SA-TUR-DAY Hey!

Last night was sooooo misty! Monica, Gary and I went over to the interclub social at Rock Bottom. It was alot of fun! Good food, brews and people. On the way home I couldn't believe the fog!!! I have an irrational fear of fog/mist. Mostly just the dense kind that hangs over the road at night. I always feel like something is going to come out and get me. As Gary put it, "when have you ever seen a monster!?" Ok so maybe there aren't real monsters but you know what I mean. :P

Today I'm headed over to Fleet Feet for their big SALE. Love those! Plus I have a $25 credit waiting and I want some new socks. I have to get over to the bike shop either today or tomorrow to figure out what is going on with my trainer and pick up my bike with my new sweet wheels! :) Don't you worry, I will post pics of them. I need to get my cleats adjusted a bit I think, Jacob thinks that is what is causing my feet numbing issue.

So yesterday I went to see the wise Dr. Shah. I brought along my laptop to show him some vid of my running. I think I finally have a clear diagnosis of what is really going on now. Which is good but not exactly what I was hoping for.

So here is the deal.

Apparently, my pelvic floor isn't as strong as it could be, neither are my core muscles. Who knew right? In addition, some of my muscles have developed some bad habits. The main offenders??? For all of you medically inclined individuals these are the overachievers: rectus abdominis, gluteus maximus muscle, and quadriceps femoriss. Here are the underachievers or confused muscles as Dr. Shah likes to call them: Iliacus, Psoas major, Psoas minor, Hamstring, adductor muscles of the hip, transversus abdominis, Abdominal external oblique muscle, and Abdominal internal oblique muscle.

Now as you can see the list of overachievers is significantly smaller than the underachievers. That is where the biggest problem arises. Who knows why these muscles have chosen to take on the jobs of 7 other muscles but as a result the underachievers don't really know what their job is now. Basically, when I start running, my glutes start to fire and essentially support my whole body (skeletal system) so the rest of the muscles that would normally do that are kind of like, "WTF Glutes? What do I do then?" So they get confused and start to fire in a nonsupportive way resulting in strains (i.e. my recent hip flexor injury).

Now the question goes to how does one fix such a problem? Well, unfortunately I have to start from scratch. :( I have to begin as though I have never done any of this before. The key to retraining muscles to perform a different way is small increments of slow purposeful movement. So I have to start running from scratch basically. At the first moment of fatigue, muscles will return to what they know how to do best so the key is to retrain just to the point BEFORE fatigue begins so the muscles essentially 'remember' the new movement and progressively 'forget' the old ones.

One minute a day only. Concentrating on using specific muscles and having a neutral pelvis. My biggest problem to overcome is going to be the glutes. Unfortunately, I currently don't seem to have any control over what they do. I don't ever consciously tighten my glutes. However, because they feel like they are supporting my whole body, they are doing it automatically. :( Getting my glutes to stop trying to do the job of the rest of my muscular system is going to be hard. But if I want to continue, it is what I have to do. My cold is almost gone so I can at least get back in the pool in the next few days and swim!



At this point I'm not sure what to do about blogging. I was telling Monica yesterday that I feel kind of lame. Everyone else I know is out there building a base, training and having a great time. I'm just not there. And I'm kind of getting sick of hearing myself talk about what I can't do. :( I'm sure all of you are there with that feeling too. So I don't know if I should take a break from blogging because it isn't going to be as tri related as I had intended the blog to be and spare everyone the details of my ridiculous 5 minute training days. Or just keep up and keep blabbing away about life in general and fit the tri stuff in where I can.

I'm sure I have one good post left once I get things figured out with my bike. After that, who knows what will happen.

Before I go, I just want to say great job to Monica for getting her 20 miles in today and to all my CTCers who finished St. Malachi today. :) Have a great weekend everyone!!!