My Saturday began with 15 miles in cool, crisp Fall weather. I came home, ate, showered, and headed out to Malvern to cash in a Groupon for a 75-minute therapeutic massage.
The massage was heavenly. I don’t like half-assed massages. If I’m getting one, I want my muscles to be kneaded and worked on. A hurts-so-good massage.
What I didn’t expect was a lecture after the massage. I was told my neck and shoulders were a “hot mess”. This isn’t news – every time I get a massage I hear about my tight and knotted neck and shoulders.
I was then told that I shouldn’t run as much as I do, although I never told her how much I run. She told me it was unhealthy to carry around so much stress. I told her I wasn’t stressed by anything in particular. She kept doing this…
Do I walk around like this? Run like this? (via)
Maybe she has a point (but not about running too much!). I politely listened, smiled, and thanked her. Now I’m hyper-aware of my apparent shoulder shrug syndrome.
On Sunday I did a fun little fartlek run I saw here. I’m tired of my same old tempo and progression runs. This was a perfect way to prep for my 5K next weekend.
Although I misread the workout – it was supposed to be 2 minutes “on”, not 1 minute – it was challenging without being too taxing.
2 mile warm up
5 continuous miles of 1 minute “on” followed by 1 minute “off”. My “on” was a well controlled sprint, focusing on my form (shoulders down!).
2 mile cool down
Your heart rate during the “off” portion never returns to “easy run” heart rate which makes this workout so great. Very similar to decreasing your rest intervals on the track. Try it! Side note: for marathon training I would increase the “on” portion to a few minutes at HM or 10K pace.
Ever do fartleks?
Like getting massages (is there anyone that doesn’t?!)? Do you have shoulder shrug syndrome like me?