Note to self: when trying to explain/convince why massage therapy is essential to training and worth the monthly expense, do not call it a “massage.”
To the non-athlete, muttering such words conjures the image of candles, aromatherapy, dim lighting and pure relaxation, not the deep tissue work that hurts-so-good and is necessary preventative care. Trust me, it’s just not going to fly. Instead, call it “sports therapy” an explain that it’s an injury prevention tactic that is required. Coach’s orders.
This past week I went to my first “sports therapy” session at a chiropractor’s office (note: NOT a spa) and HOLY-WHYDIDNTANYONETELLME-AMAZING. ART is great because it focused on my injured area, but “sports therapy” works the entire body and the therapist discovered things about me that only I would know.
Why yes, yes I have the death grip on my bike and that’s why my elbows hurt.
Why yes, yes I have been swimming a lot and I had no idea my rotator cuffs were so tight.
Long story short, find a reputable sports/massage therapist at a medical center (not a spa) and watch what happens. I’m already excited to go to my next appointment.
I guess I should recap my week now. Here we go!
Mon., 5/7: Overslept…um…rest
It happens. Moved my workout to Wednesday, which was supposed to be my real rest day.
Tues., 5/8: Run/Core
Tuesday are usually for intervals or hills, but with my hip issues, I wanted to ease my way back into running so I did short, slow run of 5.6 miles. No pain during the run (yay!), but post-run “stinging” ensued.
I crunched the core with the Nike Training Club app post-run.
Wed., 5/9: Swim
The open water may have me beat at the moment, but I’m going to own the pool, dammit. I looked over and saw some nearby swimmers doing their “look-at-me-I’m-faaaancy” flip turns and I thought, what the hell, I’ll try. It may have looked like a drowned cat flipping in the water, but I did it and continued to do flip turns for 2,600 meters. Small win.
Thurs., 5/10: Cycle
I finally got around to replacing my Garmin wireless sensor on my bike, well, Chicken Face finally got around to it, and I was able to train again with my cadence in mind. It was a sweaty, disgusting, perfect mess.
I bag them so I know how many calories I’m getting, but is it just me or do these CarboPro baggies look suspicious?
Fri., 5/11: Run
As I’m easing my way back into running after a couple weeks off, this seven mile run was short, but still trying as my heart rate was all over the place despite my level of perceived exertion. I came home frustrated, but know it’ll be fine. It always is.
Stayed nowhere in these zones. It was a sad mess.
Sat., 5/12: Long Ride/Run
54 miles on some brand new courses with a lot of hill climbing was not only welcome, but made me fall in love with cycling even more. I tested out a new fueling strategy of trying to get the majority of my calories from liquids and it mostly worked: CarboPro, Iroman Perform, ClifBloks and water. It’s still not even close to perfect, but I’ll be sure to share as soon as I find something that seems like a winner.
The most genius idea I’ve learned yet: directions on your bottle.
Sun., 5/13: Open Water Swim
Ugh, do we really need to talk about it again?
My mom and sisters were in town for Mother’s Day and we pretty much fawned over my little sister’s new puppy the entire time. I’m sad to report that Lola and the new puppy did not get along, well, Lola pretty much wanted nothing to do with her. What a diva!
I closed out week 23 with:
8 hours and 23 minutes of training (a really low week – almost felt guilty about it):
4,155.7 yards swimming
69.3 miles cycling
12.6 miles running (stupid hip)
30 minutes strength training
So tell me, do you go to a massage/sports therapist regularly?
Happy Running!
But I HAVE been telling you
yayyy glad you loved it! It’s highly necessary.
You’re right! You were the one person who has been telling me. Lesson learned: ALWAYS listen to Aron. You always do have all the answers and that’s why I love you!
Oh my gosh, that picture of Josh is priceless. He looks so thrilled!
Ha! He’s THRILLED that I posted it, let alone made him install it.
Regular sports massages are so beneficial. I was getting them until we decided that feeding our 4 children was a bit higher on the priority list
Directions on the water bottle, what a great idea!
I started getting regular massages (monthly) when pregnant with my first over 8 years ago. Now that I’m an endurance athlete I see my therapist every 2-3 weeks, more frequently when injured or really high intensity training sessions. Luckily my husbands insurance covers a large portion of it.
Directions on the water bottle – never thought of that! Sure beats crumbled up in my jersey pocket!
I learned how to do flip-turns from watching videos on youtube. nerdy, I KNOW, but it worked!
I will definitely be watching some soon!
I was JUST looking up the sports massage place. I need some ART on my ankle, too, it would seem.
The directions on the water bottle is the most genius thing I’ve seen. I am always glancing at a baggie shoved in my pocket. I’m definitely trying this from now on!
Someone recommend a great sports massage therapist in NYC!
umm the carb pro baggies are the best. just hope you dont get pulled over….
Reading this reiterates that I am not going to the right masseuse. They said she was a sports masseuse but after going to her the first time it was pretty obvious that she doesn’t know much about triathlon (although she claims to work on triathletes) and that my massages are entirely too relaxing. I only have one more massage left with her so I will just finish up the package and find a new masseuse that knows how to make it hurt so good!
during IM training i decided sports massage was a priority, so i’ve been going every 2 weeks for the last couple months. this past time i was so sore after i felt like i’d been hit by a truck, but by the end of the week i felt great. he tends to find areas on my that are tight that i wasn’t even aware of. totally worth it to me!
great job girl, you’re definitely making progress!