Jerusalem Marathon 2012

It was inevitable that I would be staying in Jerusalem the weekend of the marathon. I have come to terms with the reality that running is not right for me, right now. I was hoping that I would be able to escape the hullabaloo of the marathon. Instead, I will be elbow deep in it. When my mom asked if I was running in the marathon, after giving her the strangest look ever and telling her that her question deserved no answer, she suggested that I go and give massages at the end of the marathon, since that is what saved me at the end of the Venice Marathon. I looked at her again like she was crazy but I pondered her suggestion for a while and decided that it would be the nice thing to do. Since I can't run, I might as well help the runners to the best of my ability. So I signed up thru my school, who has 2 massage stations this year, for the marathoners and the 1/2 marathoners. They said that as a marathoner, they would put me at the full marathon runners' station. I'm not sure if I'll be helping prep and recover or just recover, either way, it'll be a very early wake-up for all of the participants that Friday. I'm already excited/nervous for the runners, I can imagine what they are going thru and I think that deep down inside, I am relieved that I won't be going thru all of that this year. All I have to do is find nose plugs and not get grossed out by all the sweat ;)

A little info on massage benefits for athletes.

PRE & POST SPORTS MASSAGE

All athletes have their own particular way of preparing for a good or excellent performance. Pre event massage plays a very useful and additional part in any preparation for competition. Only the principle muscles for the event are treated

• Helping an athlete prepare for, or recover from, is an important part of sports massage
• Your first ever massage should not be before a major event
• No two sportsmen/women respond to massage in quite the same way

Pre event massage can be done anything from two days to immediately before the event; however, deep massage should not be considered as it can take two days to recover. Some athlete’s say they lose some of their explosive power if deep massage is used.

A stimulating massage is required for sports that require speed, strength and explosive power. For pre event nerves a more calming massage is often welcomed. At this point a well-trained athlete would use massage psychologically rather than physically.

In the last hour before the event massage should not suffice as an adequate warm up, only as part of.

Post Event Massage
Most athletes carry out a cooling down routine but often fail to do so after competition because of sheer exhaustion, elation or disappointment.
Massage can be an adequate substitute for a warm down as it can achieve much of the same effect by removing muscle waste and stretching the tissues.

http://www.massage4athletes.com/massage.html