Hey everyone,I'm going to quote what Miss Osage County wrote (thank you for posting this!), because it really got me thinking, and I think I may have stumbled onto something positive here. I can't say for sure quite yet, because my body is way out of balance and it will take me a long time to sort things out, but I am encouraged and hopeful at this point. For reference, I ran 6 miles yesterday on a flat bike path with a couple friends faster than me, and we ran it in 33:50, which at this point, is roughly 10-15 seconds per mile slower than my 10k pace. So, this was faster than a traditional tempo run for me, and what was really encouraging for me is we were 16:35 for the first 3 miles. Usually when I go out too hard, I'm doomed to succumb to coordination loss and severe tightness in my quad, adductors, and hamstrings. I had minimal muscle tightness and no sense of being on the brink of coordination loss during this run. There were a few instances where my left knee buckled slightly, but that was it. This post will end up being quite long. I'll try to sort out my thoughts on this as best as I can, since I'm not exactly a phsyiologist.
Based on this info, I have realized, while running (and perhaps walking), my left leg drags as I run. More specifically, it drags while my right leg is on the ground and my left is swinging forward. I believe my hip flexors, and more specifically my psoas, iliacus, and my adductors have become passive during running.
I believe this set off a whole slew of compesatory movements in my running gait. What I believe is going on is the following:
- My rectus femoris is acting as the primary hip flexor in driving my leg forward. I believe this is why it is more pronounced in my left leg as opposed to my right, and also why it gradually gets tighter and shuts down.
- My hamstrings are taking on more of a role of pushing off in order to run faster paces, and they are not receiving help from my adductors, which eventually leads to tightness and cramping in them as well.
- Because my hip flexors are passive and extremely weak, rather than flexing at the hip during forward knee drive, I am flexing and extending at the knee as my leg prepares to land. This puts more strain on my rectus femoris as well as my hamstrings, further accentuating the cramping, fatigue and coordination loss. My right leg does not extend at the knee as I land. I found this very interesting.
Try standing on your good leg and drive your bad leg forward using only your hip to flex the hip and knee. Do not extend your knee with your quad as your foot comes down. If your condition is similar to mine, you should not feel any tightness in your quad while doing this. Now drive your leg forward but extend your knee a little as you land. You will probably feel your quad flex and tighten. I believe this is one of the major problems in coordination loss.
- My adductors in my left leg are passive and dysfunctional while running. This places more strain on my abductors and quad in order to move my leg through the swing phase. I believe this also causes the external rotation in my leg while running.
I have practiced using my adductors while standing on my good leg and keeping my bad leg straight as I cycle it through the swing phase, and I feel a lot of weakness in my hip flexors and weakness and severe tightness in my adductors. Roughly 3 years ago I pulled one of my adductors, and because I tried to run through the injury, I believe this may have contributed to changing my running style to accomodate the adductor pull, thus eliminating my adductor's job by shutting the muscles down.
The information in this section explains it very well. To give a real life example, I have noticed an increase in my ability to pick up the pace at the end of a run by focusing on running in this manner. Usually when I try to do so, my legs tighten up severely and I quickly lose coordination. Sometimes it is still very difficult to do because I am wired to run differently now, but in general, I feel much smoother by focusing on these muscles.
Another point of interest is I feel my glutes working much more effectively while running. I am not even trying to recruit them while I run. It seems to just happen by focusing on properly driving my leg forward. I am also more aware of where my imbalances are. My left adductors, hip flexors, and abductors are weak, but my right abductors feel way too tight. More specifically, my right TFL and gluteus medius feel way too tight.
If I try to push through any coordination loss during running, my rectis femorus, hamstrings, and adductors begin to tighten up severely. The other night at the gym, I attached a cable to my foot and put some resistance on it. I then tried to slowly cycle my leg through the running phase by using only my hip to raise my knee. My right leg responded very well, but I could not raise my left leg anywhere near as high as my right.
So to wrap things up, focus on using your main hip flexors while bring your leg forward during the swing phase of running. Make sure you are not flexing your knee with your quads while doing so. It is very easy to do so as your hip fatigues. Eliminate extension in your knee during landing. This will get rid of overstriding and take a lot of strain off of the hamstring muscles. And finally, focus on recruiting your adductors while driving your hip forward. This is the hardest thing for me to do as I run. My leg is used to being externally rotated as I run, which stretches my adductors as I run instead of letting them do their job of driving my leg forward.
Practice cycling your leg through the swing phase while standing on one leg. It is much easier to get a feel for it this way as opposed to implementing it while running. There are so many things to consciously think about while this is occurring and it is nearly impossible to do so right from the start during running.
Anyways, I know this is really long, and I probably did not explain it as well as I would have liked, but I really hope this will be a step in the right direction for everyone who is suffering from this frustrating situation. I will keep everyone updated on how my progress goes.