- Speed work (shorter workouts at high intensity)
- Massage therapy
- Yoga
I won't bore you with details of the first one - it's just part of the work out schedule. Like this morning, I was not focused on distance of my bike ride, only how fast I was going. Studies have shown that you get the same benefits from doing a short interval, high intensity workout than you do from a longer medium-to-low intensity workout.
Let's talk about #2 and #3 a bit.
If you've been to a spa and gotten a massage, you walk out with a relaxed body, tranquil mind and that lingering scent of lavender in every orifice of your body. If you've ever done (sports) massage therapy, you probably know that it's not quite the same experience. My massage therapist is a petite thing - she weighs about a buck-10 at the most, yet has the ability to make me whimper like a small child with the amount of pressure she can apply with her hands and elbows.
If you consider the amount of work and force you put on the body during a day, week or month of training it is hardly unreasonable for those same muscles to revolt at the idea of being relaxed or straightened out. They're so used to being wound SO tight that anyone giving them attention is going to have their work cut out for them.
I had a massage on Monday and I am still "recovering" from it. I apparently needed it. My feeble attempt at swimming on Tuesday afternoon was met with muscular resistance and fatigue. After 250 yards warm up and a struggle just to get through another 1000 yards, I packed it in. <sigh> It's cool. I hopped into the hot tub for a while and focused on self-massaging my calves and legs which were still a bit tight from Monday's run.
...on to #3...
It's simple. I'm going to start doing yoga twice a week. The hope being that the added flexibility will help the body 'unwind' and relax so that the massage sessions (shooting for twice a month) won't take so much recovery time.
Hello downward dog...
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