I started increasing mileage 10% per week to train for a 100 mile ultra about a month ago, starting at 55 miles. When I hit 82 miles last week, my left achillies tendon flared up so bad, I was going to have to stop and seek surgery if I took another step. Friend recommended foam rolling and I was nearly healed and back running in only 2 days. Craziest thing I've ever seen. Been doing it several times a day since and hit 93 miles last week. Nearly pain free for every run now, which was certainly not the case before I started rolling.
I'm using the roller to seek out "pain spots" which I gather are adhesions and inflamed areas. Working on those lengthens them back out, which reduces strain. Makes sense with the language of the study. I'm definitely a believer now. And I could see why this works while stretching doesn't. Rolling fixes problem areas, stretching just pulls on them.
I'm new to it, so I could be wrong. But I'm definitely impressed.
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