by Natalie on March 31, 2009
The past couple weeks I have gotten into spinning and strength training in lieu of my regular morning runs while my IT band gets back to normal. I am definitely enjoying the change in routine and appreciate the challenges of these new work-outs. I’m testing out the Runner’s World training log this month and one of the fields you can complete allows you to rate your effort as well as the quality of your work-out on a scale of 1 to 10 and I’m finding that with these new work-outs I have to put in a lot of effort but am not getting the quality I’d want because everything is so new.
Running for me still remains the ultimate work-out not just because of the calories it sheds or the lean frame it allows me to build, but also because of the mental balance I can achieve when running. Despite the enjoyment of these new work-outs, I miss running terribly for it’s mental stimulation, quiet focus, and creative freedom. On any given run my thoughts would move between concentrating on my form to planning my “to do” list to thinking through poems to simply taking in my surroundings. Every day I could start with a run was inevitably a better day for it because the run would give me time to wake-up my body and my mind and prepare for the day ahead. [click to continue…]
by Natalie on March 30, 2009
There are several names that came to mind for this post: “That’s the Spot!” “Ouch!” “Digging Deep,” “Seven,” and plenty of others, some of which sounded totally inappropriate and others that could be misleading. So as not to leave you wondering what all these possible post names relate to, they are tied to the deep tissue sports massage I had over the weekend.
I have had one other true massage in my life and it was the most amazing, relaxing, comforting, soothing experience ever. My sports massage was the absolute opposite. After talking to some personal trainers and reading plenty of articles and forum posts about various ways to “treat” IT band pain, I was convinced that I needed to see a massage therapist. It made sense to me that if the masseuse could not find anything wrong with the muscles in my leg then I would have a much larger problem at hand. So I dug out a gift card waiting to be used and made an appointment for a 60-minute deep tissue sports massage at a local spa and salon.
I was shown into a cozy room with candles lit, calming melodic music playing, and I snuggled under wonderfully heated sheets thinking how nice it would be to doze off while the massage therapist fixed all my IT band problems. [click to continue…]