Posts tagged ice bath
Recovery Tips
Jan 10th
Another cross post from my mentor group.
The biggest thing you can do is sleep. Some of us have the ability to get 8-9hours of sleep a night and get a few naps each week. For others of us we get 6-7hours of sleep and dream of naps. Sleep is the greatest thing you can do for your body.
Following sleep the next best thing is post workout nutrition. You need to get some protein and carbs in after workouts. Immediately following is ideal, 5mins is great, within 30minutes is clutch. 1% chocolate milk is good because it contains the near ideal 4:1 protein to carb ratio.
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Ice Baths
Aug 28th
The first time I had a ice bath was two months ago, since then I have been using them on any bike rides 2+hours, and any runs over 7miles. The next day I always feel great. I ran 15miles recently, and felt good enough the day after to still train.
They help recovery time, by contracting your blood vessels and slowing blood flow. When you then warm up, blood quickly rushes back and helps ‘clean’ out waste by-products of the damage done by running, working out, riding hard. Anytime you work out you create micro-tears and essentially destroy your muscle. You then get bigger, stronger, faster during the recovery process.
I fill the tub, with cold water and then add ice. Sometimes if I dont have ice I just use cold water. I can easily stand the cold water only. The ice adds a good amount of extra chill, I enjoy the baths. Some people can not stand the cold as well, and dress warm up top. I choose not too, and will even eat a post-workout PB&J sandwich while I sit/lounge.
When I was in Hungary a few years ago, I went to a bath house, and then had a horse shoe shaped ice bath, that was designed for people to walk into and then quickly out. I loved staying in there, until I would almost black out and then going back into the saunas.
More Info:
http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=8731
http://speedendurance.com/2008/05/11/ice-baths-for-workout-recovery/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/health_and_fitness/4286038.stm