Gimpy leg

As I ran my 6 miler on Sunday, I noted again that when I run on dry sand I tend to start twisting left. Basically, it seems as though my right leg is stronger and pushes off a bit more strongly when I stumble. Which I do know has been a problem since I started running. For example, a short list of my injuries:

Left leg: Shin splints, patellar tendonitis, high grade calf strain x 3, iliotibial band syndrome

Right leg: shin splints.

The last time I noticed a huge difference in my quad strength was last year after I hiked the Inka Trail.  I still had my ITBS and spent the whole time with a pair of makeshift walking stick-crutches.  When I came back and started working with a personal trainer to recover from the injury, the difference in my stamina-especially with lunges-was huge!

It seems I still prefer my right leg, so to remedy this I tried lengthening my stride as my right leg reached forward, making my left leg push a bit extra.  This took too much mental focus and I quickly regressed to my old familiar stride when looking out over the sand to find the path of least resistance.  What ultimately worked really well to even out my strides and make my left leg feel the burn was to raise my left arm swing equal to the upswing of my right arm.  Easy as that!  My hips were squared forward, my shoulders aligned with my hips, and there was no more “oops!- twist left”  when stepping into the many dips in the sand.  So simple…