setbacks suck

i know that i things have been all kinds of quiet here on the blog front but once again i've had a setback to contend with. a few weeks back i felt something peculiar deep in the back of my left leg while in the leg press. it was either an injury of the hamstring or in my glute-ham tie-in.

i took days off. i trained through the pain. i soaked in a hot tub. i applied ice. i massaged the injury with a tennis ball. all of my efforts were, as they say, for nought.

when i worked out in the east end of the city i used a massage therapist who was very good. he was always able to get into the muscle fascia and dig out any and all knots. unfortunately work moved from the east end to the west end and try as i might the commute was next to impossible to make. no matter how much time i allowed for the trip it would take at least 30 mins longer. so i would frequently arrive with 15-30 minutes left in my appointment.

it was harder than it should have been to find a massage therapist out in the west end. especially since i didn't have any contacts out in the west end. when the injury became too acute to ignore i tried the online equivalent to opening the phone book and picking a name. which led me to 'european massage' and based on their website all of their massage therapists were well versed in deep tissue massage. i called and booked an appointment with olga. how could i go wrong?

well i wasn't on the table five minutes when olga mentioned that i probably needed a therapist who did deep tissue massage. i was confused because her online bio listed deep tissue massage among her specialties. i asked her about that and she said that all of the therapists had areas that they specialized in. i asked what she specialized in but never did get an answer.

my other complaint was she seemed disturbed by the fact that i had not removed my bra. it was only a 45 minute appointment and i went for treatment of a specific injury. i was pretty sure treatment would take the entire 45 minutes.

olga stuck her elbow into my glute/ham tie-in for a little while and i was able to put on my pants without pain. i booked an hour long follow-up appointment with elizabeth. again based on her online biography she was well versed in deep tissue massage. elizabeth she spent the balance of the hour treating my neck, my triceps, my calves and my back and she kept running in and out of the room with hot packs. she barely spent any time at all working on my injury. needless to say that was my final experience with 'european massage'.

thankfully the guy out in the east end started doing saturday appointments. i went and saw him yesterday. he spent the entire hour working on my injury stopping only briefly to wipe the sweat from his brow. he used his knuckles, his elbows, his thumbs and this zany looking implement called 'the thumper' that reminds me of my dad's belt sander. after he was finished i was able to move my leg with far less discomfort.

it has been two weeks since i have last trained i hope that i will be back in the saddle come tuesday.

courtesy of my buddy the poorboi, i am now the proud new owner of a nikon. i have been trying to figure out the wonders of digital photography and have gone out on a couple of occasions with the camera. instead of a trip to the gym i went to a marina out along the lakeshore and shot the above pic. enjoy!