mr b's comeback

[B.Bill.]

Had high hopes last year Mr b ,pre-entered champs races (no other way !) only to be found massively wanting due to injury ....this year I have decided to just get out without the pressure and enjoy it ��
Sometimes you have to re-evaluate yer goals ��

[Corniceman]

Had high hopes last year Mr b ,pre-entered champs races (no other way !) only to be found massively wanting due to injury ....this year I have decided to just get out without the pressure and enjoy it ��
Sometimes you have to re-evaluate yer goals ��

That's a great shout Bill. I empathise with Mr B and feel I have to accept too that injuries and age catch up with you and past glories are exactly that!

[mr brightside]

Just another ACW lap of Thrusscross today, setting off from the Fewston car park; 8m/1200' ish. The canoeists were out on the Washburn which provided some warm-up entertainment, i don't know how they do it- it looks so cold. Every other person gets it wrong on the big waterfall and goes for a dunk, must be freezing. I guess they may wonder why i bother to run up hills.

I've been getting some noticable Glute Medius soreness on these longer runs. I'm still doing the recruitment drills 3-4 times a week on the affected leg, and even after 3/4yrs of plugging away i still find myself moving on to ever increasing levels of muscle soreness in it whenever i either run fast or far. I keep wondering if i'll ever top out with this one and take it as far as it can go, just have to see. My chiropractor was telling me the other week about the differences in muscle usage between a heel strike and a forefoot strike; heel strike uses Popliteus for deceleration, whilst forefoot uses the quads group and loads up the front of the knee quite a bit. It explains some issues i've been having.

I had a much better run today all in all, none of the problems and niggles i had last week. Tea and jam sponge cake at the Washburn Heritage Centre afterwards.

[mr brightside]

Today's run- KWL Barbondale, 2m/1175'

Never done this race before, but have walked it collecting flags and photos. I was expecting to sail up to the second cairn, but that climb knocked the legs off me. Coming back down started well, but jelly legs set in near the scree somewhere and i had to pull up a bit. It's the thing with not being able to hit big hills regularly, you're just rubbish in the end. No knee problems, but my ankles took a bashing mostly due to jelly legs; i almost went over on both of them near the funnel and there may have been some cussin'.

[mr brightside]

Despite my 'orrible cold i tried to put in a reasonable run at KWL Cunswick today, but ran into real trouble. It seems i've developed a problem with my left ITB, i had to walk the last mile of the race today as it became clear there was a serious biomechanical issue to be addressed. It crippled me more mentally than physically; that sad, cold trudge back to the funnel with your head down staring at the ground in front of you. People jogging on past as you shiver in the rain, it's been a while since i've been there, but it doesn't get any less dejecting. I was fine at Barbondale so it looks to be stability related, i've been struggling a bit with stability related injuries on most of the XC events, mostly ankle complaints.

The best way to deal with it is to take it as an unstable left hip with an under-recruiting Glutes Medius, as that was what happened to my right hip, and i've been getting some real soreness in my right Glutes Medius so i know i'm struggling to remain stable during strides. So...Glutes Med. recruitment drills, Tensor FL stretches, and might aswell stick to the Podiatrist's full program for the right hip and throw in the Glutes Maximus recruitment drills aswell. All of that and ITB roller plus NSAI every day.

[wharfeego]

...The best way to deal with it is to take it as an unstable left hip with an under-recruiting Glutes Medius, as that was what happened to my right hip, and i've been getting some real soreness in my right Glutes Medius so i know i'm struggling to remain stable during strides. So...Glutes Med. recruitment drills, Tensor FL stretches, and might aswell stick to the Podiatrist's full program for the right hip and throw in the Glutes Maximus recruitment drills aswell. All of that and ITB roller plus NSAI every day.

Hard luck Mr B. I spotted you walking in to the finish funnel and felt bad for your predicament.
That last paragraph is super technical! Please could you translate it to layman's terms

[mr brightside]

Hard luck Mr B. I spotted you walking in to the finish funnel and felt bad for your predicament.
That last paragraph is super technical! Please could you translate it to layman's terms

I'm just going to have to back away from it all Andy, i wanted a good crack at the Winter League and just shuffling around the remainder of the counters won't do my table standings any good at all- it's all or nothing. What i've learnt is that i have work to do with my left hip stability, and that i'm not good enough to run every race one after the other- basically i'm no Tindersticks!

The last paragraph...Tensor Fascia Lata is a muscle which can be used to keep your pelvis level when your other foot is off the ground, but Glutes Medius does the job much more effectively. For some reason people tend to suffer a lot from lazy/malfunctioning arse muscles- they use their Hamstrings for propulsion and not their arse cheeks, and they use their Tensor FL for stability not Glutes Medius (which is embedded in the arse cheeks group of muscles). Tensor FL is unsuitable for supporting your entire bodyweight on its own because it has to pull on the side of your knee and wrench the crap out of your ITB to balance you out, but if Glutes Medius isn't working effectively there's nothing else to do the job which gives you a sore leg and a sore knee (side). Glutes Medius on the other hand is built a bit like a brick outhouse and is connected solidly to bones at both ends, but it just happens to be bone idle in a lot of folk. The way to get round the problem is to get Glutes Medius working with recruitment exercises and stretch Tensor FL out like an oscar acceptance speech to remove its overbearing dominance. People talk about stretching the ITB, but tests have shown it can't be stretched, the Tensor muscle however, like any muscle, can be.

[wharfeego]

Thanks for translating.

[mr brightside]

Real tough luck Mr B; it's one of the worst things finishing a race with half a tank of gas left

On a positive note I have found your thread very useful for its technical info on muscle recruitment and imbalances and the like, something that has helped me in my ongoing injury nightmare. Thought I might be the only person on here reading your entries for this, but based on Wharfeego's comments I'm evidently not. And there may be a lot of others too, so please keep doing what your doing. and best of luck for a full recovery.

Thanks Marco, it's worth noting i'm not qualified in physiotherapy or any similar disciplines, so my posts are more 'food for thought' than anything official! I tend to look at lower limb function from a mainly Geometry/Mechanical Science standpoint, the fundamentals are mostly transferable to Biomechanics, though i've gone a long way out of my way to self-educate on the subject.

[shaunandrachel]

I also avidly read Luke's posts and from personally discussing this injury with him (which is very similar to mine) know he talks a lot of sense. Indeed Luke, I have gained a great deal from your experience and explanations-you have been an absolute godsend to me and I am sure, many other people. Perhaps you should change career? Please keep posting, you are very much appreciated by many more for sure.....After many an unsuccessful medical appointment I can tune into here and get more sense!