Recovery Reeks

It's a week into my recovery from the TIR and things are...progressing. By Tuesday of this past week, my quad and arm soreness was almost gone. I owe that to the Epson salt baths, light stretching and walking, oh, and Yoga (for the quick recovery part). That's something I haven't really boasted about. There are a few things I did differently for this year's TIR that I didn't do last year. I worked on my running posture.  I working on my breathing (uh, while running, apparently you gotta do it a certain way). I did Yoga. I've been practicing Yoga off and on since college but got into "hot yoga" about three years back. I needed a distraction in my life during that time and it certainly was. Since then, as I can budget it, I've been taking classes here and there. Some days I don't want to go. Some days, it's the only thing I look forward to. And, I always feel better after each class. So for the muscles I stretched regularly in yoga, I think I gave them the upper hand for the race. As for my Iliotibial (IT) Band, I wasn't participating in the kind of yoga that stretches that muscle area too much, and given that I didn't really stretch it before and after my runs, it was about time something broke.

So, I'm kinda sad now...

No one is this happy when using the roller, come on!

Recovery time for the IT Band means pain and discomfort. The muscle parts that have tensed up or have knots that need to be worked out...by hand. Or, by the foam roller, which has been my newest purchase. I literally broke out into a sweat when I used it earlier today. Combined with stress of an upcoming vacation to prepare for and the fact that my hip start experiencing the sharp pains it had during the TIR, I'm feeling a sense of urgency to get back to normal. I have decided, though, if I'm still in pain after my vacation, I will seek a therapist's help...to...have someone professionally knead the knots out of my leg. Now THAT is something to look forward to!

On a lighter note...
I have seen some of the professional pics taken of my TIR team. For some reason, in ALL of pics taken when we crossed the finish line, my arms are in the air and I'm doing some sort of Rocky victory dance. Now, I remember doing something like that for a few seconds (moments), but I guess that was the exact same time the photographer decided to take ALL of our 'team in action' pics.