Every day I'm shufflin'

..and it hasn't been doing me a lick of good.

Though it brings me to views like this, and that definitely does me some good.

I know it's only been 5 weeks since Sunburn Solstice - which for some strange reason took quite a bit out of me - but I've been riding the struggle bus on runs an awful lot since.

Though it's difficult to complain when this is on the bus route

My training paces have been super slow, my ongoing high hamstring issue has not been improving - as a matter of fact, my other leg seemed to be developing similar damage. My calves have been tight as a drum, my feet and ankles are still grouchy, and I've generally been feeling awfully beat up. I can blame some of it on the superlative heat and humidity we've had, and some of it on deep-seated fatigue from running for more than 15hrs on a hot, sunny day, but even a few weeks later and with some relatively mild weather I was still concerned about the lack of oomph in my legs.

Wednesday evening, I had a bit of a revelation.

*cue choir of angels*

I was about a mile from my office, easing into a stiff, awkward, please-make-this-hurt-as-little-as-possible 5-ish mile run. On a gentle downhill on a sidewalk, I saw a couple of ladies pushing strollers side-by-side ahead of me, with a herd of small children on foot around them. Knowing it would be nigh impossible to get everyone to move to one side to let the sweaty dork pass, I spotted a driveway and did that careful spatial calculation with which most runners are intimately familiar: how much faster do I need to go in order to pass this lot at the driveway where I'll have all sorts of space to do so?

The answer was "a fair bit", and I braced myself for the consequences - I fully anticipated that opening up my stride would cause an angry yell from my hamstrings, but I went for it anyway.

..think pleasant thoughts..

Much to my surprise, it actually felt GOOD to run faster!

I suddenly realised that the running I've done since Sunburn Solstice has all been with a mindset of going as easy as possible, which has essentially led to me doing the "ultra shuffle" on training runs for the past 3.5 weeks. I've been locked in a pattern of short strides and landing with a nearly straight leg - I'd swing my knee forward as usual, but would straighten my leg to meet the ground in a misguided attempt to reduce impact forces.

Look at my shadow on the ground - my leg is barely bent at all

Basically I've been trying to pull myself along with my hamstrings, like scuffing your shoe on the ground to remove something stuck to the sole - do that a couple of times and see how it feels, then imagine doing that about 1,400 times per kilometer for anywhere from 5-50+km at a time. The only thing really launching me off the ground into my next stride has been my calves.

Force vectors definitely not to scale, but gee - I wonder why my calves are tight and my hamstrings are angry?

This also sort of explains why I've oddly felt somewhat better while running uphill - I'm forced by the angle of the ground to put a bit more bend in my knee, and to use my glutes a bit more for propulsion. A little counter-intuitive for just feeling generally sore and run down, but fits perfectly with my poor running form theory.

As I continued to run on Wednesday, I tried to be conscious of swinging my leg forward and keeping the knee bent, while sort of sitting into my stride a bit to engage my glutes. I even got a bit of forward lean going, rather than keeping my torso completely upright.

You know - like you're supposed to.

This transfers the work to larger muscle groups: I was now powering myself forward with my glutes, and launching by engaging my quads to extend my knee. This also provides more shock absorption, as the bend of my knee takes the brunt of the impact of the road instead of my poor, maligned ankles.

I'M FARTING PURE POWER

Getting the larger muscle groups involved means I'm able to generate more force, and they should fatigue less quickly. I move faster at a similar effort, and my hamstrings really like offloading some of the work! However, it's not without a cost: those big muscles demand a lot of oxygen, so it becomes more aerobically difficult to sustain, and more challenging to keep my foot turnover high.

I may draw myself as a stick figure, but those massive legs and butt are the reality.
(And yes, this is the -improved- stride, so you can imagine how stiff and upright I was before..)

However, my Wednesday evening run is a point-to-point with a significant net downhill, plus several stoplights along the way. I basically ended up doing an interval run that saw me running fairly hard (while paying close attention to form) until I'd hit a red light to recover, then givin'er again once it turned green.

There was also a slightly more substantial aerobic recovery on the rocks in Cooksville Creek.

The end result was less hamstring soreness after the run than I'd had in a fair while - PROGRESS! Who knew that improved biomechanics might mess me up less?

I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT

I tried it again last night (Thursday), and I felt like I was better able to sustain the modifications to my stride. Tanker rode along with me, so maybe he'd be a better judge of whether or not things looked any different; I'd expect I look a little smoother, though given how awkward I am (I honestly run like someone who read about the concept once in a book with no pictures, or like a horrible live-action version of QWOP) he may not have noticed anything except a marginally faster pace.

Since I was in booty shorts he may not even have noticed I was running..

Ok, I actually asked him a few minutes ago, and he said he did notice that something was different but couldn't quite put his finger on it; definitely that I was quieter, with my feet slapping down on the sidewalk less. This is something I'd noticed recently - that I was running very noisily - but despite my best efforts (which I now realise were coming entirely from me trying to change the angle at which my foot struck the road by essentially pointing my toes), I'd been unable to return to the quiet foot plant to which I'm accustomed.

*elephantine footstep noises*

I will give a caveat that I can't be sure all of the improvements I'm seeing are due to stride adjustment - I've also started some different approaches to treating my hamstring woes this week, including the use of heat and some extra mobility work. However, I have no doubts the ultra shuffle was part and parcel of the ongoing problem.

Hopefully 

In any case, this provides a good example of why it can be an excellent idea to do a bit of a self-check from time to time to see if you're getting locked into any detrimental movement patterns, while running or doing anything else. A few seconds worth of faster running - known as "strides" in training parlance - may suffice to open your eyes to some deficiencies, and are generally worth doing to improve your running economy anyway. If you're in really dire straits, consider booking an appointment with a physiotherapist for a stride analysis to see where you may be going awry.

Which can, in turn, help you enjoy beautiful places even more.

So, it looks like I've got something figured out...just in time to end up doing the ultra shuffle again at Tally in the Valley tomorrow. Or at least, in a way I hope so - I'm not sure if my still-kinda-messed-up feet, ankles and hamstring will actually let me go for the full 6 hours for which I'm registered, so I may not actually get to the point of shuffling again. In any case, I'll be heading to the start line and running - paying as much attention as I'm able to my form - until my reasons for stopping outweigh my desire to continue, or until the end of my event.

Stay tuned to see which happens first!