Pure Genius: Roll Recovery R8

I had another good week of running and more progress that has me ending the year on a high note and with lots of promise for 2013.

Monday: 8 miles ( I was so thrilled running my 8 mile course 2 days earlier with a time nearly 4 minutes faster than my best time since my hip surgery and in over 2 years, so what else could I do but take another 55 seconds off that time. I can't believe I am running this course in a time that I would consider a decent time back when I was fit!)
Tuesday: 0 miles
Wednesday: 8 miles (toned it done pace wise)
Thursday: 0 miles
Friday: 8 miles
Saturday: Supposed to be an off day, but did 2 1/2 miles of snowshoe running and it felt great. I had no problems with my left hip at all. During all the snowshoe running and racing in the past, that hip would give way all the time due to the instability of running on snow. I hope to do a snowshoe race in 2 weeks, but it was good to wear my Dion snowshoes for the first time in 2 years!
Sunday: 0 miles- I hoped to get 8 miles in again, but the snow shoveling and a trip to the Cape left me with no time to run.
total miles for the week: 26 1/2 miles

I have told myself that I would buy no more running or massage tools. I have corners, baskets, and closets full of all types of contraptions including  rollers, stick products, and massage balls. Pre hip surgery, I lived on foam rollers, but have only recently and slowly started using them again for sore and stiff muscles. My IT Bands, quads, and adductors are incredibly tight I am finding that as I am doing 8 mile runs again that my quads get very tight and keep me up at night. Unfortunately, foam rolling is hard and when I do it, my hips and other muscles get thrown off a bit. Enter the newest massage type device that I have been eyeing and finally broke down and ordered: the R8 Roll Recovery device and now that it has arrived, I can say that this product is pure genius.

The R8 Roll Recovery device is simple to use and boy does it feel good! It can easily hit all parts of previously hard to reach muscles like the adductors. Using a foam roller on these muscles looks weird and it is hard to maneuver. The "wheels" of the R8 Roll Recovery found so many tight spots that a roller, stick, or even a lacrosse ball could not find. Your muscles can be relaxed as you use it and it compressed them real well. It is easy to put a little pressure on the handles if you want to hit a spot a little harder or just leave it on a tight spot. All in all it is easy and "sweat free" to roll up and down your legs and even your glutes. This seems to be a well-thought out tool and its ease of use and its ability to relieve muscle tightness should make it a hit with runners and other athletes as word of mouth gets around. I think the company is going to be very busy and make a lot of people happy with this product. I am thrilled that it hits all the spots that have been bothering me post hip surgery, including all the spots where I have had to get trigger point injections. I will certainly post the effects of using this over the long term, but it seems to be the tool that I need at this very moment as things are looking up in my healing process and my running is coming along so well.

website: www.rollrecovery.com

letsrun.com review

 ROLL Recovery R8 from ROLL Recovery on Vimeo.