Multiple Mountains and Mark the Massage Man
A group of about 10 of us met at JC Slaughter Falls car park at 5am Wednesday for a mid-week Mt Coot-tha run. Clairie and I had talked about doing a double lap, but the way my legs felt on the first I wasn't sure if it was going to happen. Just put the head down and tried thinking about all sort of other things other than the pain in the legs and lungs. Then I got the Grandaddy song "The Nature Anthem" stuck in my head ...
I wanna walk up the side of a mountain
I wanna walk down the other side of the mountain
I wanna swim in the river and lie in the sun
I wanna try to be nice to everyone
Of course I substituted the word 'run' for 'walk' :-)
Finished the first of the 9.6km circuits in 53:08, and didn't really feel like doing another lap. Had a chat to Clairie, and although everyone else was either heading off or doing an easy warmdown, the keen little bugger wanted to go around the mountain again. Ah, why the hell not. Couldn't ask for much better company I suppose :-)
The second time up the big hill was just as tough (hmmm, was I really expecting it to be easier???), and what a welcome sight the ABC TV tower at the top was. Still, this lap seemed to go quicker. In reality it didn't, amazingly our time was within a second of the first! Hats of to Clairie, it was only a couple of weeks ago she ran her first ever lap of the mountain, and here she was doing a double, and doing it with ease.
Spent the next four or five hours in my long Skins :-)
Then it was off to my first real runner's massage (though they will become a regular thing for a while at least). The physio had recommended his colleague Mark Smoothy. Over the years I've heard nothing but praise for Mark, so knew I'd be in good hands. I was expecting it to hurt somewhat, and I wasn't disappointed. He is an incredible athlete, having done 18 Ironman Triathlons. run a marathon PB of 2:52 (in a crowded London mara no less). He is now into adventure racing, stepping up from 24 and 48 hour events to a 10 day one next year! So at least there was lots to talk about.
The massage was awfully painful. Mark spent 10 minutes on my left hammy and it didn't loosen one iota. Another ten minutes and it finally did, I think I actually felt it 'go'. I'm not even gonna mention the pressure point stuff he did, I don't want to be reminded of it.
Anyway I felt pretty good afterwards .... probably because he stopped :-)
I wanna walk up the side of a mountain
I wanna walk down the other side of the mountain
I wanna swim in the river and lie in the sun
I wanna try to be nice to everyone
Of course I substituted the word 'run' for 'walk' :-)
Finished the first of the 9.6km circuits in 53:08, and didn't really feel like doing another lap. Had a chat to Clairie, and although everyone else was either heading off or doing an easy warmdown, the keen little bugger wanted to go around the mountain again. Ah, why the hell not. Couldn't ask for much better company I suppose :-)
The second time up the big hill was just as tough (hmmm, was I really expecting it to be easier???), and what a welcome sight the ABC TV tower at the top was. Still, this lap seemed to go quicker. In reality it didn't, amazingly our time was within a second of the first! Hats of to Clairie, it was only a couple of weeks ago she ran her first ever lap of the mountain, and here she was doing a double, and doing it with ease.
Spent the next four or five hours in my long Skins :-)
Then it was off to my first real runner's massage (though they will become a regular thing for a while at least). The physio had recommended his colleague Mark Smoothy. Over the years I've heard nothing but praise for Mark, so knew I'd be in good hands. I was expecting it to hurt somewhat, and I wasn't disappointed. He is an incredible athlete, having done 18 Ironman Triathlons. run a marathon PB of 2:52 (in a crowded London mara no less). He is now into adventure racing, stepping up from 24 and 48 hour events to a 10 day one next year! So at least there was lots to talk about.
The massage was awfully painful. Mark spent 10 minutes on my left hammy and it didn't loosen one iota. Another ten minutes and it finally did, I think I actually felt it 'go'. I'm not even gonna mention the pressure point stuff he did, I don't want to be reminded of it.
Anyway I felt pretty good afterwards .... probably because he stopped :-)
posted by Tesso at 11:20 AM
9 Comments:
I'm wincing as I read. Hope it does the job :-).
TA
Tesso: I am a bit late on this, but Congrats on an awesome half marathon time!
That massage hurt me just reading about it!!!
Great double Tess - I can relate to that song getting stuck in your head. The repetitiveness doesn't really let your mind break free of it for a loooong time.
Glad the massage worked well for you (we'll see how you are tomorrow I guess). I'd love to hear feedback on this as it's something I'm thinking of budgeting for in 2006
Regarding your title, may I suggest as my English school teacher did and "Avoid alliteration always".
Tell me more about your masseuse! I want one that works that well too... I gotta find a way of loosening the calf muscles somehow.
Good on you for doing two laps, not that it was ever more than a passing doubt I'm sure :)
I'll have to give Mark a go - sounds like he hurts lots yahhh. Means it must be doing some good.
Can't believe now that we did two laps. What loonies are we?? I think the best lap will still be the one we do after watching Wolf Creek and doing a night time run hee hee
Go the skins - arent they just fabulous.
PS. Love the blog title - only just noticed. How creative are you!!!
As my coach once said:
"If you're not crying, he's not trying."
Ouch. I've booked in for one next week. Let's hope they both work.
Hehe I like alliteration MMMMM :-)
Don't know what sounds more painful? The 2 trips up the hill or the time on the table.
You must have thought it was Christmas :-)
I've noticed you do a heap of early morning sessions, I wish I could commit like that.
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