After my disastrous showing at the Coburg Half Marathon on the 25th Aug, I've made my focus getting my body and running technique right. Last Tuesday I went in and saw Unna at Panacea Movement Medicine for some professional advice. I had previously seen Unna a couple of times back in June and probably should have continued seeing her in a bid to further improve my form. However I thought I was ok after a good showing at Run Melbourne and after my training continued to progress well.
In hindsight this was a mistake and now it's put my bid to run the Melbourne Marathon in jeopardy. Unna got me on the treadmill and saw that I was continuing to over stride and was not using my hips enough. My upper body rotation had improved significantly since I had last seen her and I had improved the range of motion in my hips but there was still loads of work to be done.
She recommended a variety of exercises to strengthen my core and hips and some training drills to help me tackle the overstriding and heel striking. So for the last week and a bit I've been doing lunges, side steps, side planks, spine curls and a whole variety of other strengthening exercises as well as drills like single leg butt kicks, single leg high knee and carioca.
Unna emphasised ensuring that I give my body enough rest in between training sessions to recover so I've cut the number of days I cycle to and from work to twice a week. I've also made the decision not to run anymore than 8km in a single session until I've weeded my problems out.
After just a week and a bit I have noticed a massive difference in my running. I feel much stronger and I'm definitely hitting the ground with softer feet and with more of a bent knee whereas previously my leg was almost completely straight. I haven't done any video analysis to confirm it, but I also feel that my landing leg is collapsing less in my stride and that I'm landing more under my body rather than way out in front of my body.
On Thursday I ran week 2 of the Spring Corporate Challenge Cup which is a single lap time trial of the The Tan. I felt great and noticed that my action was a lot less violent on the downhill sections. I felt much more in control and there was noticeably less stress on my legs and knees. I ended up running a 16:04, just 6 seconds shy of a PB. Despite the persistent drizzle, the conditions were perfect for running and the rest of my running team mates all posted either PB's or a time that was faster than week 1 which should put us in good stead for the most improved team category which is the title we took out for the Autumn season just passed.
So progress seems to be on track. I've got another session with Unna today so it will be interesting to see whether I actually have improved and what work remains to be done. I'm hopeful that as of this week I can return to some real distance running. There's not much time left now for the Melbourne Marathon!
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