Thanks

A note from the teaching clinic.....

Geoffrey,

Thank you for your time this afternoon. I really enjoyed the learning opportunity with such a perfect client to work on. How can I say this best - I'm so impressed with your professionalism and your talent. I've been working diligently and consistently in school to learn my basic anatomy and its obvious that there is a lifetime of learning yet to be done.

Also, I really like the new location and what you have done to it to create a warm and inviting atmosphere.

My pleasure Dana, I have passion for my work and love to pass the information along. You are going to be a wonderful therapist as is evident by your passion for the work. I wish you all the best......

Sedona, Phoenix, Sedona, Home...Costa Rica

Up coming schedule.....

Myoskeletal Alignment Techniques, NAMTI, Sedona
Sunday, April 6, 10am-6 pm
Monday, April 7, 6pm-9:30pm
Wednesday, April 9, 6pm-9:30pm
Friday, April 11, 6pm-9:30pm (Phoenix, Ironman Arizona, 8am-2pm)
Sunday, April 13, 10am-6pm
Monday, April 14, 6pm-9:30pm
Wednesday, April 16, 1:30 -5pm, 6pm-9:30pm
Thursday, April 17, 9am-5pm
Friday, April 18, 6pm-9:30pm
Monday, April 21, 9am-5pm
Tuesday, April 22, 9am-5pm
Wednesday, April 23, 9am-5pm
Thursday, April 24, 9am-12:30pm

1st group
2nd group

Thursday, April 24th, Fly out for Myoskeletal Alignment 6th annual retreat with Erik Dalton and Aaron Mattes at Pura Vida Resort in Costa Rica.

Click the purple links to find out more......

Flagstaff Invasion

Keeping Peter Gilmore's spinal engine running.

Flagstaff, Arizona has recently experienced a great influx of population from the North, South, East and West. For me it has been a welcomed experience. At 7,000 ft, the city of Flagstaff is prime real estate for the athletes, from all over the world, to train their way to the 2008 Beijing Games. Many of the spots are still open for the world's best.

Athletes come to Flagstaff to train their systems while adapting to altitude. In acclimatizing to the altitude, the human body produces more red blood cells (hemoglobin) in which to carry oxygen to the working slow twitch muscles fibers of endurance sports. These muscles burn oxygen as one source of fuel. The training may produce only a small improvement in times for the athlete. There is only a small gap between first place and last place when the entire field is moving like these guys. Look at the recent ITU Mooloolaba triathlon. Between first place of 1:49:50 and tenth place 1:50:58 there is just over one second.

Please note 7th place belongs to Paul Tichelaar 1:50:38 and tenth place to Kyle Jones 1:50:58. Both of whom hail from Canada and trained in Flagstaff from late Feb. to late March. I am interested in speaking with the guys now that they have left, to see how they feel the training has paid off.

The UASTF Olympic trials are to be held in Eugene, Oregon this year from June 27 thru July 6. I may be in attendance providing Myoskeletal Alignment with some of my long time athletes, and hoping to meet some new people. Flagstaff has an abundant population of athletes move here, part time and full time,to prepare for these events. Time will tell. I am optimistic that the long hours will pay off.

Recovery and prevention are key components for all of the folks who come here to train. Along with proper nutrition and smart training, many of the athletes are utilizing Myoskeletal Techniques as preventative medicine. With the efforts put in by these athletes, staying ahead of the aches and pains associated with movement and breathing is the name of the game. The athletes cannot allow themselves to focus on the lack of efficient oxygen/nitrogen transfer during their initial training. They learn to ignore and conquer the discomfort that comes with each breath until the pain slowly recedes. When the headaches, diarrhea, and stomach cramps finally subside…they begin to excel.

In the absence of proper manual therapy, the months that athletes spend at altitude can seem much longer. Some camps can last for as long as three months, creating a dramatic energy drain. These folks need to be able to concentrate on their sport, not their body telling them there is something wrong with the biomechanics of their movement and activities. This year could be the realization of a life long dream, the podium in China.

I wish all of the athletes I have worked with the best on their journey.

Who is Ida Rolf?

I was recently asked by a client, "Who is this Rolf lady?" So I thought I would share this interesting video with you.

Sign Language Interpreters

Yesterday I hosted a CEU class for local sign language interpreters at my clinic. What an experience. It was an information exchange bridging the gap between "work and wellness".

Teresa Sedano from Healthy CEU's was the sponsor of the event. Teresa did a wonderful presentation on aromatherapy for stress reduction, awareness, and self recognition. It was fun, informative, and much needed for a stress out massage therapist as well as sign language interpreters to pay themselves back a little.

My part of the presentation was focused on body mechanics, breath awareness and preventative maintenance. I had missed the component of what it takes to convey emotion in sign, separating ones self from the emotion portrayed. What a job, and what strength of character it takes to not get sucked into the emotion. Transference and counter-transference issues come to mind.

It seems as though these topics of conversation are missing in a large part of the community of interpreters. The idea of what to do with this information one it is identified. Holding patterns in the physical as well as the emotional body. It seems as if isolation with in the community may be a factor as well. Yesterday was a great meeting of the minds, a chance to for interpreters to share feelings about life and work.

We then focused back on taking care. We ended our time together with a group breathing exercise and some movement identification and re-education.

Thank you all who attended.

Flagstaff on Olympians' radar screen

It is an exciting date (08/08/'08) for spectators across the United States and the world. For the athletes it is the benchmark of years of hard work and determination. Some of the finest athletes in the world are training in Flagstaff for the chance to be in Beijing on that date. They are using the facilities at the Center for High Altitude Training at NAU.

Assistant director Sean Anthony said the excitement to work with these world-class athletes should extend beyond the center to Flagstaff itself. "I think it's exciting for the community too, because once we get closer to the Beijing Games we're going to publish a list of all the athletes that trained through the training center in preparation for the Olympic games," he said. "So that way members of the community can look at the names and say, 'Wow that guy trained in Flagstaff,' or, 'I remember seeing that guy at the pool,' or, whatever the case may be."

"I helped that athlete recover in their training to get to Beijing!"

Some of the athletes training at the center now or in the next few weeks include Fasil Bizuneh, Peter Gilmore and Chris Lundy in the marathon, Aaron Aguayo in the 3,000 meters and steeplechase, Renee Metivier Baillie in the 5,000, Abdi Abdirahman in the 10,000, Anthony Famiglietti in the 5k, 10k and steeplechase, and ex-NAU standout Lopez Lomong in the 800 and 1,500.

"So right now we have a 32-person delegation from the German Athletic Federation, a 10-person delegation from Triathlon Canada, five Japanese swim clubs and roughly 20 U.S. distance runners trying to secure a spot on the U.S. Olympic team," he said. "So that's a lot of activity to have at once."


Triathlon Canada Simon Whitfield- Former Olympic champion (Gold Metal in 2000 Games), Whitfield continues his streak of at least 1 Gold medal in every race season dating back to his Gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He has dual Canadian and Australian citizenship Kyle Jones- Jones had 3 top-15 World Cup results in 2006 with some of the strongest fields on the World Cup Circuit (14th in Mazatlan, 13th in Edmonton & 7th in Corner Brook). Jones finished the year ranked #49 - the second best among the Canadian men in 2007.

Read the entire story.....

High Altitude Sports Massage

RappStar

The fine line. The interesting thing for a sport therapist working with elite training camps is just that. The fine line, the dance between "pre and post" event type work. We are taught in schools of bodywork that pre event is fast paced muscle spindle work, get them ready to preform. Post event is to be of a recovery and slower regenerative work speed and focus. So, what do we do when an athlete is recovering from a big run Sunday, and getting ready for a big push on Tuesday? Walk the line. Individualize treatment for the athlete, and within that athlete, individualize the treatment for the muscle belly at hand, or the kinetic chain of a specific movement. With enough thought it can seem tricky to know what to do, where and how to work.

With the Canadian National Triathlon Team my focus has been two fold. Keep the bodies of the athletes as close to alignment as possible, hip rotation, head on neck, neck on shoulders, clean running spinal engine, springing knees, ankle, and feet. Then to keeping the bigger long lever muscles, prime movers and synergistic stabilizers as fresh as can be expected. With the efforts put in by these guys/gal, staying ahead of those niggles is the name of the game. I really feel like they are all doing well.

This is a sample of the early training I stole from Colin Jenkin's blog......
The last couple days have been rough up here at altitude. I have been getting some altitude headaches on and off and trying to drink as much as I can as it is very easy to get dehydrated up here.

Joel's idea when we got here was to go easy the first couple days, just to flush out the system from the race and get used to the altitude. Then we will gradually increase the intensity from there so we do not overload the body. Well the first day was flush, the second was rough, and the last two have been pretty damned hard. I guess that is Coach Joel's idea of building into it.

Yesterday we started the day out with a set of 3x100 fast, then 3x300 sub threshold all on 1:30 per hundred pace. We had to do that 3 times. The first two rounds were pull paddle on the 300's and the last round was swim. Thats where the altitude hits you like a ton of bricks. I had to pull the 2nd 300 to rest my legs or my heart would have probably exploded.

From there we had a quick lunch and went for a 2.5 bike with the last 60min steady. The group of us did that working pretty good together in a pace line, we were smoking! Then we hopped off the bikes, did a quick change and ran 40min (10 steady, 10 easy X 2) on our Mooloolaba course. Lets just say I hope I run quicker in the actual race. Day done.

Today was a bit more manageable. I started the day out with a 60min spin on the trainer (pic above) and then off to the pool for a recovery swim. Later on in the afternoon we did a 70min run on a muddy, red dirt road. Oh, and it was filled with potholes everywhere. Perfect place for a 30min tempo run. So we did 30min WU, 30min tempo, 10min cooldown. Running tempo at altitude is tough but it went by quick and the day is finally done.

You can see what I mean about the fine line between recovery and preparation.

Upper Cervical Complex Pain?

Strengthen the cervical and capital flexors. Slide head back, tuck chin, keep eyes flat on horizon. 10 reps.
Tuck chin and roll through seven cervical segments. At the end of movement assist with your hands gently. 10 times, hold 2 seconds. Or what ever feels good.
Rotate head 45 degrees, nose over chest, take nose to chest, then assist with your hand, gentle. 10 times 2 sec hold.

Rotate head away 45 degrees. Then bring ear to same side chest. 2 sec hold, 10 times.

Be sure to use good breathing, never hold breath. Breath out on execution of movement, breath in during the relax phase. Following these simple movements a few times a day can really open things up and be refreshing for the muscles and the brain! This helps the little muscles at the back of the head top of the neck release. This is a great practice for people on the computer, driving a lot, or ride a bike 200 miles a week! Do this at home, in the car (at stop lights, not while driving) or in the shower. Simple maintenance can go a long way.