Chiropractic, Hill Bounding, and Recent Progress

Since soon after running in the 5th Avenue Mile four and a half weeks ago I've been seeing my chiropractor twice a week. I had been having discomfort in my very lower right back for some time and it seemed to have gotten worse. Turned out I had a very stressed out iliolumbar ligament due to a leftward tilt to my spine and a downward tilt on the right side of my pelvis. At this point it's about 95% corrected.

At my last visit he did something different: he adjusted my feet. I've always had tight ankles and I regularly do the stretch where you sit back on your ankles and press the soles of your feet to the ground to stretch your foot and ankle. I can only do this with shoes on though as the shoes provide a barrier and you have to press pretty hard to get some stretching. If I try it barefooted it's too much of a stretch and too painful right off the bat. The foot adjustment involved him digging his thumbs into various parts of my ankle and foot and then banging/slapping the foot on a padded board contraption thingy. My feet and ankles felt remarkably better immediately after. But still have a ways to go.

Also over the weeks since the 5th Avenue Mile I have moved through my new training paces starting at the tops of the ranges and progressing down to the bottoms of the ranges while maintaining a consistent HR profile. I've been doing a long run and two days of hill drills and the rest recovery pace or easy pace at most. I've done high knee repeats up the hill and hill bounding. It took until about the third session to get the bounding right. The first session I was striding too far up the hill rather then pushing off correctly. The second session I cut down the striding but didn't have the push off quite right. About the middle of the third session it seemed to suddenly all come together and I got the knack of it -- I think. I haven't tried hill springing yet. I'm a little leery of that one due to bunions of my big toes. Over flexing them can be quite painful. I will at least try a gentle version but these may just not be for me.

Based on recent progress I should just about be able to cover 2 miles in a 12-minute Cooper Test. Haven't tried to do that since college when we had to cover at least that during the first week of soccer practice each year. Back then I could cover very close to 2.25 miles in 12 minutes. Just getting to 2 would be great right now though. Perhaps I'll attempt a time trial in the next week or so... maybe on Monday... which is my 49th.