Hi my name is ART

Last night I met ART. I had heard lots (horrible and great at the same time), so I was very interested excited about this introduction. I have to say, it was almost all it was cracked up to be.

In the last month or so, I have had a few sessions with a local massage therapist who thoroughly kicks my ass for an hour & 15. Seriously, last week I was almost in tears. Well, with the recent resurgence of my much complained about (I am sure you are sick of it by now) calf injury, I decided I needed to see what this ART was all about. In preparation, I spoke with Charisa, read Marit's post, and was scared by D when she simply laughed at my pending treatment.

6pm came around and I found myself nervously approaching Tamar's office, weary of the pain I was soon to endure, and hoping it would yield the results I was hoping for. Tamar is a girl from my running club and is a Chiro and ART therapist. She is also a tough girl who just recently rocked a 3:09 at Boston with her bright green Nikes turned crimson, soaked through with blood from some gnarly blisters. To top it off, she did the run portion of Wildflower 2 weeks later in just over 1:30. So you know she is tough. Thus, I was apprehensive of just how bad the pain would be. Don't let her small size fool you, she's packs a punch!

After some intro stuff, some stretching and prodding, Tamar laid her hands on my right calf, and chills went down my spine. After a couple rounds of "point & flex" the right calf was done. To my surprise, while a couple spots were pretty torturous, it wasn't all that bad. So there I was thinking the worst is over and everything else would be fine, right? WRONG!!! Next she moved up to my right IT band and quad. HOLY HELL!! How can such a small person inflict such pain? With just her thumb no less!!! She is like a Ninja "I can kill you with one finger". Apparently, my right IT Band and quad were ridiculously tight and adhered to one another. After one round, complete with several LOUD vocal expressions by me, and while I was dizzy with pain, Tamar asks, "Can you handle another round?" Obviously, the pain had disabled the rational thought portion of my brain and I found myself saying, "Whatever you think it needs." Thankfully though, the first round had apparently loosened it up some and the 2nd round was much less painful. The rest was rather uneventful. The left Calf and IT Band were, relative to the right, pretty painless, and after some stretching and adjustment I was done.

I am happy to report that aside from the slight soreness from the pressure, my legs felt better almost immediately. This morning was WAY better. I rode the trainer for an hour completely pain free and after some pool running tonight, I get to test it out for a mile or two.

Fingers crossed, I am hoping this is a sign that the training weekend / heat camp in the desert this weekend will be taken full advantage of.

If your in the South Bay and you find yourself needing some ART. I HIGHLY recommend Tamar Gamliel's services. She rocks. Let me know and I'll get you her contact info.