Stretch It

I’ve been going for weekly massages for a while now. And about a month ago I switched from sports massage to Thai massage. Also know as “lazy people yoga”, or so my masseuse informs me. 😉

Not that I’m all that lazy. But still. I find Thai to be perfect for me. It stretches every possible part of my body and gets my blood moving.

When I had my first Thai massage in nearly two years last month… I felt like I’d gone through a meat grinder afterwards. I was so stiff and sore and every stretch she pulled me through hurt and seemed like even my skin hurt wherever touched. 😮

Every week I went back for the torture though I noticed I was hurting less and less even while she was pulling me into deeper stretches.

And yesterday, it was completely pain free. 🙂 Basically I was like putty in her hands – pliable, stretchable, just do whatever you want to me.

It feels fantastic!

I also believe it helps so much with my running. A Thai massage is almost like a workout. It gets my endorphins up and about, relaxes me immensely and makes me thirsty like nobody’s business as toxins move out of my body.

I’ve been running with right foot forefoot pain since. Well. Since I first started running. Sometimes it’s better, sometimes worse, but it’s always there. Even if not actually painful, my right foot feels different from my left after even the easiest, slowest, shortest run. It feels rawer somehow.

I’m always taped. I’m always insoled with my orthopedics.

But.

Right after my run with mum a few weeks ago I made the decision to remove my orthopaedic insoles. Running with her was the first time in ages I was running without music and I heard the sound of my feet on the pavement.

Slap.

Slap.

Slap.

You know, the kind of pounding you don’t want to hear your feet make.

I figured it out I think.

When I started wearing my orthopaedics, I was a heel striker and I needed them to be painfree.

Since then, I’ve long switched to midfoot and forefoot and the insoles are just too stiff to cope.

I took them out.

The first run was scary and exhilarating. While I’m still running in stability shoes, the difference was very noticeable. I could suddenly feel the ground. Every pebble, every ridge under my forefeet.

At first, it seemed like my right foot was getting worse, more sore, more painful to the touch.

But the ground felt so magnificent that I didn’t want to give up the connection.

I just upped my game with every day stretching, barefoot tiptoeing around my apartment and, of course, my massages.

I’m pretty certain that it was a combo of all of these that after today’s run –

– I noticed something strange.

I was walking around the apartment, sipping on a glass of water when I realised that something was off. I wasn’t favouring my right foot. In fact, I didn’t notice it at all. Both of my feet just felt the same. Good. Painfree. Like instead of a run I’d come in from a walk. 🙂

And maybe this is a fluke.

Maybe it’s not.

But right now I’m just going to thank the stretch. The massage. The laziest “crosstraining” option you’ll ever find. 😉

Massages? Yay or nay? And what kinds do you prefer?

I’ll leave you today’s fog. Dense fog seems to be the norm this spring. It makes for some magical running sometimes. 🙂

K.