So, this actually worked out better than I expected.

I finally got a chance to sit down with David Hardin, of www.dhfit.com.   Until my race report gets posted about the Chicago Marathon, you’ll have to do with this short story.

I met Dave as part of Imerman Active last year, and at the time, we only discussed business, and not what he actually did.  And in usual fashion, I did not follow up with him.

However, sometime after the Chicago Half Marathon, and the Newton 20-Miler, I had messed up my hamstring behind my left knee.   I had to walk the last 4 to 5 miles or so with only an icepack and some pain killers.   From all accounts, both online and through a last minute physical therapist that I had seen, I had just a minor sprain, and was given a book and some exercises to do.

However, on the day before the Marathon, at the expo, I was still feeling some residual pain from that area, and was kind of bummed that I would be running pretty much injured.  I was also severely tight in my hip flexors, which I didn’t even know that I was tight in.  However, I got a very quick stretch from Dave, on the expo floor no less, and I felt FANTASTIC afterwards.  He also made some observations and last minute tips which also helped, and I felt fantastic during the first half of my Marathon.

So, I kept him in the back of my mind, and finally got a chance to meet with him for an assessment.  During of which, I tested for a few things

  • Flexibility – Turns out that I’m fine in this regard.   My legs went 90 degrees, I can touch my hands behind my back, and I can reach my toes sitting down, no problem.   Mind you, I’ve experienced other people that can reach farther than I can, so I always thought I was a newbie in that regard.
  • Balance – Same, which is again surprising.  I thought I would be off-balance due to the curvature in my spine that’s going to take forever in a day to fix.  I’ve also had orthotics in my shoes for the past year or so, might be a testament to that effect.
  • Push-up Test – Only got to 16 before I had to give in.   I think I did 10 for a test last year, and CrossFit KILLED me on workouts that had that part in.  Dave wants me to get to 100 pushups (what??)
  • Squat Test – I don’t know how many squats I did, but from what I retained from explanations, I just have to work on my form, which shouldn’t be much of an issue.  I got a bit of correction in my Crossfit training.  Dave wants me to get to 200 squats (what?? I could only get to so many without weight!)

So afterwards, I did some additional ‘warm-up’ exercises, one of which exposed my main issue, which seems to be hips and glutes.  This makes sense, considering that I sit at my computer most of the day.  Most of the other topics we discussed were music to my ears, because I had read about them in The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferris, and wanted to implement.

On top of this, I found out that he’s a sprint coach, and more than likely will be taking over for speed training with my other coach, Kimberly Shah, who I’m consulting for Distance.  I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

In the meantime, gotta whip myself into shape, somewhat fast.  I’ve got less than two months for the ING Miami Marathon, and somehow I got to get a 20 mile run in before the event starts.  Although, I’m thinking of just switching to the Half Marathon, and just focusing on PR’ing that race.