Glutes! Of! GLORY!!!

This is the workout that kicks my butt.

If you were around a couple of years ago, you might remember that I was dealing with a serious pain in the badonk. And hip. So I went to the guy who would fix all my problems:

He evaluated me and pointed out my weaknesses. He diagnosed me with LAS:

I'm not kidding. It's pretty common amongst runners.

The cure?

Just kidding. That would be so awesome though, right?

It turned out the cure was actually a series of exercises that he called the Glutes of Glory program; designed to make me stronger and faster, and less prone to injury. 

At first I stuck to the program, and over time I graduated to newer and more complex exercises. But the new exercises were HARD and I was easily frustrated. The road to maximal gluteus glory was rough:

I would lose my balance.

My leg would fall off the ball.

I couldn't do even ONE hamstring curl. Not one. My legs just wouldn't budge.

Don't even get me started on the single leg curls, ha!

So I did what any sensible person would do in this situation: I kept going knowing that consistency would make me stronger.

Real mature.

I complained to Bruk that after a workout I could barely walk up or down the stairs for most of the week, so how was I supposed to run on such sore and un-glorious glutes (and abs, and quads, and hammies, and calves)? 

After numerous attempts on my end to gut it out, Bruk decided to simplify my plan: he knocked off some reps and rewrote it such that I had a plan to incorporate into race training  and one for my strength-building phase (i.e. not race training).

Since I'm not training for anything right now, I am in the strength-building phase and should be super strong in no time!

Dare I say, even "Glorious"?

Though I'll probably be more successful if I actually work out more than once a week.

On second thought, maybe I'll just take up the cowbell after all.

Questions:
1. Have you ever been diagnosed with "LAS"?

2. Do you struggle with balance as much as I do? I'd love to know if you have any good cures for it.

3. Do you live in the Seattle area and need a top notch PT? If so, I highly recommend Bruk. He has an opening since I've moved :)

*I know that it's hard to comment on my blog sometimes, but feel free to comment on my Facebook page, email me at 'Trigirl at Tri-ingtobeathletic dot com' or tweet me!


UPCOMING POSTS: MY "RUNNING" CLUB, MORE INTERESTING SIGHTINGS IN L.A.

I Got My Run Analyzed. Bring on the GLUTES OF GLORY!

If you know me at all, you know that I have a tendency to injure (click here) myself (and here) pretty (and here) often(and here).(here too)  Most recently, I started experiencing pain that would start in my left hip and then settle a little more, uh, posteriorly.

Running had quite literally become a pain in the butt. 

Over the last couple of years, TriGuy has brought up his running guy whenever I would whine about mention some ache or pain. I would half-heartedly mumble something along the lines of:

And then I would hobble on my merry way.

TriGuy tried to encourage me when I said how it conflicted with my work schedule, by stating the benefits of getting my run analyzed.

So, when my hip/butt pain became too much in the spring, I finally called.  I scheduled the full running analysis, which includes videotaping of walking and running, and an EMG to see which muscles are activated.  I was booked for an appointment 2 months away, but I knew it would be worth the wait.

On June 2nd, I got to see the running guru.  They call him:

                     Why, you ask?

                      There you have it.

We exchanged pleasantries and then got down to business.

FYI, if you want to get a running assessment done, you should know the following:

In order to get an accurate picture of what strange things you're doing with your body, you're required to hang out in nothing but shorts and a sports bra (over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder optional for men).

Once the taping was done, we sat down to watch the video while reviewing my history.

I had to regularly remind myself that I chose to watch myself run.

Yep.  I CHOSE to watch myself run.

I continued on with my history.

I CHOSE to watch myself run IN SLOW MOTION ON A VERY LARGE MONITOR.

Bruk took a deep breath before deciding how to answer me.

 Quick.  Like ripping off a band-aid.

 He asked if I would be ok with going back to see him because he saw some potential areas to work on.  I apparently don't use my butt at all when I run (or ever), so Bruk let me know he was putting me on a special program.  It's called:

That was the moment I decided to tell him that I have a blog, and that would be a perfect title for a post about this experience.

But(t), I'll save that visit for the next post.

UPCOMING POSTS: TRAINING, RACING, MY PATH TO GLUTES OF GLORY

* I changed her name to Jen since I haven't asked her if I can blog about her.