2nd Year College Short Sprinter Journal

[boldwarrior]

Re - ankle
Two things i would check,
1 - Forget the ankle, check the Calf muscle and surrounding muscles - look for trigger points, or tight spots. If you cannot remove them, go see someone who can.

2 - I would check for Hip alignment, not just up and down, but twisted also. Eg, if your Left hip is more forward, therefore the right is further back (twisted), then when you run, your left foot will hit the ground before the center line of your body, and your right one will (or should) hit the center line of your body (on ground contact during the stride that is). If this happens, then the left foot will never recover.

You need to find somebody in your area who can 1 - check these, and 2 - fix it.

Note, i'm not saying THIS is your problem - it's just the 1st thing i would look for. Reason - highly popular

[hornblower]

After years of frustration I am finally starting to fully appreciate the fact that where an injury or soreness manifests is generally an indication of where high demand has been placed on the body rather than where the actual cause (and potential solution) actually is...

[hornblower]

7.26.12

(off)
stretch

notes:
-still some gluteal soreness
-watched some video of myself and of more skilled sprinters and I think I actually should be seeing my knee get closer to my midline. my knees will tend to flail outwards, which im sure reduces power output, and makes me look stiff if I end up side stepping at all

just a stab in the dark here, but would tight glutes (medial and responsible for external rotation?), along with TFL, possibly contribute to the outwards movement of the knees??

[boldwarrior]

just a stab in the dark here, but would tight glutes (medial and responsible for external rotation?), along with TFL, possibly contribute to the outwards movement of the knees??

Yes, remember, the tfl is not a muscle, it's a band, and the muscles that control it are up in the hip. Normally when people feel release in that area, it's the Lateral head of the thigh. And boy, that can get super tight in runners!

issues normally always happen in clusters. Eg, if the outside hip is tight, the the outside thigh normally gets tight, and the outside calf normally gets tight. You may also have Lats tightness in your back? Depending on issues, the problem can easily swap sides from the upper hip and upwards, eg, right leg but left upper body.

[hornblower]

Tfl is hard to stretch out. You have to work the angles a bit. I've recently been targeting that area and it is really helping. If I follow the chain of tension it goes all the way from the outside of my left knee, up through the right side of my back (lats, as you just said), through my traps to my neck, and down into my right forearm. Loosening the forearm and shoulder area is helping my hip function/recovery greatly...

[tb2010]

7.26.2012

full warm-up
5x2 hill runs (xc hill, ~80m, short flat walk in between reps, long walk after set, its a very long hill with a flat section in the middle)
2xcircuit#3
7/26 lift
stretch/self-massage
15' ice l. heel, right thumb joint, right inner thigh

notes:
-heel pain mostly gone, just I notcied a bit of tightness while walking barefoot on hard surface post workout. right thumb joint has always been an issue with me since I jammed it and temporarily had a ligament move out of place 4 years ago. right inner thigh just felt a bit tight and tender to the touch so I was being proactive
-thought about having everything approach the midline during my warm-up drills, and wow, my ability to have my hips move is awful, haha. I thought itd feel more natural and flowing, but I actually had trouble letting the hips rotate. also tried to let my hips swivel and keep the knees in during power outs. maybe doing all the drills loosened em up a bit, because it was a bit better when i just ran and didnt think, knees not flailing out as much. when trying to go through the motions in a couple reps, I finally saw that type of side to side motion that is "good" in pro sprinters, that I never had, so im thinking its a hip mobility issue for me. I also think that, structurally, I am not built to let my legs have too much movement inwards on the recovery portion, or my knee on the front swing (bolt and powell's actually cross their midline while behind the body, sometimes) because I am significantly bowlegged so my knees cant swing by too close to one another or I'd clip my calf and trip (powells thighs nearly touch in his accel strides). i definitely see variations in how close the legs are to one another and how much roation is occurring, but going from none to at least some and not letting my legs bend outwards i think would definitely benefit me

[tb2010]

Thanks for the input! I'll try to respond to each post...

[tb2010]

Re - ankle
Two things i would check,
1 - Forget the ankle, check the Calf muscle and surrounding muscles - look for trigger points, or tight spots. If you cannot remove them, go see someone who can.

2 - I would check for Hip alignment, not just up and down, but twisted also. Eg, if your Left hip is more forward, therefore the right is further back (twisted), then when you run, your left foot will hit the ground before the center line of your body, and your right one will (or should) hit the center line of your body (on ground contact during the stride that is). If this happens, then the left foot will never recover.

You need to find somebody in your area who can 1 - check these, and 2 - fix it.

Note, i'm not saying THIS is your problem - it's just the 1st thing i would look for. Reason - highly popular

1. my left leg has always had recurrent problems since a partial tear in my pcl several years ago (ranging from hip tightness right down to the foot arch. but as far as this injury, I'm positive this occurred because of crappy long jump form combined with my bowlegs. I was just having fun with teh event at a local meet and rolled my ankle, but was stepping down so hard to jump that I really bent my ankle and managed to get a big contact bruise. and since heels get so much daily wear and tear, its been slow to heal (haha, pun) and i'm just being careful with it so it wont be a problem once team training starts. no real pain from it anymoere, just icing to make sure all the swelling is gone

2. this could be a possiblity. everytime i've gone into pe i've had some sort of hip alignment issue. if more problems occur I'll have the trainer at my school take a look at it in about a month

[tb2010]

After years of frustration I am finally starting to fully appreciate the fact that where an injury or soreness manifests is generally an indication of where high demand has been placed on the body rather than where the actual cause (and potential solution) actually is...

I agree. my lower back tightness, which seemed to be remedied by stretching and massage, was really caused by internal hip tightness, so my massage therapist cured it without ever even touching my back! squatting always did it to me, but not because of back pressure or poor form, just because my hips were inflexible!

[tb2010]

just a stab in the dark here, but would tight glutes (medial and responsible for external rotation?), along with TFL, possibly contribute to the outwards movement of the knees??

is the tfl the muscle on the outside of the thigh that would bulge out while/from squatting? on my upper, outer thigh, when I squat, the muscle grows so quickly I have stretch marks. and I think that being bowlegged contributes more to this than glute tightness. most of my major muscles are flexible enough that coaches don't push me to stretch much