Running lab morning. I hadn't seen that side of 6 a.m. on purpose in quite a long time. I had a piece of toast, and got there by 6:15. There were three stations; an agility/flexibility/core station with a physical therapist, lactate threshold with a tech and gait analysis with a tech and doc. The agility/flexibility/core was helpful, and highlighted tightness in my shoulders, hamstrings and deep calfs. Everything else was good. The lactate threshold consisted of progression running on the treadmill. After running at 6.5 mph for 3 minutes, she measured heartrate and lactic acid level in the blood thru a pinprick in the earlobe. The stick took 10-20 seconds, then speed up .5 mph, and continue until the lactic acid level really starts to climb. At 8 mph she said, "Probably a couple more." At 8.5 mph, she said, "Probably a couple more." At 9 mph she said, "Probably 2 or 3 more." At 9.5 mph she said, "You know, in fit people, the climb isn't as sudden..." At 10 mph I was getting pretty tired. At 10.5 mph, ran for a couple minutes and told her "I don't have another 40 seconds of this. I'm gonna puke." Her response was to encourage me to finish. I finished, and stayed just on the right side of the puke line. I overheard the doc getting after her as I went to the bathroom. "You aren't supposed to run them till they throw up!" Finally, the gait analysis. They had me run barefoot for a while with front, side and rear cameras. They let me run in my regular shoes and crocs. This was much shorter and easier than the lactate threshold. At least I had a good warmup. Overall, I was working with them for 90 minutes. They said it would take them a few days to compile all the results into a report, so I'm still waiting for that. Until I take a look at that, or talk with the doctor again, I won't be sure how useful the trip was. The only immediate feedback I got was from the PT about having a good core and some stretching advice. I felt sick all day after doing that speed work. Also, I was unable to resist showing off the difficult core pushups for my wife, (hands shoulder wide at the level of your forehead) and I feel like I tore something in my abs. It's better today, but it hurt all day yesterday. | 