Month: September 2021

Running Assessment with MoveMend (Part 2 of 2)

Three weeks ago, I had the first part of a two-part running assessment with Dr. Tanner Melnick at MoveMend. As a refresher, it’s been 14 years since a professional has looked at my form and offered guidance on what needs adjustments for better running. There were many things I learned that day:

  • Circumduction (how much my feet swing out and cross over my body’s midline)
  • Cadence (the steps per minute)
  • Running quieter (I’m very stomp-y)
  • And more

The past three weeks, I applied Tanner’s recommendations to fix my running form. These small adjustments make a big impact, and keeping this form up has been harder than expected. With each stride, I did my best to run quieter while keeping my cadence to 175 steps per minute. Staying with the beat has been physically and mentally challenging. Deliberately aligning my body while running takes a kind of focus that will take some time to build.

I also found that I space out much more than I realize when running. When that happens, I don’t even notice it. My mind drifts into auto-pilot, and before I know it, I’m slogging up a hill with my old habits.

When I come back to earth, I nudge my footsteps back into place. My heart rate goes through the roof as I do my best to stay with the beat.

When I reported all of this back to Tanner, he said that other runners have similar experiences. Adjusting the form will take longer than three weeks. It could be a couple of months before these adjustments start to feel natural.

Capacity vs. load

The body has a certain capacity for stress, or load, that it can handle. In this case, my load is the increasing weekly mileage during marathon training.

Running is physically stressful, largely because of the feet’s initial contact with the ground. With every foot step, the impact force is 2 1/2 to five times the body weight upon landing. Multiply that by 26.2 miles, and that’s tons upon tons of force that the body is absorbing.

The way I increase my capacity is by gradually putting on more mileage every week, and then scaling it back every three weeks. Every week, I push my body just beyond its max capacity to adapt—especially with the long runs. It’s good to do that often enough to get stronger. But if I did that every day without giving my body a chance to catch up, that can lead to an injury for sure.

I follow the training plan and increase my capacity safely. All is well, unless I’m not eating or sleeping enough, or even if I’m stressed. (I even shared what helps me get more rest after noticing my performance had seen better days.) It makes perfect sense, because without enough rest, my body can’t increase its capacity for a bigger load, or more miles. If I’m not taking care of myself, then my body won’t adapt as well.

Posterior chain exercises

My quadriceps (front thigh muscles) have been doing most of the work when I run, so it would be helpful to strengthen my posterior chain, or the backside of my body: the glutes (the butt muscles), hamstrings (the back of the thigh), and calves. When the backside of my legs work together, that would give more power to push me forward as I run. This is especially important as I run up those steep Seattle hills; it means switching to a lower gear.

Doing these posterior chain exercises would help make my hips stable, so there’s less circumduction. It would be easier to keep a good running form for longer as well. Maybe that would make my slight hip flexor pain feel better.

Tanner introduced four different exercises to help strengthen my hips so that I can run stronger. He recommended doing each set until reaching fatigue, and then switching to the other side. As far as how often to do these, he said that at least once a week is enough.

Single-leg dead lifts

This exercise tested my balance. I focused on my breath and core, and slowly hinged forward at the hip on one leg with a 20-pound kettlebell. I stopped when I felt a good stretch in the hamstring. Then I slowly stood up to the starting point without putting my raised foot on the ground. I continued with more reps, dipping forward again like one of those toy drinking birds. My right leg is stronger, but I have better balance on my left leg. I kept doing the dead lifts on each side until my hamstrings burned.

Side plank hip abduction

With my elbow firmly planted on the ground below my shoulder, I slowly dipped my hips as closely to the ground as possible and then raised them back up. I could feel the burn on my lower back and glutes.

From my experience, I find it super helpful to strengthen the core. When started I running more marathons, my lower back would ache from holding myself up for many miles. A strong core gives more support for those long distances.

Single-leg heel raises

A wooden block or a stool could be used for single leg heel raises. It felt easy at first. It wasn’t long until my calves burned as I slowly pushed my weight onto the ball of my foot. After about 12 of these, I switched to the other leg.

Single-leg sit-to-stand

The single-leg sit-to-stand exercise was the hardest. I had to push myself to stand using just one leg without momentum. At first, I focused all of the energy in each of my quads, or front thighs, to push me up. I fell over a couple times. Then I remembered to shift the power source towards my glutes and hamstrings. Not only did using those muscles give me better balance, they also lifted me more effectively. This exercise was still so hard! It didn’t take many reps to be done with this one, so it must be very effective.

Applying what I learned at MoveMend to run better

Now that I have a better idea of how to run stronger, I can apply what I learned from MoveMend and hopefully get a faster time. I’m still mindful of keeping my footsteps quieter as I run to a higher cadence. Changing old habits is going to take some energy and patience. These new posterior chain exercises should make me more stable, so that I can use my energy to run stronger. Eventually all of this will become second nature. Maybe running will be even more enjoyable, since I know how to move better.

*Thank you, MoveMend, for sponsoring this post.

Disclaimer: This blog is not intended as medical or professional advice.  I’m sharing my experiences, and they should not be a substitute for physical therapy advice for anyone. Any exercise has potential to cause injury or pain if it’s done incorrectly. You should consult with a physical therapist or doctor for any medical advice.

Running Assessment with MoveMend (Part 1 of 2)

I have been running for 21 years. I do it for the enjoyment and benefits, because nothing beats the feeling of an endorphin high from a workout. Of course, there’s lots of science behind the sport. We’re looking at a wide range of many things working together, whether it’s nutrition or biomechanics–the science of movement of a living body. Even though I had been running for so long, I was due for a running assessment at MoveMend. This would measure my body’s movements and give proper interventions for better results.

My first running assessment from a long time ago

I had a formal running assessment for the first time at age 20. My old running coach owned a shoe store and—in helping me choose the best shoe for my chronic shin splints—measured my footstrike by having me run on the treadmill. (Footstrike is what part of the foot hits the ground when running.) He also made suggestions for my running form: Feet should generally hit the ground at midfoot for better shock absorption. Arms should swing back and forth, not across the chest, for more efficient movement. Keep the back straight, with a slight lean forward, for a stable posture. He noticed that my feet pronate a little too much. In other words, my feet’s arches rotate inward more than they should, which puts stress on my shins. He recommended the perfect shoe, the Brooks Ravenna, plus Spenco inserts for additional support. I never the had shin splints since.

Bodies change with the times

Fourteen years have passed, and my body has changed over time. I’m pretty sure my form needs work, since I haven’t had professional guidance to keep it in check all these years. So, I went to MoveMend, a physical therapy office along Eastlake in Seattle for a two-part running assessment.

I met with Dr. Tanner Melnick, who runs marathons himself. He did the first part of my assessment by first going over my running and injury history, and then observing my cadence, footstrike, and overall form. I told him about the slight pain in my right hip flexor, which is a muscle that runs through the hip and attaches on top of the thigh bone.

My running assessment at MoveMend

I learned a lot of new words about running.

First is cadence, which is the number of steps per minute. A good cadence is about 170 to 185 steps per minute. On the treadmill, I ran at a comfortable pace to see what my number is. It was 171, the lower end of the range. Tanner said that’s probably because I’m taller. My legs stride longer, so it takes less steps to cover a distance.

Next Tanner observed how much noise my footsteps make. As an aside, a few months ago, my neighbor asked me to kindly tread quietly as I go down the wooden stairs in the mornings, because the clomping of my boots would wake her up. I remedied that. But I didn’t realize that I’m also a stomp-y runner! My feet made so much noise upon striking the treadmill, you’d think it was a two-legged horse.

Tanner noticed that my feet do have mild pronation. He also said that my knees don’t angle outward from the midline, which is known as valgus. My body’s sway is minimal. But I do have a slight hip drop that is worse on the left side. It just means that one hip drops lower than the other with each stride. It may explain why my right hip flexor has been hurting some as marathon training increases.

My vertical displacement, or how much I bounce with each stride, is minimal. This is good because if there’s too much bounce, you lose energy by going up with each step instead of forward. My forward lean is good as well, which means slightly leaning forward for a stable running form. Both of my feet strike the ground on the heel, and then the rest of my feet follow, the toes propelling me forward. I used to hit the ground midfoot. Sometime over the years, my footstrike gradually went from landing on the middle of my feet to the heels.

Finally, Tanner mentioned that my feet cross over the midline with slight circumduction. In this case, circumduction is when the feet swing outward and back in with each stride, like a circle motion. My left foot would swing out a little and cross my body’s midline into the right side, and vice-versa. That kind of motion spins energy away from the body, instead of using it to go forward with a normal stride. You can imagine that’s an inefficient way to run. It might also be contributing to my hip flexor pain.

MoveMend’s interventions for my running form

First, Tanner increased the cadence to 176 steps per minute and had me run at that beat. By focusing on this new cadence, I was able to decease the amount of noise my steps made. There was less circumduction, or swinging my legs over my body’s midline. My feet struck the ground midfoot more.

Then he had me run with less noise. My feet still stomped on the treadmill, and he encouraged me to keep the steps quieter. When I focused on that, there was still a decrease in circumduction and hip drop. My foot strike shifted slightly to mid foot.

When it was time to run barefoot, that showed the most differences. My cadence went from 171 to 190. The noise change was significant; little noise was present. It was just the soft pads of my feet with socks hitting the treadmill. My strides were shorter as the front part of my feet hit the ground. I had minimal circumduction, probably because the shorter strides didn’t give my feet as much space to cross over the middle.

It took a lot of concentration to run with these interventions. What I noticed is that I need to run with better focus. That’s why my form has become a little sloppy over the years. When I run, my mind drifts off like I’m on auto-pilot. Ideas float though my head. Sometimes my mind is blank, and I cruise without really noticing how I’m carrying myself.

MoveMend’s recommendations for stronger running

After these interventions, Tanner gave a few recommendations to improve my running form. First, I need to do some strengthening exercises for my hips, hamstrings, and calves for less circumduction. I also need to increase single leg stability, the strength and balance of each leg.

To retrain my form, I’ll aim to do shorter runs with higher cadence, about 175-180 beats per minute. I’ve downloaded a metronome app on my phone to help with this.

Finally, I will think about how to balance my training better, considering the training load (the amount of miles per week) and my capacity (how much I can actually do). Tanner suggested that my training load should be spread out more evenly through the week. That could increase my capacity. I’m reaching peak training, so balancing the training plan is important if I want to stay strong.

It’s going to take some effort to retrain myself, but I’m so excited to know what needs work! I’ll apply these interventions and see what Tanner has to say during the second running assessment at MoveMend.

*Thank you, MoveMend, for sponsoring this post.

Disclaimer: This blog is not intended as medical or professional advice.  I’m sharing my experiences, and they should not be a substitute for physical therapy advice for anyone. Any exercise has potential to cause injury or pain if it’s done incorrectly. You should consult with a physical therapist or doctor for any medical advice.