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PRE + SPFD + River to Toyota

April 5, 2013 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50s, rainy

Comments:
Rough but good day. OK day at work, then I had PT. My back's been bothering me again, for the past few days - and on/off for the past week. On top of that, I was still pretty damn tired, even though I took Wed and Thu easy. No Singulair since Thursday morning, so I felt like it was starting to wear off.

Went to PT. Mike worked on my back, doing some interesting pre- and post-testing. It's disconcerting to know how easy it is for my back to "go out": simply meaning, there's a joint at L4-5 that moves more than I'd like it to, and my strength/stability changes with it. The huge dilemma, which I shared with Mike is:

- The joint hates extension; when I extend too much, it shears forward and causes issues.
- Yet, when I run, I'm constantly battling "Grandpa Joe Back" - being too flexed!

So, WTF?

We worked more on the concept of elongation - where the propulsion comes from getting LONG, not extending. Agreed. And I got a couple good ex's to work on this.

BUT, it really hit me hard, post-appointment: How is it that I can simulaneously over-extend (at times) AND be "Old Man Back"? And how can I elongate and propel without risking either of those things.

The answer hit me. I MUST BE MORE FORWARD!!!

This has been an issue, I think for years, since I started doing ultras. I get too upright; I sit back (it's BGD's too, FYI), rather than have a strong, *normal* forward engagement. It's something I have to hammer home with patients. And today, I saw my UO runner again and he demo'd for me what a good, strong forward trunk looks like. All of this was crucial feedback that, shit, I'm simply not being forward enough. If I was:

- I'd be running faster
- My foot/ankle/back wouldn't hurt nearly as much

Post-PT, the weather got shitty. I was all prepared to do the long Hardesty after PT, but...I bailed. I was just SO TIRED, and my back was sore...and I felt like I needed to focus on what my back and trunk is doing.

So, I reluctantly ran from home, taking music along to fuel the run. I'd dropped off my truck for warranty maintenance, so I had to pick that up at the end of the run.

On this run, I thought of but two things:

1.) Trunk FORWARD
2.) Good "elbows" (strong arm swing straight down into the "back pocket").

I felt pretty good from the get-go, but still pretty sluggish. Ran through PRE on the bark, then on the bark connector into Springfield. Had no clue of my pace 'til I got into SPFD: 6:25 on the bark! Woah. Cool...

So I kept going, without ANY effort to grind. Continued to split 6:20s on the bark (incidentally, the bark is usually about :10-20s/mi slower, especially in wet weather). Got to the River path for the last 3mi's to the dealership.

DRAAHPED it to 6:10s before I ran into LB walking on the path! Hadn't seen him since pre-Barkley. His knee's been bothering him for a solid month, now. He'd tried to run, but had to bail and was walking back to Alton. So I walked backwards for a 1/4 mile to chat, then took off again.

Just as I was about to restart, a fairly fast girl/woman passed me. There's a UO track meet tomorrow, so there's been a lot of college runners on the path - she might've been one. Anyway, I figured I'd get past her, so I ran a bit faster, but quite comfortable - effortless. Just a ton of forward trunk and elbows. Got past her and saw a 1:32 for the 1/4mi. Kept rolling along and split 6:05! The next half mile after that? 2:58! From there I shut 'er down and jogged the last 1/4mi easy to the dealership to get my truck.

Wow. What a difference simply being more forward (=NORMALLY forward) can do. I put zero effort into this pace, yet I basically did what - a month ago - would've been a half-tempo run!

Really insightful and important run. I felt like the hips did what they should do when I simply got my trunk in front - they "elongated" behind me". And the elbows kept my turnover going, and - for the most part - got my feet landing where they needed to go. And it truly felt effortless!!

Very important run.

Friday night: went to the library, got a book and a DVD: "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" - an appropriate DVD given the developments with Chelsea in the past two weeks. FUNNY movie.