run. His situation and the solutions he found resonate with me. I'm an overweight, under-trained runner who's had a series of niggling injuries (knees, back, calves) that have interfered with my love of running. I want to run pain free, just for the hell of it.

Perhaps though the really important point for me is I absolutely love to run barefoot. I did so again this morning (just over 4 kilometers - the pups are getting stronger) and, as I often do in my battered Vibrams, I felt light, quick and injury-free. I run more upright - no more does the sillhouette of Quasimodo haunt the Sussex skyline of a morning - and my back no longer complains. Running barefoot I no longer pound my heels into the hard ground - it simply hurts too much - and I literally stay on my toes throughout the short run.

I'm keen to learn more about your lop-sidedness and how exactly you've been told to further engage the glutes. I assume hill running forms part of that? My glutes always thrum after a good hill climb.

[glaconman]

Cheers Sweder. I seem to be managing this injury and getting out more regularly now. And having had 11 days off work the odd pint has been consumed.

I agree, it's a puzzle we can only solve by ourselves to some extent; and we must all have the final word regarding what works.

My understanding is there are two ways to re-engage glutes: make them stronger independently through excercises like squats and lunges; and consciously engage them when walking and running.

There's a viscous circle at play though as your brain will oft recruit the strongest muscles rather than just the most apt for the job. Hence quads getting stronger but not glutes.

I read the following that highlights glute engagement: Walk with trainers on, your body straight and your knees locked. Push your fingers into your buttocks and you'll feel how soft and underused they are. Then walk over gravel with barefeet (or simulate this even) and you can feel them tightening and engaging. So this points to how barefoot running can reverse the modern trend of being highly shod and improve your muscle recruitment.

The same thing has happened over the years with core stability strength vs. motion strength. As we've stopped working in fields and then factories and tend towards desk work our bodies have had to adapt. But all the stability and motion work is being done by the same muscles now: those that should just be used for motion. So we have to design excercise routines to develop core strength again. I see this when I go on my inlaw's farm. People spend the whole day lifting, washing, carrying etc. Stuff that requires alot of core strength and stability.

So my conclusion would be: get your core strength up; let your legs do the running. Run different speeds, different terrains and in the appropriate footwear. Which would deffo include some barefoot on grass and the like.

Good luck getting back in the saddle this Summer.

[glaconman]

btw My lop-sidedness manifests itself in

a) the sound of my running. It's not an even pattern.
b) my arm movements. One is driving back nicely the other doesn't bother.
c) the massive pain when physio pushes thumb or elbow through one quad relative to the other.

I can certainly concentrate on a balanced arm movement concentrating on driving the arms back evenly; and try and deliver same drive in both legs.

It's not easy running self-consciously though.

[Sweder]

It's not easy running self-consciously though.

Aye, and there's the rub. I tried this to some extent in Connemara. When tired my body resets to the default slouch, making running inefficient and painful. I had to consciously think of the McDougall mantra of straight back, feet below body (and no further forward), arms bent and held high, shorter, lighter tread. As the race wore on this was summarised by one run thought: upright stance. It worked, but as you say, to analayse one's style as one runs is tough at the best of times.

I caught up with Mike Bannister, a quality middle distance runner and member of the Hove ParkRun (pb around 18 minutes), recently. He was interested in my barefoot experiences and announced he was working with the Alexander Technique to improve his running style and avoid injuries similar to those we're talking about. Curiously, having followed an entirely different path, the conclusion we came to is we're aiming for remarkably similar, Tamahumara-style action; upright, shorter stride, more balance.