66 Miles - Weekly goal met!

Banana Bread

I got in a lot of good miles in this week competing a total of 66 which was my goal for the week.  Overall this was an easier week than last week so my body must be starting to adjust to the increase work load.  Last week I started some of my runs in a completely exhausted state and I had to push myself real hard the whole way but that never happened this week.  Yesterday I completed an 11 mile run feeling I could of kept going and today I felt good all the way though my 15 mile run.

Last Tuesday I went to see a doctor for some Laser Pain Therapy for my right hamstring knot.  I never heard of it until I saw a Groupon advertising the service for half price so I gave it a try.  What they do is train a laser on the injury sight for five minutes.  During the therapy you can't feel anything.  After the therapy I felt the lump with my finger and thought that it was a little smaller, but that may have been wishful thinking.  Still it hasn't bothered me much this week besides causing some minor tightening of all the muscles in my right leg.  The physiology behind the laser is that it is suppose to "trick" the body into sending extra white blood cells and nutrients to the injury area.  At the same time it stimulates the cells in the region to start to repair themselves.  I am still reading up more on the treatment and not sure if I will go back for more.  What I didn't like about these people, is that they didn't give me any examination prior to the treatment nor prescribe any follow up treatment or procedures.  They just asked me where it hurt and set their laser to that spot.  I'll let you know if I decide to go back.

Another useful item that I found courtesy of the runners forum Runningahead.com is a little device called the Sacro Wedgy.  This thing is great.  You simply place it under sacroiliac (tail bone) and lie back on it for 20 minutes.  The gravity pulling down on your hips then stretches and loosens up all those muscles running around your hips.  After using it I can feel my hips rotate more freely as I run and they are now nicely line up under my knees and feet giving me a better more efficient running posture.  If you are having and trouble with tight glutes, piraformis, psosas, or hamstring muscles or your running posture needs help, I would definitely recommend this little $40 investment.

Finally, that picture up top is some banana courtesy of a recipe from therealfoodrunner.  It's made with all natural ingredients and it makes an excelent high carb energy snack.  Mine came out real moist and a little gooey so I decided to try them on a run today.  They were a fanatastic replacement for store bought Gu's and energy bars.  So much more tasty and I plan to make more when my first runs out. Plus being moist and gooey is a plus when you are running and trying to eat because things that are to dry are hard to swallow and you can risk inhaling crumbs and chocking.  Its happened to me a few times and I can tell you it really sucks.

All and all it's been a really good week.  Next week I will be scaling back my mileage to about 40 for the week so my body can rest, recover and realize some gains as a result of all the hard work I did this week.