ART & AHA! Moment #1

So I did some ART today -- the physical therapy kind, not the canvas/paint kind (acronym for Active Release Therapy) and it was painful! If I were to describe it -- it's like a deep tissue massage, only the therapist focuses on a certain spot and puts a sumo-size amount of pressure on that one spot with the goal of breaking up the scar tissue that has formed in a place in your body (mine is near the IT band area) that it shouldn't have...and the therapist goes over that one spot, over and over and over again until you just can't take it anymore! Sound fun? Yeah, fun if you are a glutton for punishment and pain...Well, apparently it's supposed to be helpful so I am scheduled to see my ART therapist 2x/week for three weeks...I guess I am a glutton for punishment!

In addition to providing pain, my ART therapist is also teaching me a lot about my body make-up that I never paid attention to or knew -- for instance, she told me I was quad-dominant, but I didn't know whether to take that as an insult or compliment...and at our next session, she going to do a gait analysis and video tape me as I run to see if I have proper form when running (which I hope the answer is yes...but if the answer is no, then maybe that would explain why I am stuck at the same PR for marathons no matter how much I train!) In any case, I think this ART thing may very well be a good thing...if you can tolerate the pain!

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AHA! Moment #1: After spending some time in the pool at the gym last Saturday (after the team workout), I realized that to stay afloat, you need to fill your lungs with air! And that when you fill your lungs with a lot of air, it (your lungs) act just like a flotation device, kinda like water wings...So the key to not drowning is to fill your lungs with air = BREATHE! AHA!
Now, just gotta work on those breathing skills...