Recovery Techniques

Hi There,

I got a Deep Tissue massage on Monday over at Kwantum Health and Wellness. It wasn't the relaxing experience that you see on those commercials for day Spa's. The discomfort was my own doing, by not stretching enough after training runs for about six months, this made the muscles in my legs were as hard a concrete blocks. The Therapist worked the muscles in my legs for an hour and by the end I felt like I had gotten beaten up, I was so sore. But I'll be going back for some more later this week. I'm back running so the problem wasn't that bad.

I thought about getting IMS work done on my leg as I know that it will help, but to be honest I don't like being jabbed with needles especially when there is not much fat around the muscles in question. The last couple of times I've had this done I felt like I was going to jump off the table as a nerve was hit by the needle. unlike Acupuncture where I never noticed being a human pin cushion. Even though some of the principles of the two therapies are the same.

In my opinion massage is a very important part of the recovery process and one that needs to be incorporated more often into training cycles. The only downside to more massage is that it can be fairly expensive if you're getting one every couple of weeks. Usually over the course of the year I try to get one a month, sometimes more often if I doing a race as I feel that it has great Benefits. 

If you are doing a two or three week build and then the fourth week as a recovery week you should consider adding massage into this week, along with everything else that helps you recover from training. For me if and when I can afford it I try to get a massage and a Chiropractic visit in on the recovery weeks. I know a lot of people don't like the idea of their necks being adjusted and I can understand that, it took me a long time to feel comfortable with the adjustment.

If you can arrange it so that you have a massage and then an adjustment that's probably the best combination for you since the body is relaxed the adjustment will be easier on you, this would be pretty easy to arrange as most Chiropractors also have a Massage therapist working in the office. From my own past experience its probably best that you take the next day as a day off (rest day). I always feel drained a day or two after my adjustments depending on the adjustment.