The people who keep me injury free

I've had a pretty bad history of being injured.  And very randomly injured.  I've broken both feet while running, had shin splints and ITBS for very extended periods of time.  And a bunch of aches and pains.  I'm fortunate, this time, to have settled in with some really great people who help to keep me on track.  I spend probably too much money on this stuff, but I really feel it helps.  And I'm going to toe the IMCDA line injury-free.  Hurray!

Massage
I see Todd with Golden Hands Massage Therapy every two weeks.  I saw him initially in Sept or Oct 2012 because I had a groupon and I immediately knew that he was fantastic.  He really knows his therapies and isn't shy about really getting to the root of all my knots.  His massages aren't fun (in fact, this is a running joke with us) but they work.  Maybe after CDA I'll get a "nice" massage that's relaxing and stuff.  His pricing is also fantastic - $80 for a 90 min massage, but if you buy 4 you get the 5th free, making the price $60 for a 90 min session.  Sweet!

Acupuncture
I started to see Dave Kaplan of Colo Acupuncture Studio based on a recommendation from a friend.  Back in February, my hip started randomly hurting and I thought I'd give this a try.  I'm not sure the acupuncture helped my hip (I think the chiropractor did more to fix this), but Dave is really helping me in other ways.  I really don't quite understand what acupuncture does.  Dave feels my pulse, sometimes looks at my tongue, makes statements like my pulse is sluggish and stagnant, and then sticks a bunch of needles in me.  He strongly feels that my lungs are my biggest limiter (and after really paying attention to my body during hard efforts, I agree with him.  My muscles are rarely the problem, I feel like they could go faster.  Its my lungs and heart rate that are screaming at me to slow down) and we're working to make my lungs heathier.  He prescribes chinese herbs for the lungs and he's also got me on some herbal "tea" to help make my blood flow (which promotes healing) during and after my peak training weeks.  What also interesting, is that Todd will do reflexology on me and identify organs that aren't happy (usually kidneys - dehyradation, duh!, and my liver).  Without even telling Dave any of this, he will confirm Todd's evaluation and stick needles in me to help out these organs.

Its also pretty relaxing.  I know, relaxing with needles in your body is a weird concept.  I'm usually there ~1.5 hrs per session (we do a lot of chatting, he's a cool guy), and most of the time is spent lying on a table letting the needles do their "thing".  I generally fall asleep during this time.  Its awesome.

This was from last week, after weeks of peak training.  This would be a "lot" of needles.

I see Dave usually every two weeks, although we'll increase the frequency if needed.

Chiropractor
I loved, loved, loved my Houston chiropractor.  He was awesome.  I have had a hard time finding someone similar here in Denver.  I saw three different chiros before I found Dr. Jay Fullinwider, based on a recommendation from Dave.   Jay doesn't take insurance (boo) but he has package rates that work out to $40 a session.  He is extremely thorough and effective.  He even found that I had a rib out of place (!!).  As a bonus, he does some muscle manipulation and ART work, in addition to chiropractic adjustments.  I've been seeing Dr Jay every two weeks as well (sense a theme?).