Sports Massage & Physio

I have a problem with a tendon in my backside. Not my glute, nor my hammy, and impossible to stretch. It tightens up when I run but weirdly reacts incredibly well to massage. I've been to the physio with a couple of tweaks during the course of my training and, as usual, the only real treatment to allow it to fully recover is rest. Not what I want to hear.

And so I have turned to sports massage. Probably one of the most painful experiences of my life to date but in a satisfying way. It is incredible the amount of pain that one can inflict with their elbow. But for those of you that have received plenty of physio treatment over the years there is good pain and bad pain. By picking pressure points in the muscles the masseure is able to relieve pressure and tension. Whilst it is agonising when they first hit the pressure point, the pain begins to fade which, apparently, is a good thing. Something to do with nerves and a lot of technical words that I don't understand. I felt sore afterwards and will no doubt feel it tomorrow but in the face of a relaxed evening at Chelsea Flower Show I will drink plenty of water (and maybe some Pimm's) and looking forward to a tough weekend of training ahead.

I have booked in for another hour next week and will report further updates here. Like an hour sprinting or TT session on the bike, I will need to mentally prepare for this next sports massage. This should have become one of the key parts of my training schedule weeks ago but it has now become an essential part going forwards. A word of warning - don't get a one off massage, especially in the run up to a competition or big training session. It leaves you sore, even bruised, and you need to give your body time to recover afterwards. A minimum of a couple of hours but, ideally, a couple of days.

14 weeks to go to BW.

TGS - Profile Updates

I've been told that I need more imagery on this blog. Something that I was aware of but haven't had time to really improve on so far. Off the back of a 14hr45 & 250+km training week I haven't had time to do much else except eat, sleep and show up in the office.

MW has kindly put together some additional profile information on TGS members for your amusement. Granted, a lot of this is probably in-jokes amongst the group, so apologies if it's not quite as funny as it is to us... it gives you a good feel for some of the participants and perhaps highlights the challenges we face in completing a long-course distance. Doing all this with a gimp-mask on is not easy. Especially when you haven't started training properly yet.

TB

Most likely to say: Supersize the chips

Least likely to say : I have just received an invite to join Mensa
NB The size of this photo in comparison to the other images used in this article is not to scale. TB is very short in real life. Width in comparison to height, however, is about right.

PF

Most likely to say: Bring out the g~mp

Least likely to say: Do you think I’ll get that soprano role in the choir?

WJD

Most likely to say:  Yes of course we are exclusive

Least likely to say: My legs are looking pumped


HCD

Most likely to say: Yes darling your uncle is the same person as your father

Least likely to say: I am not organising this

J "The Fish" K

Most likely to say: What a lovely looking set of Maris pipers
Least likely to say: I’m not bothered its just a friendly

As part of all this MW kindly declined from putting his own profile together so we have done this for him:

M "The Tank" W



Most likely to say: are you sure that is safe?
Least likely to be able to: perform a sprint finish

Swimming lesson #4 & #5

Will keep this as a brief reportage on what we did during the lessons in case anyone wants to repeat the sessions (30 mins duration, but increase repetition and add in a warm up / cool down and you're easily an hour plus)

All distances in metres - can be converted into lengths (30m)

Lesson #3

• 60 - catch up's to warm up
• 240 - 1 length sprinting, 1 length recovering (x4)
• 120 - with hand paddles and legs crossed. By doing the latter your legs sink like a stone and you are trying to swim standing up. Not pretty. The idea is to encourage you to lift your shoulders out of the water even more. If you sink completely, then simply uncross your legs for a couple of strokes
• 60 - normal kicks - holding float sideways (to provide resistance) out in front, head in water breathing when required
• 60 - side kicks - with lower arm outstretched and top arm resting on thigh. The key is to not let the outstretched arm sink. Take a normal stroke every 5 seconds or so and switch sides.
• 120 - high elbows/no legs - keeping elbows as highest part of arm but with forearms / hands relaxed
• 240 - 1on/1off to finish (as before)
• I finished this session with 1km steady to finish. 

Lesson #4

As a pre-cursor to this I'd swum just under 3km on Monday evening (1 hour) and as soon as I did my first warm up length (Weds early morning) I realised that I hadn't recovered fully - arms and shoulders were still feeling quite stiff and sore ("swimmer's shoulder" muscle running down outside of armpit, can't remember proper name, in particular). What I learnt: give yourself at least 2 days between harder sessions for each discipline. This is certainly the case with the running.

As a result of this we concentrated on the legs and trunk....!

• 300 warm up
• 60 kicks with float in front providing resistance
• 60 side kicks (as above)
• 120 hand paddles/crossed legs (as above)
• 120 float between ankles - this is to encourage you to engage your tummy muscles. This was really useful as I find I start to snake through the water when I get tired and don't use my tummy muscles to stabilise myself
• 60 normal - felt much 'straighter'
• 60 to finish with 10 secs standing kicks (against wall with head in water) followed by sprint, 40 secs rest, repeat
• 1 km to finish - arms felt much better after the exercises although pretty tired towards the end

News Headlines - 2nd May 2012

A brief update from our Health & Safety officer MW. Some "in" jokes so apologies if it's not as amusing as I found it on my first reading:

Durden completes 19 minute lap of Richmond Park

Last night TGS reporters witnessed William “Chicken Legs” Durden (WJD) complete a lap of Richmond Park on the 19 minute mark.  This remarkable tour de force has secured Durden the third spot in the first peloton for the Dolomites (noting that Messrs Gibson and Beard had achieved automatic selection for the first two spots by weighing less than 60 kilos).  Durden informed TGS reporters that the principal reason for his surge in form was to spend 15 hours making an ironman training plan and then conducting an entirely random set of training activities.  He was also very comfortable with his selection for the first peloton noting that he would use his new found form to “drop the hammer on that pigeon-chested f#ck Beard in the Dolomites”.

Mark “The Tank” Williams was also at Richmond Park last night but was too visibly distressed to provide any comment on Durden’s performance to TGS reporters.  However, he was later overheard making some derogatory comments about people with chicken legs.

There is now one final spot available in the first peloton for the Dolomites.  Jonathan “The Potato” Kirwan is still the favourite for the jersey although TGS News is expecting a strong late run from Pughy.

Former champion rues lack of form

There has been considerable speculation about the lack of early season form of Christopher Beard (CB).  TGS News has investigated why the former yellow jersey holder is not where he would expect to be at this point in the season and, despite his lack of comment on the subject, the reason is that he has suffered a lack of training hours caused by pursuing a relationship with some mincer called “Stuart”.

The big red nasty

Patrick “the big red nasty” Flynn (PF) will be continuing with his current training plan by spending four days on the smash in Magaluf this coming weekend.  TGS Reporters nonetheless expect him to be a valuable contributor to the third peloton in the Dolomites.

Mr R is teetotal pre-Dolomites

TGS reporters have been informed by sources that the Mr R will not be consuming any alcohol pre-Dolomites in an attempt to get down to his fighting weight of 16 and a half stone.  During this period of tee-totality TGS News understands that the Pope has also agreed to become Muslim.