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Forest Park - Lief Erikson + Dogwood/Wildwood/Alder trails hike/RUN

December 28, 2019 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50s, nice

Comments:
Slept in til 8:30, sleeping well, got coffee in the frost-covered Govt Camp, then drove west, down the hill, to PDX.

CA needed to get a run in, so we drove to Forest Park, and midway up to the TH for Leif Eriksen Trail, which is a wide, pretty mellow road-trail.

She suggested I bike, but I didn't want to navigate PDX roads and traffic, so I did a power-hike. I hadn't walked since Monday, but I've felt pretty damn good. So I knew I wanted to at least hike.

Hiked mildly uphill on Leif, then veered south and up the steeper Dogwood spur to Wildwood. Once on Wildwood - which is a 30+mile long ridgeline trail - it flattened out. That's when I began to slow jog.

I thought of a few things, then hit a major epiphany:

1. Besides just "using the whole foot", actually powerfully pushing off with the foot/toes BEHIND is crucial - and really hard (did this well on Monday).

2. When I began to run, I tried to propel ONLY with the foot: essentially just plantar-flexing to get push-off.

Then, I remembered this tweet from Stuart McMillan, who said something like: "The most important part of footstrike is the foot/ankle being in FULL DORSIFLEXION".

This was pretty mind-blowing, since I never thought of that. Initially, I didn't understand why -- it "felt" almost unnatural.

Then, on this run, it hit me. Here are the THREE key things that dorsiflexion BEFORE/at initial contact achieves:

I. It prevents over-stressing the calf at contact. Landing "on your toes" causes this over-working.

II. It primes the flexion pattern, improving "Salazar (/Walmsley) Stride" heel recovery and hip drive.

But most importantly for me:

III. Full dorsiflexion is the "closed pack position" of the ankle joint. This means it offers the most passive joint stability (where all the contours of the bones line up for max stability).

This is huge for me, given what I'm dealing with: essentially chronic INstability in the ankle (and stress with landing).

Sooo...that's what I tried to do: when I ran, I:

* I pushed off strong with my toes behind (simple enough)

THEN:

* as I lifted my foot, I FLEXED my toes/ankle up as high as they'd go (not much) to be sure it'd be max DF'd

* landed with my foot DF'd beneath me.

It was wild. It was "hard" to do, but felt pretty good.

Initially, I did some 1-2 minute run bouts on the flats and very mild downs. I hiked downhill the steeper Alder trail, but once I got on Leif for the return trip, I ran nearly the entire (lightly downhill) mile to the van.

Felt GOOD. Very little symptoms in the ankle!

Very encouraging and VERY IMPACTFUL. I need to start truly using my goddamn ankles!

Rest of the day:
* snuck a shower at Yoga Pearl
* breakfast at Tasty & Alder
* drove to Astoria
* went to the Columbia River Maritime Museum (Cool)
* beer at Buoy
* Dinner at Carruthers
* drove to Ft Stevens SP to sleep!

GOOD DAY.