Tonight I attended my first Sports massage. Although this isn’t a training run I thought it worth blogging for those of you who may be interested but never took up the courage to book one. Its also part and parcel of my training.
I’ve been saying for awhile I needed to book and look into sports massage but it’s been one of those to do things that I’ve never got the courage to go ahead and book.
So when Sharon tagged me in Keep Active Muscle Therapy’s Facebook post offering a free sports massage I thought what have I got to lose.
I really was not sure what to expect to be honest. Having heard horror stories about sports massage and how painful it was I was a little nervous.
From the minute I stepped in the door I was made to feel welcome by Sian and Simon.
After going through some routine health questions and asking if I had any particular areas of concern etc, Sian took me into a conservatory area and explained the process.
As she went through the sports massage she explained what she was working on and the reasons. I’d love to be able to tell you all those big long words and body parts she was mentioning but the minute she’d said them I forgot lol. I was forewarned it wasn’t like a spa type massage and was meant to work the muscles to rid of any tightness and knots but was also told it was as brutal as i’d probably heard.
When we had finished I was given some advice on using sports balls along my legs after runs to prevent tightness (something I had been looking at prior to the massage so ordered as soon as I returned home) and I booked back in for another one on the 11th. I was advised if running tomorrow to only do a light low millage run even if I felt OK which was perfect as running with the Handsworth RoadHog ladies would enable me to do this.
I left feeling ok not hurting in any way. It was only about an hour and half later that it really hit me. My legs felt they had been running for miles and miles but without actually doing it and I felt exhausted and dehydrated in a wired way.
Definitely early night tonight.