Karen writes: Preventive maintenance

My  body is feeling a bit like it has been rolled out with a rolling pin and re-shaped and I am now sitting on the sofa after dinner wondering what to do with myself.  I’ve got no children to run around after, no training to do, cant be bothered studying…and I am under strict instruction to rest.  My day started quite differently with getting out the door for an early swim before work.   I have to admit swimming is feeling better, the stretching forwards of each arm…reach and pullllllll, isnt anywhere near as difficult as it was, and I could bend in the middle without wincing afterwards.   It is still boring however, but not as boring as the spin.   

I was really surprised that the Otara pool was full of people at that early hour though, walkers, swimmers, and loungers.  I had to share a lane with several swimmers, one of whom insisted on doing a butterfly stroke every so often which took the whole lane, it must have looked cleverly choreographed from above as everyone else ducked round him.

Then…after work today I went for a maintenance ‘deep tissue massage’.  Now the place I go (Kate goes to the same place), has different therapists, I have tried 3 of them, Kate has tried 2.    They are all excellent, but it amazes me how they each take a different approach, and they prioritise such different things that you can come out thinking “hey, I didn’t realise that bit was a problem” because the last person focused on a different bit.

Today I had Tanya, the last time I went to her she did a great job, stirred up muscles I didn’t know I had and I remember that after a few days of recovery I felt amazing.    This time, I think my muscles have gotten more used to being worked on, and I didn’t attempt to levitate when for example my hamstrings were ‘cleansed’, I just asked the question “what bit have you got there?”, took a deep breath and privately thought I would be sure to stretch them lots so I didn’t have to go through that again in a hurry, now that I knew where they were of course!

She worked on my tricky calf muscles which have been cramping up if I kick too vigorously with the flippers, then she worked on my back and sorted out my problematic neck which is still struggling to get used to the  hours spent in a crouched position on the road bike.  The only time I really reacted was when she poked the little muscles between my ribs.

So I am all loosened up, reminded of the importance of stretching (again), and will treat myself to another session of self-inflicted-misery, sorry, preventive maintenance before the next event some time in November.