Getting My Transverse Abdominis Up and Running

I am finally back out running!  It took me 6 weeks of elliptigo and many many hours of rehab just to get back on my feet.  I learned after the Olympic Trials what was going on, and why I was in so much pain. My transverse abdominis was not firing!  The transverse abdominis is cut during a C-section, and my brain and this very important muscle were no longer communicating due to the trauma.  It took a lot of mental power just to get the thing firing again, and after about 3 weeks of brain aching, very small movement workouts it finally became more and more easy to get it firing, and working again.  I was still in some pain, so I was on the elliptigo for 6 weeks.  2 weeks ago, I slowly started back to running a little.  I am still not doing any hard workouts, and spending a lot of time working on building the strength back in my core.  I feel lucky to have Dr. Leo figure out what was wrong and prescribe the very boring, yet effective workout to start the process. 

                          

As you can see here the TA is a large part of the core, and explains a lot about how I have felt over the past 2 years in coming back to running. I felt like I would tire more quickly than I used to, and unfortunately attributed this to coming back from having the kids, and something that would just take time to get back to.  In marathons in the past I would begin to really feel fatigue around mile 22.  But at Grandma's I felt it around mile 15, at columbus around mile 18, and at the trials things were too messed up from not using it all this time, that I was beat up by mile 11. I thought I simply had a long road ahead of regaining fitness, and tried to stay patient.  Since finding out what has been going on I feel immense hope of the future!  I should not be able to run fast without using this muscle as the function of the TA's main function is to activate the core muscles and stabilize the pelvis and low back. This explained why my back and butt was a mess. The exciting part is that I can fix it!  It is going to take a lot of boring, brain numbing, and annoying work to get my body working as a whole, but when it is...I will be faster!

I can't wait to be back in this beautiful singlet and chasing down some PR's!  I have a lot of work to do, and I look forward to it!  I encourage mommas out there to find a good Doctor and PT to help you get back at 100%.  I wish I would have done it sooner.  My next post will be sharing my activation series for all of you out there looking for how to get the TA back up and running!