Chronicles of a Long Distance Runner - The Ice Bath

After a long run one of the best things to do to your legs is shove them in cold cold water. What do I call a long run that deserves this treatment? Anything over 12 miles. Technically, I guess it'd be great to do it after any hard run or workout too, but who has time for that?

Why is this good for you. Well, the plain english reason is as follows. When you run, you tear up all your little muscle fibers in your legs. By cooling these muscles down for 15 to 20 minutes, you are making your body send much more blood to the cold areas to combat the cold temperatures. This effect of pumping more blood into the muscles also sparks a faster recovery for the torn muscle fibers which speeds up your recovery. 15 minutes is good, 20 is fine too, but I've read that apparently after 20 minutes, for those you who took economics, you get the Law of Diminushing Returns. (Pictured here to the right)

Here in Austin, you can either:
A) Go stand in Barton Springs pool for 15 - 20 mins.
b) Ice bath
c) Epsum Salts Bath (apparently works just as well, but that just seems like a lot of trouble and I kind of like the cold water)

Barton Springs is free from 5am till 9am everyday. Some argue that the water isn't cold enough, but whatever, it feels good, and it's better than nothing.
When you can't make it to Barton Springs before 9am, and don't feel like forking out USD$3, the icebath is next on the agenda. I've become quite the pro at this, and thought I'd teach you guys the finer points of this science, so here's a step by step manual.

Step 1: Purchase Ice.
It important to buy enough ice to make the water "cold as hell", but NOT "cold as shit". One can handle cold as hell, but cold as shit will render you unable to last a full 15mins.
20lbs is plenty. If the quickie mart sells 8lb bags like today, buy two, maybe 3 if you're feeling adventurous. If they sell 20lb bags -> buy 1. It is EXTREMELY important that you not buy 40lbs. Anything well over 20lbs makes it cold as Shit. Trust me. You'll last about 7 minutes and say: "This is cold as shit, I gotta get out of here."


Step 2: Support team.
Ice Baths are not to be taken lightly. Just like a long run where you have support staff at waterstops, you need a support team here too. Turn on your bathtub and start filling it with cold water. While you are doing so, go to your fridge and choose your support. Shove your support team, in this case a Bud Light into the ice, so they can become acquainted with each other. This whole thing is hard enough to pull off when everyone gets along.



Step 3: Get in.
Take your bag(s) of ice and place them on the ledge of the tub, and make sure your support team is within reach. Get in the water. DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT throw all the ice IN to the water before you get in the water. Start your timer.


Step 4: Slow Release
Step 4 is called Slow Release. In this step, you gently place your bag of ice in the water and tear it open. You then let the ice slowly out of the bag moving the ice around the tub, so it melts evenly. There's no point in releasing all the ice by your toes. Why torture yourself?
(repeat this step with the additional bags of ice you bought. If the water is cold as hell by the time you placed bag #1 in the water, then abstain from adding bag #2. But don't be a wuss about it. The water needs to be cold as hell, so maybe add another half bag? Afterall, you've got your support staff almost ready to help you out.


Step 5: Take advantage of your support team.
Do not forget to use your support team. Everything is so much easier with the help of a friend. Slowly lean backwards into the tub. Your back probably hasn't gotten wet, so take your time, but do it. Then, grab your support, pop him/her open, and take a nice sized sip.


Hang in there. Just relax and make it through 15 minutes. Stand up, start draining the tub, turn on the nice warm water, take a shower, then head to bed for a well deserved nap.