Friday, March 17, 2017

Chi Running


Sell me 'Running injury free' and I am buying.
Coach Mike suggested that this method of running in harmony with your body, from your Chi - center of mass for us non-believers, could be of some interest.

What is obvious is that after we did a quick running evaluation, I realized I was not where I thought I was from a running technique. No surprises, it happens to me a lot.

Heel strike was the most glaring issue, Hip drop, and few others details.
Back to the design board.

Working hard of changing the feeling of running.
Falling from the belly button.
Rolling the hips.
Cycling the legs.
Stop reaching.
And stop reaching.
Loosing the arms and shoulder.
Light. And fluid.

Don't get me wrong, I have the basics.
90 strides/min. (Usually) forefoot landing. That's about it.
A little sad after reading all those books, doing those training camps and running... running...

After one week of filming myself and trying to forget everything we learned for years, go back to our natural - childish - way of running, I am starting to have some form that look like the pro(s) in the book(s). At least, As far as I can tell.





Can't wait tomorrow morning and see what Coach Mike will tell :)
Pretty sure there is room for improvement, but if you saw my previous showcase .... Nothing to be proud of.

Limiting my running to 30 min / day - more and start to ache my Achilles tendon - allow me to try to be qualitative, and really focus on technique.
And hopefully, eventually, one day, maybe, who knows, stay injury free.


**EDITED**
Now with a video that works. The session with Mike was really good. Of course, I was not there yet. my trailing leg is way too short, knee drive not deep enough, and -of course - that cause me to over-reach. However, we agreed I was on the right track.
The main work is actually not where I thought it will be : Loose the upper body, swing shoulder and hips, and Loosen the ankles - the secret for 'ninja' running. He gave me a couple of drills to 'reset' the posture every know and then.
Toward the end of the session, I seemed to get it and have a very smooth and efficient running.

Now.... You do not unlearn decades of bad running mechanics in 30 minutes. It is gonna takes time. I have a 'strong' hip drop - either weakness or compensation because of my right groin pain - TFL. And the left shoulder is totally out - TLN.

But at least we have a good starting point.



Sunday, March 12, 2017

This will have to wait...


It is no secret I was planning to go south next Spring, the good weather window for a sail from Hawaii To French Polynesia. It was not official - as I am starting to post about it in the blog - but kicking off the boat repairs, pouring the money into the project....

Well, this will have to wait one more year.

South Pacific

First, this happened.



We still have no real clues of what's going on, and I am not hopeful on tearing apart the injector pump. Bu I am no mechanic, and two mechanics confirmed it. Let's follow the flow. A tweaking round of that pump cannot be a bad thing anyway, since the time.... This engine is almost as old as me.
But that's a serious project to take on (next week), and who knows how long the boat will be immobilized ( I am actually moving it to another marina to start again the 120 days clock - hopefully, that will be enough).

Then, This happened.




I am not sure when I hurt myself, but I know for sure I do not have much power left in my left harm. I actually -somehow- damaged a nerve running from the next to the shoulder blade.
It is a not uncommon injury, but there is not much to do except waiting - waiting a long time - 6 months to a year ! Nerve tissue is slow to heal.

(more details for the curious : https://www.academyofclinicalmassage.com/long-thoracic-nerve-compression/)

It is more impressive than painful, but all activities implying the back muscle should be avoided, as you might compensate with (weaker) shoulder muscles. And not much physical therapy to do until the muscle activate itself (I cannot even trigger it at the moment).

Surfing, paddling, swimming and winch grinding - sailing, all unadvised.

Well, that's all for the bad news - so far.

The good news is that I found an awesome Physical Therapist on Oahu, and with me, he will have work for years :P

Michael Turner, DPT, OCS, MTC, FAAOMPT
https://www.orthosport.com/


Well, actually we will see how that turns out :)
    - Achille tendinitis
    - Hip Impingement
    - TFL Issues
    - LTN - Winged Scapula

But so far, I am back at running - not fast, not long. I am actually spending twice the amount of running in stretching, then maybe I should consider my self a 'Stretcher'.


Jeez. I just did a 26.2 in stretching.