The Village Velodrome Appreciation Society

A blog about jitensha and jogging

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Massage today

I haven't run since the ekiden - which is a pity, but I have to accept it. My knees feel bad, but I found that taping the right knee helps with the pain.

My strength exercises seem to hurt the knee for a little while after I finish - so I'm not sure I'm doing the exercises correctly.

My work with the rolling pin and ball already seems to be paying off a bit - my thigh is less painful now than it was before. This should mean that the ITB is loosening.

Today, I'm off to see another new massuer - K's at Takadanobaba. The main reason for this is they accept the national health card - so it should be significantly cheaper. The only problem I might face is that none of the massuers there speak any English. Luckily, I don't need much English: Massage is Japanese is massaji; hip is hip; tight is taito. About the only word I need is itai (painful but also "ouch!") for when they massage too hard.

If I run the Shinjuku half-marathon this Sunday it'll be slow. I'll need to pay a lot of attention to the right knee, and also stop to stretch at regular intervals. If I get to within 5km of the finish, I'll give it a bit of a go then. But really, I doubt I'll line up - imagine the hassle of the knee flaring up after 10km and having to wait for the bus in order to get back to the finish.

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2 Comments:

At 5:11 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am not sure if that's my dedicated role on your blog and you may already expect my comment on the Shinjuku Half this Sunday, but let me just recommend this as a friend and fellow running buddy:

Do not run it!

Unless you want to extend this blog to wheelchair related topics.

You don't even seem to compensate the recovery exercises too well.

What you need is a substitute hobby or interest in something to take your mind off running for now. Think about chess, shogi or 'go' for example. These games can get fairly addictive as well. A good book may do the trick too! Hey, it's not forever; 1-2 weeks complete rest will show you how good or bad things with you really are. Mata, Ingo

 
At 9:18 pm, Blogger GKK said...

I would give myself about a 5 percent chance of running it. Funny enough, my biggest fear is not the injury but the walking to the finish if I can't run it - I hate walking.

I found the cheapest massage in Tokyo today - only 640yen! But I won't say if it's good or bad until I go back tomorrow. Today's initial diagnosis visit reminded me of the NHS in London - and believe me, that's not a good memory. The guy said I have jumper's knee - which is close to being correct. I do mildly have jumper's knee on the left side. What he failed to diagnose is "runner's knee" (both sides) and the chondromalacia AKA "housemaid's knee."

Being a running, jumping housemaid must be a very dangerous occupation!

 

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