It's never too early to start foam rolling.

I caught my toddler using my foam roller the other day:

The thought that immediately popped into my head was, "You're never too young to start foam rolling," which I've changed to, "It's never too early to start foam rolling" for the purpose of this post.

This whole post is really apropos of nothing so just consider it a friendly little running tip: Don't wait until you have aches and pains to start using the foam roller. Use it now. Same for The Stick. And the tennis ball!

For a long time -- I guess mostly when I was younger -- I didn't think much about preventing injuries, only healing them after they'd already arrived and thrown their injury-rific wrenches into my training plans. At some point, I started to smarten up and I began trying to prevent injuries. I started using the foam roller (thanks to my husband who got one for me) and The Stick. I use The Stick before every run, to warm up my muscles. I use the foam roller to keep injury-prone areas loose and knot-free. Obviously, I use it often enough that my toddler knows exactly what it is for and wants to get in on the action. Let's just hope he doesn't have any injuries to prevent for a long time!

Check out a foam roller and The Stick, if you don't already have them. They've been two of the most useful running tools for me. I mean, next to my running shoes and running bras, that is.

Have a great day, everyone!

~ Felice