Massages and Recovery Week

carver

I finished up a fairly intense 3 week training block - power numbers where I want them to be for this time of year. I entered a recovery week with a crit planned for the Sunday at the end of the week. I planned to have a massage (not deep tissue) on Monday and Wednesday to work out some tightness in the IT band and calves. Just thought it would be beneficial, although the tightness has not affected my training at all. I have not had a massage in some time, and yes the masseuse agreed things were a little tight, but holy moly, I ended up with some dead legs on the weekend. They felt worked yet I hadn't worked them (on the bike at least).

Maybe the massages were just a bit of a shock to the legs. Should I make the massages regular and this sort of thing will not happen? Or jsut stick with tried and true self massage and stretching?

bikechiro

Hi,
Massage is a powerful tool for cyclists, especially if you are loading the system in terms of volume or intensity.

However, adequate recovery from the massage itself needs to be factored in. A very fit cyclist who receives weekly massage will still take 24hrs to regains "willing" legs. If you get them once month more recovery will be needed. If there is a race coming, leave a minimum of 4 days.

Best recommendation is self massage 2 x a week and get a throrough work over 1 x month, your body will need less recovery time as you get in a better state.

All the best


Ian.