Forums >Health and Nutrition>Looking for help/ tips: hip / knee drive issues post marathon
Hi all!
Hoping for help regarding a nagging issue that i can't find a remedy to. I have traditionally been a short distance runner - hurdles in college, and have usually done track workouts, 5Ks, and a 10K or two after college. A friend convinced me to a run the NYC marathon, and I did so after probably some but not the greatest level of training, as it coincided with my first semester in grad school. The race overall went ok (did in like 4 hours) , but the last 3 miles i basically lost all knee drive, with my min / mile time dropping over 3 min/mile and sheer will got me over the finish line.
It's been about 18 months since i ran and I've been unable to get even close to my pre-marathon 5K times. The primary issue is that I have no stride / knee drive. I feel like I both cant push off and drive the knee up like i used to - my stride is incredibly small and it's pretty much impossible to get it up. Please note that, while I'm still slower in sprinting, my knee drive seems to be okay for short sprints. However my stride becomes basically non-existent after a quarter -half mile. I've seen a chiropractor (showed up with one leg longer than another) and a physical therapist (said my piriformis is super tight) and have been stretching, doing yoga, etc. as well as some strengthening with very limited improvement. I wanted to see if anyone has had similar issues or has suggestions on how to overcome this. It's been incredibly frustrating :/
Seems like my situation back in 2016. Went to highly recommended chiro first - she was probably fine, but she was not operating in terms of fixing me as a runner, seems like she was doing only what she was doing to other regular folks - it probably worked for those regular folks but for me it was a waste of money.
Then I went to a PT who was part of my insurance plan - I think he was a great student of his trade and studied all the books but it was exactly like that - like he was doing some practices from a book he studied and learned - didn't help me a bit - also talking about some rightness in my hip, pronation, bunch of useless crap.
Finally got lucky - somebody recommended me a PT who worked plenty of years with real college (Cal Berkeley) athletes. There I realized that sometimes real specialists could make things that worth more than just money - every session I had with him (I saw him few times within next few years) I had a breakthrough. It was just amazing how people could know stuff about you you do not know yourself.
So, my advice - look and find a guy/person who knows sports and running in particular (most of the sports involve running, fortunately) and worked with other athletes/runners - that's the most reliable way you get some real help. Itm will require some luck, may take some time but I know it's possible.
Also, share with people on these forums your location and they might recommend you good sports specialist. You are not the first who had some tough issues.
paces PRs - 5K - 5:48 / 10K - 6:05 / HM - 6:14 / FM - 6:26 per mile
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SMART Approach
It may not be a mechanical issue?? You can't analyze your leg drive at end of a marathon. Too much other stuff going on. What is your training like now compared to before marathon? Is your weight and miles per week/consistency the same??
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