University of Virginia BioMechanical Lab

On Tuesday afternoon, Christopher and I headed out for Charlottesville, VA so I could have some tests performed on Wednesday morning with a very renowned biomechanical doctor that specializes in endurance athletes, specifically runners and cyclists.

During the last 2-3 years I had slowly become very frustrated with my racing and at times even contemplated moving on (but that quickly subsided as I am not qualified to do anything else). I have had a string of freak and untimely injuries, most recently a nagging upper hamstring strain that I have had since February and has yet to subside. I had also experienced horrific side stitch problems in a couple cross country races and then another one a couple weeks ago at the Falmouth road race which caused me to drop out completely. People who started running yesterday or drank a glass of milk 3 minutes before a run get side stitches....not professional ones who have been doing it competitively for 14 years. After the US Champs in June that resulted in me getting destroyed over the last couple laps in the final I told my coach in a fit of rage that I was finished with 'that bleeping bleeping bleep event.' I figured the hurdles were beating me up and becoming too much of an 'equalizer' between me and my competitors so I was going to move up to the 10K.

Now....I might renig (sp?) on my decision. The cloud of doubt and question became very clear and apparent on Wednesday. They put some sensors on my legs from hips to feet and I ran for a little while on a treadmill with force plates surrounded by infrared (sp? Typing this on blackberry...no spellcheck) cameras hooked to computers and run through a gazillion algorythms to ultimately show (in real simple terms) that I have basically no hip stability and the only part of my core that my brain knows how to engage is my rectus abdominus (six pack). I generate very little power from my glutes and hamstrings which is where I should generate almost all of it from. This also results in me having the slowest cadence of any elite runner he had ever tested.

So before I sound like I could end up being God's gift to running, it does mean though that if I can fix my structural instabilities and deficiencies through a very slow process...I should ultimately see much improved results. And if nothing else it tells me that I haven't been a complete nutjob (jamie might disagree slightly) over the last three years when I would complain about something 'feeling off'. Before Tuesday the only solution to my problems was me telling myself to 'try harder, or run faster, or run further, or lift more'. Now I know the problem and have been given a step by step process to fix it. Who knows, maybe now if I can actually generate some power from my backside I might be able to close out a race at the end! London!
-Brian