Why do people pay for sports massages is the question on my lips after last nights ordeal! I had heard sports massages hurt and can cause bruising but very good for helping reduce the build up of lactic acid in the muscles. I am the proud owner of a foam roller which is meant to simulate the same feeling and give a similar effect in the comfort (if the words comfort and foam roller can be used in the same sentence) of your own home but I was in so much pain with the foam roller I realised after two years of running a total of 1192 miles my muscles may need a helping hand before I could fix them myself.
Couple this with the fact I've been harbouring silently an injury that simply will not go away no matter what I did or didn't do I knew physio was the way forward but with it being a costly excercise I was stuck. Lucky for me being a member of Run for Fun a very kind lady Anjie who will be running the Grim Reaper with me told me she had a very good physio who would see me for free and she would kindly give me a lift to see him in Swindon and back. Excellent...
So last night we made the hour journey to Swindon me in shorts, tracksuit bottoms, and stinky trainers thinking I will be told I can't run at all and worrying as my 'proper' marathon training starts on the 23rd December. We arrived at Dannys house and I was led into his physio room and introduced. We went through the basics of how much I run, when I run and the type of running I do and I was rather pleased with myself when I found out I was normal as I have a neutral running gait.
The normalness wasn't to last though as I was asked to stand up to get weighed. Getting weighed doesn't bother me in the slightness and I quickly pointed out I knew my weight was 9 stone 1 pound but Danny told me this is a different way of being weighed. In front of me were two sets of scales I was told to put one foot on each, stand up straight and look straight ahead. Turns out I am not normal in the slightest as the right side of my body (the injured side) is half a stone heavier than the left side! My right hip is also out of line from the left hip and at an anterior angle? Wow this stuff baffles me but I knew this would all help my road to recovery. What followed then was eye wateringly painful (is eye wateringly a word?) Sports massages hurt! Alot!
What started with some cream being rubbed on the front of my right thigh then turned into the muscle being pressed on very hard by elbows and arms.. never felt pain like it. After a few minutes I could feel it easing off but apparently this is my body getting used to the pain rather than it not hurting anymore. The left leg hurt alot but not as much as the right leg. Why do people pay for sports massages? I think the answer may be that although they hurt like a bitch my legs felt amazing after and still do now. Danny advised my injury is a tendon injury rather than muscle so won't be a quick recovery but has let me continue to run but drop down from 5 x a week to 3 x a week missing out hills, sprints and intervals and lowering my overall mileage to 5 miles or less per run with a rest day between each run.... cue unhappy face but obviously ALOT happier than being told I can't run at all. This coupled with me stretching everyday, even at work whilst waiting for the kettle to boil on tea braeks and keeping up my stretches from now on should see me all set fit, fixed and ready to start marathon trainig on the 23rd December.
And here it is... brilliant plenty of room on that bottom bar for some new ones in 2014 starting with Torremolinos and London! 
