It IS All About the Bike

I have been struggling with what I perceived to be running issues since late 2009.  Curiously enough, that is the time when I got fitted for Skull Kingdom, and the fitter changed the configuration of my bike shoes--inserts, insoles, etc.  I began my bike training with the revised shoe configuration in October, 2009.

I first had an issue in May 2010 that manifested itself in sharp pain on the underside of my right foot while running, and it seemed that taking time off from running plus new orthotics corrected it.  I got the new bike (with shorter cranks than my other 2 good bikes) in late June (way later than I expected), and I got through Ultraman Canada with a degree of paranoia.

Fall 2010 I was not feeling good running.  It was subtle, but I just couldn't pinpoint it.  Of course, I continued to think that running was the root cause.

Early 2011 I still wasn't feeling right running and my feet didn't feel right biking, and I blamed running and took serious time off from running and biking.  After that, I reintroduced biking, mostly on Skull Kingdom, and seemed fine.

Last fall, I decided I was good to go, had a good 55-mile run week in October and then 60+ just 7 weeks ago!  In late October, I had my left bike shoe re-shimmed, after being evaluated by my bike shop and looking at an old pair of shoes.  One of the things they did to me back in fall 2009 was remove the shims from my left shoe.  Turns out I needed it--my left leg has no ACL, and it causes me to hike my left hip severely on the bike without the shim.  So I began riding with this configuration and felt better on the bike.

Last early December, I began noticing an unusual amount of tightness in the lower abs/groin area, bilaterally.  I wasn't doing any more abs work than normal.  I attributed the tightness to the amount of running I'd been doing, including a bout of faster than normal running at the Ride 'n Tie race in mid-November.  This tightness persisted, but either I got used to it or it may have abated somewhat.

4 weeks ago I did my first indoor tri, and my run sucked donkey balls, but I had a decent swim and great bike.  The lower abs tightness reared its ugly head again, and I grew concerned about it, but my bike workouts were going great, and I was running OK.  I started doing track workouts, and I could bang them out, but the tightness seemed to worsen a bit.

Last weekend, I did a 2-hour run on Saturday--1 hour on the treadmill and then the rest outside.  My right foot was bugging me, on top in the same area as where I had the issue in 2010, and I was not feeling good about that.  Later that day, I found this awesome site for low back issues.  It includes a psoas stretch that I immediately tried (best psoas stretch I have ever found--DO THIS ONE!).  Well, FUCK ME doing it I could tell both psoas muscles were tight as drums--more so on my right side.  I thought maybe it wasn't my lower abs after all, and hoped that the foot pain was low back nerve related.  Now why would I think this?  Because I could feel the extreme stretch in the rectus femoris (also a hip flexor) as well as the psoas, and the opposite leg's hamstring. AKA low back is fucked up because psoas attaches to lumbar spine as does QL as does bunch o' erector spinae, and Mr. Sciatic Nerve comes out of there and will get pissed as hell if any of those muscles are out of whack, and then it will precipitate to piriformis and lower leg pain, blah, blah, fucking blah.  So I thought I'd found the solution.

But the next day, I got on my bike for 2:30, and then Monday when I ran, I still felt the lower abs area tightness.  Fuck.  On Tuesday when I got on the bike, it occurred to me that I still didn't feel "quite right" in my bike shoes and spun some thoughts.  I pulled out my box of insoles/pads (I have quite the collection since early 2010), and dredged up the original arch supports I used to use in my bike shoes.  I put them into my bike shoes and first off, I noticed I had more room in the shoes.  Hmmm.... this feels better.  But then I got on the bike and could tell it was if I'd shortened the cranks by just a hair.  I measured that fucking hair later--it is maybe 1.5 millimeters.  While I was on the bike, I could tell I didn't feel as closed up, and what do you fucking know, when I got off, no more tight lower abs!  I was cautiously optimistic.

On Wednesday, I had a long run (1:40) planned.  I started at 5AM, and felt just great running.  No weird foot pains, abs felt fine, stride felt fine.  I swam afterwards.  Feeling good.  Thursday get on bike again.  Although I was tired (because I've been having trouble getting enough sleep which is another topic), I got my bike workout in, and once again I noticed how "normal" I felt on the bike--nothing going on in my feet, hips squared, all good.  Oh I forgot--the other reason I was tired for my ride was because I ran again in the AM, and even did some track repeats!  Those went really well, and I felt just great.

OK, this is looking good now.  Yesterday morning I ran again (this is now 8 days in a row of running), and did a couple 1/4 mile repeats at the end, and it felt great--nothing going on in my feet or abs.  As I type this post, my lower abs are just great.

So so far, so good.  I'm not saying I have the full solution, but I think I'm close.  My next challenge will be to see how all this goes when I get on Skull Kingdom.  I am just so happy that I can ride LGL feeling great again.  I have a feeling that the same adjustments will carry over to Skull Kingdom, while even though she has shorter cranks than LGL, my feet have never felt quite right, so the 1.5mm adjustment may be just what the doctor ordered! 

So, stay tuned...the point of this discussion is that bike fit can have a HUGE impact on your low back health and consequently, ability to run injury free.  If you are having running issues, consider whether your bike fit is spot on, and perhaps experiment with very small adjustments in saddle height, etc.

I sure as hell hope I've got this solved.  Thing is, I had everything working just perfectly in 2009, when I had a banner year of PR's all around and no injuries.  Got a new bike, fucked with bike shoes, and all hell broke loose.  I am not blaming the fit of Skull Kingdom--the frame, etc., is perfect--but just remember that if something doesn't feel right after someone tells you to change something, maybe your system was just fine.  If it wasn't broke, don't fix it!