Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Recovering With Pelvic Floor Exercises

Hello fellow Runners.

First off - GOOD LUCK TO ALL THOSE IN BOSTON ON MONDAY.  GO GET IT!
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Long time since I posted here....

Well....finally feel like I'm recovering from my injuries.  Looks like the "root cause" is pelvic floor tightness / injury.  I've gone from PT to urologist to PT....and finally to a pelvic floor PT specialist that is a runner.  I've finally received treatment that is working...and working pretty quickly.  To the point that now my runs are limited to aerobic fitness, not pain in all the wrong places. 

I won't go into specifics here on what pelvic floor tightness / injury means exactly.  Most people don't discuss it, except women after childbirth (Gwen Jorgensen recently mentioned pelvic floor exercises / strength contributing to her fast recovery from childbirth).  Men NEVER talk about it....and I get it.  Men - if you have pain below the belt line and it's not your hip flexors, and your PT is stumped, find a specialist.  I've been told by this PT that it's common in older men (I'm 50) that are athletic to have my issues (I'll take it a compliment).

I've been steadily progressing with my running.  25 and 27 miles last couple of weeks and planned 30 miles this week...woo hoo!  I've even been able to do some "progression" runs, and might even try a proper workout in the next week or two.  I've gotten my "long run" up to about 8 miles as well. 

I'm doing specific pelvic floor exercises (including "how" I breathe and my "non-running" posture), and stretching twice a day.  But, if that's what it takes, then that's what I'll do.  I'm scared to death that I'm going to slip on a wet or uneven surface, and re-injure myself...so most of my runs are on a treadmill, only running outside in perfect conditions.

My running form is quite different now than it was last September when I started this long journey of injury and false recovery.  A running gate analysis from September and now shows I'm much more upright, hips farther forward, arms lower and back, and landing my foot more under my body.  All good things, I've been told.  But this change also means I'm using muscles differently - my calves in particular are more sore, I think because I'm landing now somewhere between mid-foot and the balls of my feet (is that the same thing?) instead of a slight heel strike.  Another reason to TAKE IT SLOW on building mileage and adding speed work.

Onward.

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