Painful But Effective

My body is complaining about recent log runs and speed training.

In fact, my IT band was complaining so much that I was a little worried that I might have the start of an injury.

But as any hard-core runner knows, before you drag yourself off to the sports therapist, you drag a cursed piece of training equipment out of the closet: The foam roller.

I hate rolling out my legs.

Everyone I know hates rolling out their legs.

You use your body weight to apply targeted pressure against the IT band.

"Rolling out your leg" means that you roll your body over the foam roller, massaging the length of the IT band.

It is incredibly painful. So incredibly painful that at first, you can only do it for 10 seconds or so. And you may say a few bad words in the process.

It also requires that you stretch well and drink copious amounts of water afterwards. Muscles release waste materials through the massage process; water helps flush these toxins out of your system.

And sure enough - as it nearly always does - the evil foam roller removed the excruciating pain from my hip, glute and quad.