The Doctor fixed me – 6% increase in FTP power!
I don’t usually ride on the trainer but when temp in north Texas went below 30 a few weeks ago, I caved in (I’m a desert dude)
While riding my trainer, I noticed that my left knee is doing something weird – kinda going up and down in elliptical path (vs. up & down like a piston) it was so bad that the trainer was rocking,,,
When I did the Retul bike fit last year, the fitter noticed the issue and fixed it by adding a shim to my left pedal so I went to my Retul guy and ask him to fine tune my position on the bike.
After spinning for 2 minutes, he said that my pelvis is misaligned badly and he won’t touch my position until I see a chiropractor.
He gave me a number and said this guy is really good with athletes and can also help with my shin splint issues, which a big deal for me
So I went to the doc and he confirmed that my pelvis is misaligned (more than an 1”) and this is the root cause of my shin issues
He did his chiropractor tricks and told me to start running on treadmill gradually.
While running still didn't go too well that day (tendon is still aggravated), yesterday, I repeated the 3x12’ @ FTP intervals @ 237,239 and 231
My FTP is ~225w and on Tuesday (2 days earlier), I did the exact same intervals @ 226,225,223 (same route & conditions)
That’s ~6% increase in power output! I haven’t seen such an improvement in long, long time
As for the shin, I’m still optimistic,,, thanks to Nemo & the injured athlete mojo thread, I decided to give deep water running a chance and I will try running again in 2-3 weeks
The doctor by the way is also a triathlete (3x Clearwater) and a certified triathlon coach. He is super nice guy and he specialized in working with athletes.
Send me an IM if you live in the Dallas area and need a good Chiropractor
Comments
Magic! Did you also get some stretches and exercises to help maintain the realignment?
He did not give me specific instructions but said that lack of core strength is the root cause for my pelvis issues and that it is important to work on your core and legs strength.
He, for example, likes to work on his core by standing on one foot when he is doing routing stuff (brushing teeth, bending over to pick up something from the floor, etc.)
he also said that the key for performance improvement is to be consistent and to be consistent, you need to be injury free and to be injury free you need to work on your strength.
Now, who's coming to the gym with me?
Adding a bosu disc (is that what it's called? it's like half of an exercise/swiss ball) or exercise/swiss ball to any weight-bearing exercise will build every stabilizer muscle in your body though, that's good too!
You can also go down the path I am right now, doing the 200 situp challenge, although I'm a day or two behind - it's a good kick in the pants (and abs)!
As for the shin splints I find subtle issues in foot joint mechanics as a common root cause along with running biomechanics, shoes, etc if it doesn't resolve.
Keep us informed.
Vince