Been busy training and working and trying to maintain balance, so blog posting has taken a back seat. I’ve tried to twitter here and there to keep the flow…
So.. what’s da haps?
I’m finally, FINALLY beginning to believe everyone who tells me that flexibility, massage and stretching help with athletic performance. Big freakin DUH…
I got a really great massage at a new (to me) shop in Warren NJ Wesley worked me over good. He listened to what was ailing me, listened to my training schedule and went to work. Now this was less than a week after NJM, so everything below the waist was kaput. Wesley went to work on my upper back, and shoulders. While he was working, it sounded like I was the receiving end of a 4 year old working a roll of bubble wrap. I haven’t had obvious problems with my arms/shoulders/upper back but my body was telling me different.
When he went to work on my legs & hips, the trigger points really flared up. I never thought about ITB tightness before, but he NAILED several trigger points. He was working my hips, and my knees were sore; he worked a different angle and I got sensations in my feet. Amazing stuff.
After 90 minutes I felt looser, and better, but a little ‘out of sorts’
the next morning, I was headed to Minnesota I felt like I was coming down with the flu. Achy, out of sorts, generally ‘not quite right’. After the flight to MSP, I actually felt BETTER. When I got off the plane and was able to walk upright I realized that the massage must have dumped out a load of crap into my system; hence the crappy feeling.
Later that day I went out for an easy run and I felt GREAT. I took a meandering run through some streets and trails of my distant past and let the strong emotions move through me and push me forward.
At the end of the run, I felt great, 7 miles at 9:30 pace less than a week after NJM and I felt looser, stronger and better than I felt before the run. It certainly wasn’t the airline food, so I’m thinking it was the massage.
Gonna get me more of that rub-down stuff tomorrow.