Yesterday morning was my followup visit with my podiatrist, to see how the orthotics have been feeling, and to review my gait analysis. All's well on the orthotic front - I've worn them for a few weeks now, and they feel good, so nothing much to report there.
As for the gait analysis - wow, do I have a lot of room for improvement! I knew I'd have some things to correct, but never imagined the laundry list he gave me:
1. My stride is too long, which results in me landing way back on my heel, which results in my leg hardly being bent at all when my foot hits the ground, which results in all that force shooting straight up my leg. Bad.
2. My "float phase" is too long - which means that in between steps, when neither of my feet are on the ground, I'm up in the air too high, and for too long. And as you can imagine, that means that I'm hitting the ground with much more force. It also causes my hips to rotate way more than they should.
3. Probably as a result of the above two issues, when my foot hits the ground, it doesn't do so directly in front of me - it crosses slightly over the midline - again, placing crazy stresses on my hips and legs.
What this all means is that I'm not only making myself more injury-prone, but I'm also running very inefficiently. The energy I'm expending is going all over the place - up and down and sideways - instead of just moving me forward.
The good news is that these are all things I can fix! As a matter of fact, I ran 3 miles this morning, and was extremely focused on my form the whole time, and I swear I felt a difference already. The whole run felt smoother and more comfortable, and easier, too!
I really wish I had gone through this process ages ago, but I'm glad that at least I've finally done it now, and I can begin working on this stuff. It's kind of bizarre to watch a videotape of yourself running, but so eye-opening and interesting and helpful, too.
And in another bit of good news, the forecast for this weekend and next week looks like one of the best we've had in months - temperatures moderating a bit (up into the low- to mid-40s!!!!), and no signs of major snowstorms. Hallelujah! This has been a really tough winter, and I will be so glad when spring finally arrives. Heck, I'm excited to see 40 degrees - I can't even imagine how ecstatic I'll be when we get to 50 and 60! At this point, I'll be thrilled when all the snow melts and we can see the grass again!
There's been no lack of excitement at our house, though, with the addition moving along very quickly. The boys' new room is completely framed, and electrical work has been done. Next up is A/C, then insulation, then sheetrock, then paint and carpeting, then move-in day!!!! No idea when it will all actually be done, but it's progressing faster than I expected so far, so I think we're doing ok.
And for the most part, it hasn't been too terribly disruptive. Getting the new room framed was the least disruptive of all, surprisingly. There was a lot of noise and some mess, but it was mostly contained to the space above the garage, which didn't really affect our living space at all.
But since we're getting all this major work done, we decided to put all new windows in, also, and that process created a lot of chaos - workers in and out of the house all day, lots of banging noises, lots of dust. A huge mess, basically - made worse by the fact that there is still quite a bit of snow and ice everywhere, so the sawdust and dirt are mixed with snow and melting ice, and it all makes a lovely paste that clings to everyone's shoes and then gets tracked all through the house.
I've given up on keeping the floors clean, although today the guys weren't here working at all, and I did spend half an hour mopping the tile and hardwood floors. I know they're just going to get trashed again, but I couldn't stand looking at the filth any longer. I vacuum every day, and it's still a disaster. It's all for a good cause, though, and it'll be so worth it when it's all done.
Will have to do a quick update on the boys at another time, but I have to jot down two Dante gems while I'm thinking of them -
Yesterday after I picked him up at school he told me that he learned all about the letter 'm.' "You know, 'm' for ValentiMe's."
Last night he was acting totally crazy when we went upstairs to get ready for bed, and I took him aside to tell him he needed to calm down and stop running and yelling, and he got all exasperated and said "But I just can't! This is just the way God made me!"
I didn't let him get away with that - I explained that it was still up to him to choose to behave correctly - but I have to admit, it was a pretty good defense.
Comments