Hello my friends! If you’re wondering why I disappeared yesterday, it’s because I’ve been sick! 🙁 On Tuesday afternoon I started feeling really weird, and next thing I know I’ve got some sort of stomach flu (I’ll spare you the details… it wasn’t pretty) and a 100 degree fever. Yikes!
I spent most of Tuesday afternoon/evening trying to rest, choked down some saltines and coconut water for “dinner,” and called it a night. Yesterday I felt better, but still not great. By lunchtime I had at least graduated from coconut water and saltines to chicken and rice soup as well, though.
Thank you to Matt for stocking up on all these provisions for me. 🙂
I tried to get some computer work done yesterday since I’m super busy right now, but I cancelled my meetings and spent a good bit of the day sleeping/resting, too.
Last night, I was feeling up to a less bland meal, so Matt made us the last of our Blue Apron meals from last week’s delivery: a Chicken Mulligatawny Soup.
According to Blue Apron (affiliate link)’s letter in the package, the word mulligatawny loosely translates to “pepper water,” and is a traditional Southern Indian curry dish. Interesting!
I think I would have liked it better if it were more savory vs. sweet, but it was still good. Very unique!
As for today, I’m still not feeling completely 100% back to normal, but I’m almost there. So glad this was a relatively short lived flu – especially since I’m leaving on a blog trip tomorrow morning!
Since I don’t have any fun workouts to share with you, I wanted to share something cool that I got to try on Saturday! In December, I got an email from a guy named Daragh Crowley, who is a former DC trainer & massage therapist turned yoga practitioner who has been studying movement and bodywork for 20+ years. Instead of training, the work he now does is one-on-one Thai Style bodywork sessions – a sort of massage/physical therapy combination – that focuses on restoring balance, improving mobility and flexibility, and creating a sense of integration throughout the body. He offered me a complementary intro Integrated Bodywork session in exchange for potentially sharing my experience here on the blog.
Daragh is a former colleague of some of the Urban Athletic Club guys, so he’s currently meeting DC area clients either in their space or, if the clients prefer, at their homes. We decided to meet up at UAC.
I was instructed to wear comfortable yoga clothes, and we started our session with Daragh doing an analysis of my gait while talking about what sort of activity I do most often (lots of running, with a side of boot camps, weights, and yoga), and any injuries or problems I have. I told him how anytime I have any injuries or pain, it’s always on my right side – my right ankle, right calf, right foot, right knee, lower right back. He took one look at me and said well, your right hip is sitting higher than your left. Interesting! I also told him about my shoulder mobility issues (I find it really hard to hold the bar behind my head in Crossfit for back squats, as I’ve written about).
We started the session with him showing me some mobility moves that I can do at home to help with my shoulders and hips.
And then we moved on to the Thai style massage/integrated bodywork. I’ve had one Thai massage before – in Thailand, when I was there traveling with my high school BFF Jenny and her family back in 2003 – and remember it being a lot of crazy insane stretches and twists. This session involved some twists and stretches, but also a lot of targeted, intense massage on my feet and legs as well. Daragh did one foot/leg and then had me stand up – I really noticed a difference in how it felt compared to the leg/foot he hadn’t worked on! So interesting.
If you’re an athlete looking to heal old injuries, prevent new ones, correct posture, or overcome movement limitations, I highly recommend trying a session with Daragh. He’s currently meeting clients in DC, NYC, and Philadelphia; mention that I referred you and he’ll give you 20% off your first session! Here’s his website for more details. I’m already planning to purchase some follow up sessions with him to stave off any potential injuries and to hopefully correct my hip imbalance situation – especially since I want to ramp up my running training this spring.
And now, to catch up on all the emails that piled up yesterday. Have a good day, friends!
