Ragnar and Yoga (Not at the Same Time)

Over this weekend, I was able to volunteer at the Washington DC Ragnar Relay. It was a great experience and it really motivated me to join a team for one of next year’s relays. I worked at Exchange 33 out of 36 so by the time the teams got to us they were tired and, with the temperatures in the 90s, really hot. But they were all still really enthusiastic and positive. It was great to see the teams with costumes - some memorable options include the banana costume, the man running in red ‘Flash’ underoos and compression socks, the team in short black shorts and bow ties. It was amazing to see the teams that were running competitively, especially the ultra teams. And motivating to see the teams of friend that were just out to have fun.

I brought my Compex to share with waiting teams but that didn’t work out as well as I’d hoped. We were the first shift so we waited 2 and a half hours for the first team to come through but once they did, runners started coming through pretty consistently for the rest of my shift. I did share my Compex with some volunteers as we waited and a runner from one of the earlier teams. The runner had cramping calves and a brief experience with the recovery plus program (they didn’t have time for the full program) helped stop his cramps. The EMTs who came by to wait with us for a while also really liked the Compex unit, they spent quite a bit of time looking through the manual and guide. I have a couple of photos to share and the response from everyone was really positive.

On an unrelated note, I learned a new lesson about my own Compex use. I’ve been pretty consistent about using Active Recovery after my run and bike training (even if not as consistent with my training!). But I didn’t think about using it after my tough yoga/pilates class yesterday and boy did I suffer when I got out of bed this morning. My quads, my glutes and my abs all let me know that I’d asked a lot of them and hadn’t rewarded them for their hard work. I did some more yoga today and I made sure to follow up with my Compex. Sadly, there isn’t a recovery program for abs so I’ll just have to hope that they are a little less sore tomorrow than they were today.