Ice Bathing Works

I am 6 days away from running my longest race ever, the Around the Bay 30k in Hamilton, Ontario, and I am so excited I breath, see, hear, feel, think - running every minute of the day.

The Sunday before yesterday, I ran my longest LSD ever, 26 kilometers much faster than the last one. Two days after, both of my feet, the inside below the arch were hurting I had to shorten my tempo run from 10 kms. to 7 kms, and on grass instead of the road. My running the 30k race seemed to be in jeopardy.

I usually use cold water and ice for joint and muscle pain after my long runs for 5-10 minutes depending on my tolerance level, and it varies day to day. A Pinoy ultramarathoner blogger, Rick suggested 15 minutes of ice bathing after a long run, to be repeated when needed, and basically, that was what I did, 2 or 3 times a day in the last few days. Boy, and how it has helped. Cold water immersion or an ice bath is a more popular therapy used by ultramarathon runners after a long run to promote recovery. It supposedly slows down metabolism which reduces swelling and muscle tissue damage.

On Friday, I did an easy run of 6 kms. and there was only a little discomfort in the same problem spots of my feet. Yesterday, two runner friends and I did 16 kms. , on a route with a few hilly portions and I finished the run pain free. I still continue ice bathing my legs and feet every day, specially now that I know it really works. Every long distance runner should try it.

For this week, I plan on running no more than 15k total in 3 sessions (6k, 6k, 3k)until race day.