Ice Baths and Sharkies
So I tackled another milestone yesterday on my marathon journey. The achievement? 16 miles. I found this run so much easier than the last 15 miler I did. My chest injury seems to be completely healed now, which helped, and I just felt like I had a lot more energy.
Maybe it was the Sharkies? Normally I stick with fruit juices and dates when I run, but I found these sport chews at a health food store and I wanted to try them. I found them really easy to eat while running and they tasted awesome. Plus, it’s great to know that they’re healthy, organic, and all that good stuff. Yada, yada.
I find it really hard to exercise away from home, but it’s nice that where my sister lives they have a lot of biking/running trails. It was fun for me to plan my route and explore the area. So beautiful here…
And this time I remembered to put Vaseline between my toes and walaaa! Not a single blister. Success.
Preventing blisters was yesterday’s lesson learned, but today’s lesson learned is not to leave the laptop up when you have to get up for a minute. Sisters can invade the keyboard and take over. I found this on my draft copy of my post when I came back…
“My faithful sister allowed me to go for this run, taking care of the kids while I was reckless and abandoned them all, hurried on to my daily pursuit of working out.
My sister really is amazing – two kids and a busy life I SURE hope I’m like her one day – until then, I’ll have a ton of fun being me cause I’m pretty amazing.
Have I told you how wonderful I am?”
Ha. It amused me…so I kept it up. Serves her right if she’s mortified. But knowing her she’ll just laugh. Well, it made me giggle.
But what really makes me happy is the fact I’m not sore today. The secret to that is the ice bath I always take after a double digit run. It sounds horrible…and it is. But it’s a small price to pay for eliminating soreness and feeling great the next day. I never used to take them and didn’t believe a little cold water could possibly get rid of the horrible soreness that I’d feel for at least two days after a hard run. But then I tried it just for kicks and was shocked how much it helps. Now I always take them, despite the dreadfulness of being cold. It’s soooo worth it.
How to Take an Ice Bath:
1. Fill the tub with an inch or two of warm water. Otherwise it’s way too hard to get in. Then just add cold water on full blast up to your waist.
2. To make it a real ice bath you can add a tray or two of ice cubes. I’m lazy and so I’ve never done that…the water should be 54 to 60 degrees for the technical people who care to know. I don’t care, which means I’m not technical. Anywhoo…
3. Wear layers of old sweatshirts over your swim shorts. At least half of you can be warm.
4. Stay in the water at least 10 minutes. You can do it. I believe in you.
5. Drink something hot or slurp some soup. I can’t survive the cold without this. I’m also freaked out about being cold, I just hate it. Believe me, if I can do, you can too!
Do you have any running secrets or something that helps post-workout soreness?
Category: Fitness, Running | Tags: how to take an ice path, ice bath, post workout, sharkies 7 comments »
Ice baths are my key to preventing a lot of sourness. I don’t know how I survived before I started doing them.
You are brave — not only for the 15-mile run, but for the chilly ice bath afterward. My husband often watches those ultimate fighting shows, and you sometimes see the competitors jump into a tank of ice water after a training sessions. Gives me goose bumps just watching it! ;)
Ok, I’m never doing an ice bath! :)))
And something from my sports nutrition book, it’s a good idea to snack and drink during an exercise longer then 90 minutes. The drinks might be diluted fresh juices, smoothies or sports drinks and the snacks some easy carbohydrates too :) It will keep you going longer.
Wow, I will have to try that!
I’ve always wanted to try the whole ice bath thing but have never had the guts to do it – i’m a total wuss when it comes to the cold. I’m gonna do it after my next long run, just to try it out! Thanks for the “how to” :-)
Clarkie~ I know. I feel the same way…sometimes I couldn’t walk straight for two days, haha!
Carolyn~ Have to say jumping straight in to a big tank of ice water doesn’t appeal to me, but I guess they need all their muscles treated. Thankful it’s just my legs with running…have to agree that sounds scary! lol
Nadia~ Yes, I’m trying to work on that! I’ll have to try the diluted smoothie idea, thanks girlie!
Kelly~ Hope it helps!
Emma~ I know…I’m a wuss too…the first one was the hardest and then it gets easier! You can do it!
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