Ok so I have a question for anyone out here. I just did Cozumel this past weekend and it was my 10th Ironman. 3rd this year. I felt pretty bad starting the run, my lower back was in a spasm which it sometimes does after riding for so long in the bars like that. That went away after a few miles. At about mile 13 I started noticing I was leaning forward and to the left. Over the next few miles I was leaning more and more and I couldnt control it. I ended up finishing he whole marathon that way. At one point around mile 25 I walked a little bit and tried to stretch myself back up but shortly after I started running again I was leaning almost falling forward. Does anyone know why this happened? Was it fatigue? Nutrition? or dehydration? I really hydrated well on the bike and had to pee 3-4 times and then about 2 times on the run but I had trouble drinking out of those water bags for some reason. I did end up in the medical tent and got 2 bags of IV fluids so somehow I guess I did get dehydrated.
Has this ever happened to anyone before?
Thanks.
i’ve noticed a lot of people in IM’s doing this and have even seen quite a few runners at memorial park regularly running WAY hunched over. i’m curious why this happens as well. subscribed.
I could be wrong but think it is muscle fatigue and a lack of a V-8. I noticed quite a few people leaning like the Tower of Pisa while trying to finish and others were bent over completely. After a day of pounding, the body will do things the mind tells it to but on its own terms. Remember that the run course is not easy with the camber and not being completely made of asphalt. If what you thought was bad on Sunday, last year was worse with people damn near crawling to the finish. It wasn’t cute.
Seen this many times at the finish line. Many people leaning over to the right or left–seems like they are going to take a nose dive. I have never looked into the exact cause of this physiologically. But I would assume it has to do with imbalance of the hip flexors/extenders . One side just fatigues or tightens faster than the other and leads to rotation/torsion of the pelvis. You can’t stand up straight because your hip girdle is no longer straight–so the back muscles end up having to compensate for the posture change. Eventually, the lower back muscle fatigue as well, and you end up slowly crouching forward and leaning to the side to keep you from falling over. Not sure which plays a larger role–dehydration, nutrition, endurance, strength, or flexibility issue. I have not experienced this myself yet, but I can imagine that it would suck badly to feel yourself tilting over without much you can do about it.
If you lean forward is it more aero? Perhaps it’s your bodies way of telling you to run on all fours like a Gorilla. Have you noticed any excess hair growth or a craving for bananas?
A big culprit is weak muscle and imbalances. Ironman is a long race and it’s a lot of stress of your lower back and hip flexors. Work on getting used to the aero position more and do more core/functional strength.
Your question is timely. Your story sounds eerily like me this year. This year I did 3 IMs. The first 2, at the 21km mark I was running bent over to the left as it sounds like you were. I could not run, the pain was excrutiating. It was very sad seeing pictures of myself afterwards. I could feel my back starting to cramp and spasm coming out of the water, but I was able to withstand the pain until half way through the runs at IM CDA and IM MTB. In preparation for the third IM (IMFlorida) I undertook 2.5 months of weekly painful ART sessions, weekly physio and every day at home a stretching and CORE STRENGTHENING program. My lower right back was really messed up, I didn’t know if I would be able to run properly again.
Fast forward to IMFlorida. Leading up to the race my back felt very strong. Race day I finished the swim, no problem. Finished the bike, no problem. Started the run, no problem. I did suffer from leg cramps on the run but my back was 100% pain free and I ran up right the entire marathon. I had never done core strengthening exercises or stretching in my life, it was that simple, my back was my limiter. I know stretch and do core work everyday. My back has been great for over 2 months and I am confident it will stay that way, AS LONG AS I DO THE PROPER STRETCHES AND EXERCISES. The trick for you is getting your back fixed, which you probably won’t be able to do on your own. It will be painful, but very worth it. Once it is fixed, you cannot get lazy and say “ah, I’ll stretch or do core tomorrow”, do not do this. My first 2 IMs this year were around 11 hours. The last one was sub 10 hours. I give most of the credit to fixing my back. Good luck.
Why most runner are hunch over.
Tight hip flexors off the bike that are from being over worked.
Don’t focus on pull up on the pedals when you cycle.
Just wt on from 1-4 on the pedal. No hip flexor work.
Your back is not tight or you would lean backwards, it’s more of a pelvic rotation forward from the hip flexors shorting due to fatigue.
Thanks for all the responses. I think the hip flexor answer makes the most sense to me. I have had a history of tight hip flexors and have had to work on keeping them stretched. I work with the foam roller but not as much as I should. I have a pain that shows up in my left butt that reminds me I need to stretch and roll. Its pretty likely that this could be the cause. I will be working on strength and core this winter and I hope this never happens again.
Thanks for all the responses. I think the hip flexor answer makes the most sense to me. I have had a history of tight hip flexors and have had to work on keeping them stretched. I work with the foam roller but not as much as I should. I have a pain that shows up in my left butt that reminds me I need to stretch and roll. Its pretty likely that this could be the cause. I will be working on strength and core this winter and I hope this never happens again.
Don’t focus on strencthing your hip flexors focus on as mentioned on the bike not pulling up and strengthing your hip flexors/ lower abs to allow them to length. weak muscles cannot lenghen, they stay tight to avoid excesive load.
Also you may want to strength your hamstrings to support your pelvis for all sports.
This is 90% of every endurance athlete I see running (even walking)…Poor Glute activation/strength…, which leads to poor hip extension…Your glutes are primarily responsible for hip extension…why most athletes with overuse injuries can’t do a couple of single leg split squats correctly…Weak Glutes and tight Psoas, Hip Flexors (resposible for hip flexion)…and also tight upper quads…
This than leads to poor hip, knee, and anke alignment which starts causing a host of problem with lower leg function and (foot and ankle range of motion and stability)…
Regardless of how little you pull up on the pedal stroke your still flexing at the hip (just like sitting down) which will shorten any mucles responsible for hip flexion…
So yes increase flexibility and range of motion in the front…stregthen the glutes…
Unless you have a serious overuse injury it is all about a comprehensive approach to flexibility (in the form of range of motion, not gymnist style) and strength through a full range of motion…So your body will fire in more balanced manner…
You can read/search on my old post what I do for strength training…
Ok so I have a question for anyone out here. I just did Cozumel this past weekend and it was my 10th Ironman. 3rd this year. I felt pretty bad starting the run, my lower back was in a spasm which it sometimes does after riding for so long in the bars like that. That went away after a few miles. At about mile 13 I started noticing I was leaning forward and to the left. Over the next few miles I was leaning more and more and I couldnt control it. I ended up finishing he whole marathon that way. At one point around mile 25 I walked a little bit and tried to stretch myself back up but shortly after I started running again I was leaning almost falling forward. Does anyone know why this happened? Was it fatigue? Nutrition? or dehydration? I really hydrated well on the bike and had to pee 3-4 times and then about 2 times on the run but I had trouble drinking out of those water bags for some reason. I did end up in the medical tent and got 2 bags of IV fluids so somehow I guess I did get dehydrated.
Has this ever happened to anyone before?
Thanks.
how was your sodium intake? hyponatremia leads to an inability to contract muscles. i would guess by the number of times you peed, you might need to consider this. the sodium helps by opposing potassium in muscle contraction/ relaxation, and helps cells hold water, which helps with preventing dehydration in long endurance events. think of the flippity floppity people on the highlight reel of IM Kona. thats hyponatremia.
You can read/search on my old post what I do for strength training…
Is this it? http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=4272780;search_string=;#4272780 or this http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=4272520;search_string=;#4272520
I really need to work on my core this year.
Ok so I have a question for anyone out here. I just did Cozumel this past weekend and it was my 10th Ironman. 3rd this year. I felt pretty bad starting the run, my lower back was in a spasm which it sometimes does after riding for so long in the bars like that. That went away after a few miles. At about mile 13 I started noticing I was leaning forward and to the left. Over the next few miles I was leaning more and more and I couldnt control it. I ended up finishing he whole marathon that way. At one point around mile 25 I walked a little bit and tried to stretch myself back up but shortly after I started running again I was leaning almost falling forward. Does anyone know why this happened? Was it fatigue? Nutrition? or dehydration? I really hydrated well on the bike and had to pee 3-4 times and then about 2 times on the run but I had trouble drinking out of those water bags for some reason. I did end up in the medical tent and got 2 bags of IV fluids so somehow I guess I did get dehydrated.
Has this ever happened to anyone before?
Thanks.
how was your sodium intake? hyponatremia leads to an inability to contract muscles. i would guess by the number of times you peed, you might need to consider this. the sodium helps by opposing potassium in muscle contraction/ relaxation, and helps cells hold water, which helps with preventing dehydration in long endurance events. think of the flippity floppity people on the highlight reel of IM Kona. thats hyponatremia.
I agree. If it was hot, you should have been at least a little dehydrated. Having to pee that much and also having trouble drinking more means you were overhydrating. That leads to dilution of electrolytes, blood glucose, and muscle failure.
Its more complex than just hip flexors. While I would say they could easily be the cause of a anterior pelvic shift by overpowering antagonist muscles Psoas, glutes of the gait movement. The “hunched over” from above the pelvis would be fatigue in the lumbar stabilizers and core abdominals.
You are right to focus on core strength as a prevention to this. Re establish a good balance of muscle strength and muscle activation patterns through out the core and this should straighten out.
Duke H Young AT CSCS
Orthopedic Physical Therapy
I took in about 700mg of sodium per hour on the bike. I thought exactly of the people on the Kona video and thought that looked just like me! If that is from hyponatremia than thats what I had. I was taking infinit concentrated and then water. I weigh about 114lbs. It would seem like that was enough sodium but maybe not. Or it could be that this all happened on the run when I seemed to have the most trouble. I did eat a banana starting the run but then I was not getting down that much to drink although I dont think this was a whole lot different than most IM’s I have done.
I have used perform on the run though and since that gatorade tasted like it was mixed with tap water after one partial mouthful of that I didnt dare take any more. I did have a flask of napalm with me on the run I really didnt get much of that down though.
Really the only reason I was having trouble drinking more was because of those darn water bags. Im not sure why I struggled so much with them. I was not ever nauseous either and Ive almost always battled that when I work hard in a race like that of course with the slowing pace it was not really like I was running very hard either.
I just felt completely exhausted and was leaning.
Definitely sounds like hypoatremia (overhydration, causing natrium deficiency)…be careful with that!. I made the same mistake in Cozumel last Sunday…way to much water during the bike, which flushed the salt out of my blood. I had the same left-bend over posture problem during the run. It started after the first 14 km (8.7 mi). I recognized the condition and got out at the 21km (13 miles), because it is a very dangerous condition that can lead to permanent kidney failure. I could have struggled through but did not for health safety. It was a pity the stations did not supply any salt sticks (pretzels would not work to compensate), I did not have enough salt sticks myself to compensate. Energy, core strength, etc etc ware no problem at all.