Ice Baths

What are these all about then? They look painful don’t they? Well they are! Straight up, there are horrid. I wasn’t even sure why I was doing them. I just read that people (athletes) do them and as I was running silly amounts of marathons, I had to do everything possible that limited any injuries. I tried my first Ice Bath after the Thames Meander Marathon. I spent days leading up to the marathon making trips to the supermarket to stock up on bags of ice. I was wondering if people were assuming that I was a bit late on the Ice Bucket challenge! Well in some ways it was my own little private ice bucket challenge, just no nominations. 

I read several different ways to do an ice bath. No way was any better than the other. I climbed into the bath and sat down. Bags of ice at the side of the tub ready. My legs were bare, but I wore enough layers of clothing fit for the North Pole from the waist up, hat, gloves the lot! I turned the cold tap on, shrieked a little (Actually a lot) and watched the cold water, slowly fill up over my little legs! I thought it would be easier to sit while the tub filled up with cold water, rather than having to jump in it full. I waited for the water was at my waist, so that all my legs where under the water. This wasn’t actually too bad! I could handle this. I grabbed the bags, one by one, ripped open the top and just checked the ice in, bag by bag (there were 5 bags all together) till they were all emptied. I set my timer for 15 minutes, stuck my head phones in and tried to think about anything but ice! Not easy!! I was just looking at it in amazement. I felt like a human cocktail. I felt like the ice cubes where laughing at me! Then, about 3 minutes in, the water climates to the ice. It was like someone was hitting my feet with tiny sledge hammers. OUCH!!!!!! and what is more, I still had 12 minutes to go. It got colder and colder the longer I sat there, and every minute that passed felt like 10 minutes. This is literally torture. I tried to concentrate on the music I was listening to, but the pain of the cold was drowning out the music by a million! I had a can of strongbow cider with me, as I thought it might help ease the pain, never again!! A cup of tea is what is needed here! 

I pressed on, and managed the 15 minutes (I am not a quitter) but it quickly dawned me, that getting out of this bath may be another mission to face. I pulled the plug out and watched the water disappear around my legs. They where so numb, and bright red from the cold. I could no longer feel the pain of the marathon, just the cold. My teeth where chattering away to themselves. I just hoped that I would notice some benefits to this as I had put myself through sheer hell. As if running a marathon isn’t enough pain as it is. My body took ages to go back to normal body temperate, so did the feeling in my legs. I think they had gone into shock. I can honestly say that my legs felt so much better the next day. Stairs were not completely impossible. I did notice the benefits for sure!

I posted a few pictures onto Instagram and one of the runners I followed on there, advised me that next time leave my clothes on from the waist down too! Including socks! Doh! No wonder if hurt! I had mixed reviews on ice baths. Some say it works, some say it doesn’t, some say they’d never do it etc.. as usual, it’s what works for the individual. I am all for trying things once, even if it’s painful. if it doesn’t work, then least I would have tried it. I have done it again since, after the Vikings Coastal Marathon. This time I was fully clothed from top to bottom, and I had a nice hot cup of tea to accompany me. So much better! It was still very painful, but much more bearable. So the outcome is, ice baths do work, well for me anyway. I certainly recommend giving them a try, if you can bare them.

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