If you’ve been monitoring my training runs over the past few weeks, you’ll see that I’ve slowly been working up my speed and distance. It’s nothing like a marathon yet – but progress is better than nothing.
The reason I haven’t yet made a post proclaiming that I’m cured is because those times are a little bit of a lie. When I’ve been running, I have to stop and stretch every time that I have pain in my knees – typically once or twice per run, but sometimes much more than that. And the CardioTrainer app on my phone pauses every time that I stop moving, so the reported times don’t include those little breaks. So yeah, they’re lies.
As you can see from this clearly labelled figure, this patient has junk in the trunk.
A few weeks back my physical therapist began instructing me in a way that I need to fix my running form… basically, that I needed to be using my buttocks more when I run. The ever-famous, always-underappreciated gluteus maximus (which, as it were, is connected to the iliotibial tract band – another one of my body parts that’s screwed up) is actually a critical muscle while running. And the way I was running wasn’t use my fanny enough, putting more stress on the legs and knees when I push off the ground.
Have you ever tried to consciously flex your butt when you run? My guess is no, because it feels freaking weird. For the weeks after my PT told me to do it, that’s what I was doing with little success. I’m just pretty sure I’ve never even used my bum before for anything besides sitting. And the other activity that rhymes with that.
But today, I had possibly the biggest breakthrough since I was first injured. All at once it made sense to me – the movement, what it felt like, how it was helping. And even as a skeptic, I’m amazed at the results. Today I ran 5.5 miles, at a sub-8-minute pace, without stopping to stretch once. And my knees felt fantastic during the run and continue to feel great.
So that’s why I’m posting this now – finally one of my runs isn’t a total lie. I’m back to training like I should be. It’s just too bad that the marathon is so close now…
It doesn’t mean that I’ll be running the marathon without pain. My precious little booty still gets tired, especially since I’m not sure I’ve ever used it before. But it does mean that I have a very powerful tool in my toolbox now that’s going to help me cross that finish line… and walk the next day.
P.S. Bonus puzzle! Do you know how many different terms for bandonkadonk I used in this article? If you guessed 8, you’re right!
