M'kay

LM warmup, 2.04 miles in 19:28, 9:34/mi, HR 125.

Even after taking yesterday off, legs were still completely dead.  Gave it the obligatory 2 mile warmup before calling it quits. 

LM warmup, 6.11 miles in 53:19, 8:43/mi, HR 131 & stretching.

Left leg/hip just as bad as last week before chiro adjustment.  Monday's adjustment doesn't appear to have helped any, or it already reverted.  Took to running short stretches with nice full long strides and slowing to walk when the hamstring and adductor would tighten up, making it impossible to stride correctly.  Did this the entire run.....not fun. 

LM warmup, 14.04 miles in 1:43:08, 7:21/mi , HR 159, w/ last 10 miles Moderate effort (3 uphill, 7 downhill) & stretching.

Today I discovered that when I stand and raise one knee up as high as possible while keeping my body straight, my right knee goes about 3 inches higher than my left.  Makes sense that the range of motion in my left hip isn't anywhere near my right.  So I went to my chiro and demonstrated.  He did some tests and remarked that even though I display fine mobility in both hips, its obvious from my test that something isn't right, so he made some adjustments and got my knees to the same height, told me to go for my run and if it reverted, to come back today.

So the run started out with the same hip tightness problems in the hamstring and adductor, so I wound up stopping to stretch periodically (1/4 mile increments to start, 1 mile increment at the 4 mi mark).  It did feel different, more like it was just muscles contracting when they shouldn't instead of a range of motion issue.  Finally, I did some lateral dynamic hip stretching at mile 4, something in my back went pop, and off I went without any issues for the rest of the run.  From that point on, I pushed the pace.  By the end, I was worn out but happy.  After stretching out, I retested the knee height and the discrepancy is back.  So back to the chiro. 

LM warmup, 12.06 miles in 1:34:18, 7:49/mi, HR 147 & stretching.

Left hip tightened up at 3/4 miles and didn't loosen up until about 5 miles in, but the range of motion is still good so now its just getting the muscles trained in the correct joint position, I think.  Opened up the strides and turnover on the steeper portions of the downhill return.   

LM warmup, 8.11 miles in 1:04:34, 7:58/mi, HR 146 & stretching.

Hip tightened after about 3/4 mile at a very easy pace.  Stopped periodically to stretch.  Began some bounding strides which were fine, but as soon as I dropped back down to a normal easy pace, the tightness returned.  Did some strides to try to loosen things up and that made things somewhat better, but it wasn't until mile 6 on the return that the hip really loosened up, and never fully. The trigger point today seemed to be at the top of the hamstring where it attaches to the pelvis.....sciatic nerve territory.  Makes some sense, since it's extra muscle activations I'm dealing with.  Probably doesn't help that I sit for work most of the day.

LM warmup, 2.02 miles in 17:29, 8:39/mi, HR 132 & stretching.

Hip tightened up quickly today and I was just not feeling like dealing with it.  So I bailed early and spent the time stretching the hip well instead.