Running is a team sport

This is me referring you back to "that time" I did the Washie 100... most everyone I knew (except maybe Allister) thought I was crazy to have finished it; and even crazier to think carrying on running was a "good" idea. There was one MAJOR difference in my approach to Addo, and that was to get professional help for my body. For reference, on the left is a picture of me approaching about 148km (appropriately we had just passed a cemetery where another photo was taken and that was posted to social media with the caption: "proof of life"). Here you can see just how tight and pulled my body was... nothing was working correctly at this stage, but there was no way I wasn't going to finish!
Since then... Ilona Hearne Biokineticist! Thank you Ilona for getting me "straight".

From massage to a journey of realignment and success

-by Ilona Hearne Biokineticist 

17th of January 2019. Summer. The off season for a lot of athletes, professional and otherwise; but not for long distance runners! Steven came for a massage, complaining of a tight calf and ITB; also his hamstring wasn't in great shape because of over-training dating back to Washie...

On completion of the 2nd massage I asked Steven if he would like an assessment after he had heard how misaligned he was. He said he had to get through the Van Staden's Mountain Marathon first... (referenced in this link). The day of the assessment Steven found out how misaligned he was, how his body had been compensating and how his muscles adopted a misfiring pattern... In essence he WAS one huge musculo-skeletal mess [Ilona, thank you for being so much more tactful in person... although I understood what you meant then, too].

With great teamwork, patience, research and discipline "we" completed Addo 100 miles not in the 28 hours we hoped for but in 30 hours 40 minutes with enough energy left to play with [#LancasterLight], his nearly 4 year old son.

The gross misalignment was caused by compensation, and the compensation came from faulty posture...

This faulty loading:
LEADS to shortening of  the intrinsic muscles
LEADS to lengthening of movement muscles
LEADS to altered movement pattern
LEADS to overloading the musculo-skeletal system
LEADS to pain and injury

SIJ dysfunction (sacroiliac joint dysfunction) leads to chronic lower back pain (LBP), and misfiring of muscles causes more harm than good, especially in endurance events and/or over time. "We" had to retrain his muscles to respond the way they are responding now to decrease the faulty load on his musculo-skeletal system.

This has led to great success because Steven can now activate the correct muscle groups in the correct firing pattern (most of the time!)

We are still working on some "kinks" but in all fairness, Steven has done amazingly thus far. "Our" next challenge occurs on the 26th -28th April, we have had 1 week of mickey mouse exercises (rehabilitation exercises that target the intrinsic muscle groups). We have 4 more weeks of training / rehabilitation and the last day of the cycle we will do a massage, and most importantly pray for success.

My treatment plan is flexible and it depends on how Steven feels on the day, so no time is lost in ensuring he meets his training goals at the end of the event. Steven's goals for UTD is to finish the race in 37 hours, we are hoping for 35 hours with the cut off time of 44 hours.

We will keep up updated on Steven's progress.. This insert is "serious" in writing but we have so much fun. Laughing and making dry jokes. So many small changes has occurred with great rewards.


This a guest post by Ilona Hearne Biokineticist. She is a professional and has designed her program specifically for me and my body. I highly recommend her, and if you can't see her, then find a professional that can help you become the best you can be... 

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