What could this possibly be about I hear you say - well, recently I engaged a Sports Therapist to look after my legs while I am doing all this cycling - an hour after lying face down with my calves, hamstrings and glutes being poked, prodded and kneaded to within an inch of my pain threshold, I was questioned over my stretching regime post exercise.
My reply was something along the lines of "I know that I should but I don't really do much" - so, I am here to say, you need to do it.
Having benefitted from an excellent deep muscle massage, Lucie showed me how to stretch off my quads, hamstrings, calves and glutes, quite simple instructions - basic stuff really - but must be done regularly.
The work these people do is amazing, I asked Lucie to have a look at my dodgy knee, when I explained the problem, she said 'that's nothing to do with your knee' - once again my perceived injuries are linked to the old problem of tight hamstrings but also a really tight Iliotibial Tract (attaches to outside of knee and runs down from Gultimus Maximus).
Next up was some additional work on my Calves - having torn both Calf muscles last year (the Soleus muscle) my ongoing concerns have been around scar tissue and the potential for weakness and more damage. The solution for prevention rather than cure is an amazing Elastic Therapeutic Taping support system known as Kinesio - strategically applied to target the muscle requiring support, I can tell you it is brilliant and will stay on for several days.
So - more stretching after exercise is a must - after todays 42 mile ride over to Chepstow and back, I spent over 20 minutes doing exactly that - I am sure tomorrow I will benefit and am planning another training ride in Somerset.
Good stretching everyone.
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