After a couple weeks of recovery post-marathon, I was ready to revamp my running technique. I know my gait needed a few modifications, so I scheduled a running analysis (gait analysis) at Point Forward Motion Analysis.
It was very interesting. I learned more about my body than I ever thought I’d want to know. 🙂
John is the guy in charge, and he outfitted me with little electrodes.
Once they were attached, I went for a little run on the treadmill.
There were several video cameras, recording me from different angles. They ran the footage through their fancy computer, and it gave me lots of data. I was especially interested in the angles of my joints mid stride. That data helped John identify my weak muscles. 
He used that information to give me a series of exercises to help me strengthen those weak areas, and he placed electrodes on the muscles. I then performed those exercises while watching a big tv screen that indicated when those muscles were activated.
No cheating! One of my weakest areas are my glutes. Even though I regularly do squats, I’d somehow trained my body to use my quads instead of my butt. Gosh, darn it! It sounds like that’s a common problem with runners, so I didn’t feel too bad about it, though I was really interested in learning how to teach my body to squat correctly. I’m glad I had those electrodes to give me some feedback when I was using the right muscles! For the record, my calves are also weak. When John suggested that, I thought he was crazy. I’d just run my ninth marathon- how could I possibly have weak calves?!
Well, he asked me to do some one-legged heel raises… turns out, I could only do a few. I guess I do have week calves!
It was a pretty awesome experience, and I left with a whole new idea of what I want my running to become this year. I love finding new muscles to strengthen and new ways to be faster and stronger. This isn’t going to be easy, but improvements are worth working for. 🙂 Thanks, John!
Miles this year: 278.1
artist & athlete | a glimpse into real life, Heidi style 
That sounds really interesting!! Way to go!