Massage Before, or After?

Perhaps you are training for your first D2D and have never run the that far before, or you are a grizzeled vereran who is after a Personal Best. How and when would massage work be an effective training tool? Many people will tell you a good massage works best after a race, or hard training effort. They might tell you a good massage "removes the lactic acid" in your system, or that it simply "feels good." But, is having a post-event massage really more beneficial for your body and for the money spent?

Firstly, let's put to rest the myth that massage "removes lactic acid." It doesn't. The lactic acid imbalance is returned to normal range by chemical action. There is no way a massage can "squish" the lactic acid "out of the body." Where massage does help in lactic acid "removal," and this a minor contribution to the process, is by reducing muscle tension which helps the blood flow easier. With a better blood flow the chemical reaction is "stirred up" more, if you will.

Muscle tissues that are overused become constricted and shortened. If there is not enough rest breaks (easy days) and stretching to help relieve this situation, then more muscle tissue becomes affected. These constrictions/contractions prevent freely moving muscle action. This tension within the muscular system literally destroys motion. Then, your stride is not quite as long and knee lift is not quite as high with the overall running form changing. You will notice this when workouts seem (and do) require more energy. If you ignore these warning signs and continue to train harder, then injury will usually be the result.

These circumstances can happen to both the novice and the veteran runners. Everyone has a level of (training) fitness where too many hard efforts beyond that point will cause overuse problems. Jack Meagher, a pioneer in sports massage, wrote a book called "Sportsmassage" and within it explains why massage should be used in advance of approaching problems.

Jack Meagher states that "Whatever sport you play, Sportsmassage will give you 20 per cent extra---extra performance, extra protection, (and) extra time per game, per season, (and) per career.......With Sportsmassage you can do what you do better, longer, and more easily, raising your performance level at the same time that you lower the stress level it places on your body."

Meagher's "20% extra" means that massage before serious problems develop provides, in the case of runners, the race should feel 20% easier to run (because your muscles are looser and requiring less power to operate) and recovery from the event seems quicker and easier, at about this same 20% rate.

Should it be pre-event or post-event massage? For my money, massage work prior to hard efforts is preferable. And, according to Meagher, "Sportsmassage before (problems) reach the critical stage is the only sensible way to keep your entire muscular structure in top form."