Sandal Season

I went for a massage yesterday.

I go for massages every 3-4 weeks. There is not much that is relaxing about these massages. I go to keep my legs in running shape, to keep my muscles from getting too tight and to prevent any small problems from turning into big ones.

My massages have saved me more times than I can count.

There are at least three half marathons I would not have been able to run without them. In fact there are a few where I booked weekly massages leading up to the race and I would not have been able to run otherwise.

My calves are notoriously tight. My shins are always one run away from flaring up. My feet are always on the edge of plantar fasciitis. Regular maintenance does wonders and helps prevent the injuries that creep up when I least expect them.

I went for a massages yesterday.

When asked how I was feeling I was able to say, in all honesty, that nothing hurt. Nothing felt on the edge of injury. Nothing had me worried.

But my calves were super tight. The kind of tight that stretching on my own won't help. The kind of tight that ice, rolling, yoga or any of my other tricks can't loosen. I needed a massage to get me back to the point where I could stretch on my own.

I figured the calf tightness was from the half marathon. And perhaps from a week of not exercising after the half marathon. Muscle atrophy as it were.

Turns out that I was only half right.

Turns out that a lot of people have been coming in with the exact same complaint. Super tight calves that no amount of stretching seems to relieve.

Apparently it's called Sandal Season and it's alive and well in Southern Ontario.