Hurts so Good

I always think of myself as having a fairly high pain tolerance. I mean I run marathons. I love that hurts so good feeling when I foam roll. In fact, I'm so hard core that I use PVC pipe instead of a foam roller (okay so that's not really because I'm hard core, it's because I'm cheap. My PVC was $5 and a foam roller is $40.)


But last night I had a massage that made me question that. I only get a couple massages a year (see note about me being cheap above), so I want them to do something for me, not just feel good. I usually get one after my last long run and before a marathon, and again after the marathon. I did a 15 miler yesterday in prep for the Santiago half in 2 weeks (EEEEK!). I told my masseur (haha that word always makes me laugh) to dig right in and break up all those knots and scar tissue and adhesions and stuff.

He took that to heart. Owwwwww. I think he had his entire hand under my shoulder blade at one point. I was gritting my teeth and sweating at multiple points from the pain. But dang, my body felt so much better after. Except my jaw. It was so sore from clenching so hard. So maybe he went a little too hard. 

Do you get massages? Do you like a lot of pressure? Or do you want it to be light and relaxing?