Compression and track workouts

Thursday, June 19, 2014 · Mike Davis

Good morning! Today is travel day for me as I am on route home waiting on my connection in Atlanta. My few days in Savannah were great as I got to spend time with some great friends. I also got one run in despite some steamy temperatures. The good news is that my calf was much better and I can give much credit to the compression band I have been wearing for a good part of a couple days as well as when I ran. The compression socks and sleeves have become quite popular and unlike some gimmicks compression has always been considered to be an important way to recover quicker from various injuries. RICE is the well know acronym that stands for Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevate and while most will rest and ice, they often leave out the I and E parts. Compression is quickly becoming one of the most important components of RICE and devices are now helping to make it easier to get compression without a lot of bother. Check out your local sports stores, here in New Hampshire Dicks has a great selection of compression socks and sleeves. I started writing this morning, and now I am back in New Hampshire and just finished up overseeing a track workout out at Dover high school. During the summer it can be challenging to push someone on a track, but there is definitely lot's of value in track workouts. We use them for multiple purposes beyond trying to get a runner faster. Understanding pace and recovery are both important and the track can be a great place to work on those components. Our track workouts are much different than most as we utilize them to help the individual runner specifically and so each workout is unique to our runners. I love track workouts myself, but until my calf is 100 percent I will stay away from running there. Hopefully I will get some nice runs in next week when we vacation at the Cape. We will be sharing a place with our old neighbors and running is on the agenda so I'm hoping that my calf will be cooperative. Been a strange first six months to 2014 for me. Hoping that the second half is better injury wise. Well time to get unpacked and do laundry! Hope you are having a great week! Catch you on Friday with "Quick Intervals" Mike