More Recovery

This week has had a lot of focus on getting me back on the roads, but I'm not rushing the actual act of running. Not this week. I'm taking Nic's advice to take it easy for a little while longer.

Wednesday Mike really kicked my ass with some A.R.T. to break up the new spot that flared up in my hip. This time its a little further down the leg, closer to the bottom of the joint where my femur and pelvis meet. It doesn't hurt too much mechanically, but its very sore to the touch.

My run yesterday didn't happen. I simply didn't have time, and it wasn't a good idea anyways! I was working on homework until about 3am the past two nights, so squeezing in a run was only going to cut in on my minimal amount of precious sleep.

I did, however, make it in to get a massage to work out some kinks in my lower back and several spots in my legs. That massage worked wonders. Not just physically, but mentally. Beforehand I was just about as stressed as ever. If someone decided to yell at me like they did to Jess, I probably would have tackled them and punted their dog; it was that bad.

Afterwards, though, I felt completely in control. I had stuff to do, and I had time. I didn't feel exhausted, and could easily be productive. Sometimes simply feeling in control is all it takes to regain the focus I need to get my stuff done. In a sense I took Marcy's advice to get a butt massage, except I had to pay $60 to get it!

Today, another round of A.R.T. went pretty well. He took it fairly easy on me since I'm still sore from the last round. The one thing he really hammered on was my IT bands; now that smarted! To give me any idea of how tight my IT bands were, he pushed on my arm as hard as he was on my IT bands. The pressure was almost nothing, on my arm it felt like he was just poking me in the arm to get my attention.

Although he's encouraging me to get out and run this weekend, I really feel taking it easy until Sunday or Monday will really be best for my hip. I want all these sore spots to disappear before I even think about giving it another go. Until then, I'm taking it easy. This injury has been going on way too long, and a lot of it could be attributed to me constantly jumping the gun and trying to run too early. I'm done with that.

I got a foam roller finally, too. Right now I'm just using it on my back, quads, and hamstrings. The real reason I want it is to roll out my IT bands, but they're pretty sore from my treatment today, and really need to heal up before I hit them with the roller.

This has been one insane week. I'm not sure I've ever been that busy in my life, except maybe finals week once or twice. I'm glad its over. This weekend is completely devoted to resting up, because I need it more than anything!