Six sessions through a training block, timed to your plan, £270; calves, quads, glutes and the bits that go
Runners' and cyclists' blocks
For people training for something: six forty-five-minute sessions timed to the training plan, with the heavy work in the big weeks, the light work in the taper and a flush the week after the race. £270 against £300 booked singly, for marathon and half-marathon blocks, sportives, triathlons and anyone who has entered something and is slightly frightened of it.
Both of us train. Carys is an Ironman finisher four times over and Jamal rode the Dragon Ride until his knees asked him to stop, so when you bring in a sixteen-week marathon plan we know what week twelve feels like and which week the calf will go. The block is six sessions placed against that plan: heavy in the build, light in the taper, and a flush when it is done.
We sit down with the plan in the first session and put the six dates in the diary: typically one in each of the first two build blocks, one in the peak week, one light session in the taper five or six days out, the post-race flush three to five days after, and one spare for the week something goes wrong, because something does. Dates move if the plan moves; we only ask for 24 hours.
Runners get calves, soleus, feet, hamstrings and glutes, with a look at the shoes and the cadence. Cyclists get quads, hip flexors, glutes and the upper back and neck that the drops punish, and a look at the saddle height if you bring the bike (there is a stand on the landing). Triathletes get both and the shoulders. The light taper session is the one people try to skip and the one that matters most.
Clubs: Roath, Cathays and the Cardiff triathlon club have members on blocks, and a club of ten or more who book together get the block at £250 each and a gazebo at their target race. The twelve-session year at £520 is for people who do not stop training for something, and comes with the event massages at £20 instead of £25.
What is included
- Six forty-five-minute sessions timed to the plan
- Heavy in the build, light in the taper, a flush after
- Dates that move when the plan moves
- The spare session for the week it goes wrong
- Shoes, cadence and saddle height looked at
- Club rates and a gazebo at the target race
What it costs
Six forty-five-minute sessions, £270, booked against your training plan and moved if the plan moves. A twelve-session year of maintenance for people who are always training for something is £520. The prices page has every length and block side by side; the treatment picker says which one fits what is bothering you.
Questions about runners and cyclists
When in the week should I have a massage?
After the long run or the long ride, or the day after, never the day before a key session. In the taper, five or six days before the race, light. We put the dates in with the plan so you do not have to think about it.
I am training for my first 10K. Is a block overkill?
Probably. Two sessions, one mid-plan and one the week after, is plenty for a first 10K, and we will say so rather than sell you six.
The next free slot is on this website. Take it.
Forty-five minutes is £50 and the usual first booking: ten minutes of talking, thirty-five hands on, a stretch and a drill written down. Pick an hour on the book page up to two hours ahead, or ring the clinic and we find you one.