(no subject)

I think I must have learned this at the perfect time. (What follows is a serious post, BTW, though it might not seem that way from the ending.)

Today, I did interval training. 4 minutes at a slow jog, followed by 2 minutes rest. You might remember I was at 6+ minutes per interval before. What happened?

Well... I started deciding it was long past time to do something about my hip flexors which were aching and feeling funny. So I did the PT exercises I normally did for that in the past.

I could tell my gait had changed. And I could tell I was getting more tired.

The good part is, I know that I'm stepping better. I'm doing more of a heel-to-ball-of-foot step with my left leg. (NB: I'm not *trying* to. This is when I'm just trying to run naturally, without thinking about how I'm running.)

Oh: Did I mention before that my left leg is just a bit shorter than my right? Not so you'd generally notice, but it's something I figured out and had a physical therapist confirm. She said it was a small enough difference that they generally wouldn't suggest any supports/pads/etc., to correct it. But I think I tended to use my right leg as a kind of pivot point or something, and that was why the hip muscle ached, and somehow, it meant I was able to hit 5.2 mph using less effort.

My guess is that I'm now propelling my body forward more with both of my legs, pushing more of my weight from the hips to the ground, and that I'm thus working harder, and getting tired faster. I tell myself that this probably means I'll be able to progress much more quickly than I had been... I'm finally running using the right muscles, the ones built for running.

I sure as heck hope so... any other explanation brings up bad stuff.

I think I'm right, though. My hip is not aching *at all*. My knees are a bit achier than normal, but about right for having worked a bit harder, as well.

Anyway, I do think this happened at the perfect time. This would have been a bitter disappointment a couple months ago. Now I'm taking it in stride.

(no subject)

I think I must have learned this at the perfect time. (What follows is a serious post, BTW, though it might not seem that way from the ending.)

Today, I did interval training. 4 minutes at a slow jog, followed by 2 minutes rest. You might remember I was at 6+ minutes per interval before. What happened?

Well... I started deciding it was long past time to do something about my hip flexors which were aching and feeling funny. So I did the PT exercises I normally did for that in the past.

I could tell my gait had changed. And I could tell I was getting more tired.

The good part is, I know that I'm stepping better. I'm doing more of a heel-to-ball-of-foot step with my left leg. (NB: I'm not *trying* to. This is when I'm just trying to run naturally, without thinking about how I'm running.)

Oh: Did I mention before that my left leg is just a bit shorter than my right? Not so you'd generally notice, but it's something I figured out and had a physical therapist confirm. She said it was a small enough difference that they generally wouldn't suggest any supports/pads/etc., to correct it. But I think I tended to use my right leg as a kind of pivot point or something, and that was why the hip muscle ached, and somehow, it meant I was able to hit 5.2 mph using less effort.

My guess is that I'm now propelling my body forward more with both of my legs, pushing more of my weight from the hips to the ground, and that I'm thus working harder, and getting tired faster. I tell myself that this probably means I'll be able to progress much more quickly than I had been... I'm finally running using the right muscles, the ones built for running.

I sure as heck hope so... any other explanation brings up bad stuff.

I think I'm right, though. My hip is not aching *at all*. My knees are a bit achier than normal, but about right for having worked a bit harder, as well.

Anyway, I do think this happened at the perfect time. This would have been a bitter disappointment a couple months ago. Now I'm taking it in stride.