Who's a knotty boy, then?

I'm ramping up the exercise, and it's wonderful.

Total exercise duration per week, all logged in Training Peaks

Ran my first parkrun without stopping last weekend - it's only 5km but parkrun is a big psychological milestone for me. I went down to the inaugural Clair parkrun event Haywards Heath. It was an unexpected hill-fest - but I ran it all non-stop, and set a "comeback PB" (my personal best since coming back from injury) of 28 minutes and 29 seconds. A far cry from my 21 minute all time PB, but all in good time!

4 and a bit laps of the recreation ground - dizzy yet?

You can see the hills in my heart rate, until it all just goes through the roof on the last lap!

There were a few familiar faces there including some inaugural hunters, and parkrun team member and host of The parkrun Show podcast Danny Norman. Great to see you all again, it's been too long.

I've been on a few bike rides too, including a 110km mission on my Time Trial bike - first time I've ridden it since Galway last year!

I vowed that once my training ramped up I'd make sure I was doing the right things to stop myself just getting injured again. Part of my multi-prionged defence was to get strong, and Ben and Josh at Athletic Edge have been doing a great job getting me started down that road over the last month.

Another tactic was to get regular sports massage, so this morning at 7am I turned up at SW19 Physio to get beaten up by Christine the chirpy South African masseuse. Mrs has been seeing her for quite a long time, on and off, and it was about time I tried it.

In their own words:

SPORTS AND DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE

Our massage therapists specialise in sports and deep tissue massage and can help you in the treatment of:
✓ Minor injuries
✓ Injury prevention
✓ Back and neck discomfort
✓ Maintenance 
✓ Pregnancy massage
✓ Relaxation.

When you come for massage treatment, our therapists will ensure your muscles are assessed, stretched and stimulated by using techniques of deep stroking, cross fibre friction and vibrations.

About massage: 
Minor injury is by far the most common musculoskeletal problem. It can be extremely painful and may seriously affect a person’s occupation, sport or quality of life. If not treated properly at an early stage, a minor injury can sometimes lead to a more serious condition in the long term. Massage can treat the majority of such minor problems quickly and effectively.

Injury prevention is another area where the importance of massage should not be underestimated. Massage is the only actual treatment that can be applied specifically to help prevent injury. This is not only in a sports context but also in terms of posture and stress.

By stimulating the blood circulation through the body with massage, the waste that has accumulated is removed more quickly and completely and more fresh blood from the arteries is supplied for repair and nutritional needs to damaged muscles. And in a complementary role with other therapies, such as physiotherapy and chiropractics, massage can greatly speed recovery because of its wide ranging benefits:

✓ Breaking down of adhesions
✓ Breaking down of scar tissue
✓ Increase tissue permeability
✓ Improved tissue elasticity
✓ Pain reduction through increased circulation.

Firstly it didn't hurt anything like as much as I was expecting - sure there were moments that made me yelp a bit, but for the most part I could carry on a normal conversation. I explained my background and how I got injured in the first place. She started by working on the left IT Band ("Wow, that's tight!") and then the right ("Oh my God, this one is even tighter!"). She found a few knobbly bits and gave them some attention. Most of the bits that really needed work were on my calf muscles and glutes. There were lots of gristly bits ("Ahh yes, here's one right here!") that needed attention.

After that she spent the final few minutes on my back and shoulders, and packed me off with some advice about drinking lots of fluid today (apparently there's a lot of "stuff" that gets released from the muscles into your blood after a massage) and keep moving.

The first few times I got up from my desk today I hobbled around like an old man. It's the evening now and I'm home and showered. Legs are feeling better, but apparently tomorrow they'll feel floaty light.

I'm booked in again for the Tuesday after Ride London, and I'm already looking forward to it. I'll aim to go every second week or so, but not too close to a race or heavy training session.

Happy to be making positive pro-active choices about injury prevention. First race is this coming Sunday - Virgin Active London Triathlon, Olympic Plus distance - 1,500m swim, 80km bike, and a 10km run. Mrs will have lots of obligations over the weekend (more on that later!), and I'm really looking forward to it. Can't wait!