It Isn’t Fair
In less than 48 hours I’ll have started and hopefully finished my second half-marathon.
I’m already looking forward to the eating component of the day. And the boozing I will partake in.
Meanwhile, I’m dealing with a migraine that has been going on for four days.
I want it to get all rainy and stormy ASAP.
Sometimes I hate the weather and air pressure.
It sucks that my performance on race day may come down to something I have absolutely no control over.
Yes, I’m whining. I’m also hiding away in my apartment where I’m going to go all vampire and avoid sunlight.
I may have to resort to rain dancing if the storm doesn’t arrive today.
Free Booze? Why not!
Good morning!
Don’t really have much to say today which means you won’t have to read my typical rambling post. Who am I kidding? I’m still going to ramble. I know you like it. 
Workout yesterday was a 3.53 mile run, completed in just over 35 minutes. I kept my average pace around 10 minutes/mile. I have one more run planned for today and then I’m just going to rest up for the big day.
For dinner last night I ate red meat. I rarely eat red meat so it was kind of a big deal in a not-so-very-important way. I don’t have a good reason for not eating red meat; I just don’t think about it. (How many times can I say “red meat” in a paragraph?) But I had some in the freezer so I decided to eat it. Here’s the sad part: I know it was beef but I can’t specify any more as to what cut of beef it was. Oh well. The important thing is that it was cooked.
Enjoyed with a sweet potato, carrots, mushrooms, and roasted green beans. I added some hummus to the sweet potato and rather liked it! Not as good as almond butter, but still good.
Last night at trivia we were interviewed for a piece for the Centretown News. It’ll be an online feature so if/when it comes up, I’ll try to share my 15 minutes of fame with y’all.
They were also giving out pints of Alexander Keith’s new cider. Normally I don’t drink alcohol during the week, but I couldn’t resist the offer as I’ve been wanting to try the cider.
It was sweet and tart and not too bad. Apparently it is made with four different types of apples. Couldn’t tell you which types (clearly I’m rocking on specification of food and drink in this post). Not the best cider I’ve had, but it is nice knowing I have another option available to me.
When I got home I decided to eat a couple oreos that are in my freezer. One Birthday Cake oreo (best oreo flavour I’ve ever had) and a couple peanut butter oreos (mmm….peanut butter…’nuff said).
Not the best idea in the world with the whole gluten intolerance thing. I fell asleep with an upset stomach and woke up this morning feeling like I had swallowed glass and it was working its way through my body. TMI? Meh.
I’m off to get dressed for work – going to be a high of 28C which means I’m going to wish that my office had a balcony I could work on. Or, better yet, that I could work from home on my balcony.
It’s also race kit pick-up day! woohoo!
The Ice Bath
On Sunday I took the plunge (hardy har har) and took my first ice bath.
Okay, admittedly it was more of a cold water bath since I couldn’t bring myself to dump a bag or two of ice in there but it was a big step for me. I am a convert now. I definitely want to include ice/cold water baths as part regular of my training routine. Typically, my leg muscles will be sore for 24-36 hours post long-run. With the half-marathon next weekend, I wanted a quick recovery so decided to give the cold bath a whirl. Afterall, it couldn’t really cause any harm.
Yes, that is a picture of me sitting in a bathtub wearing pants and socks. And yes, I’m drinking a cup of tea.
When I started training for my first half-marathon last year I read a lot about how to go about training for longer distances. I reviewed a ton of training schedules that included speed, hill, and pace running, read about how to get the proper nutrition, the benefits of strength training, and ice baths. The latter always slightly terrified me as I despise being cold. For whatever reason, I have a lower core body temperature than most people and when it is cold outside, I really feel it. Clearly I wasn’t thinking of the temperature in winter when I moved to Ottawa.
(By the time I took this pic, I had adjusted to the cold water)
I’ve often seen ice baths pop up on various healthy living blogs that I like to read, describing their benefits and how the baths help them recover. I’ve also heard of elite athletes taking ice baths or icing down after working out. Cue image of a baseball pitcher with his/her arm covered in ice packs while chilling in the dugout.
Since I now want to include ice baths in my life, I decided to look into why athletes take ice baths after intense bouts of exercise to understand the science behind it.
An article published in the NY Times shares the findings of a study completed on the benefits of ice baths versus not doing anything (you can link to the study from the NY Times article). The scientists found that sitting in an ice bath for 20 minutes reduced soreness by 20%. Here’s my attempt to sum up why it works. Depending on how intense the exercise is, the musculoskeletal, nervous and metabolic systems can become fatigued. Also, microscopic tears in muscle tissues occurs and may lead to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). DOMS usually peaks between 24-48 hours post exercise and there is usually stiffness, swelling, decreases in strength and power and soreness. It usually takes about 4 – 5 days to recover.
The concept of cold-water immersion (CWI) has become popular, particularly among elite athletes but increasingly now among amateur athletes with the idea being that if you immerse yourself into a cold-water bath immediately after your workout, it will reduce the potential for DOMS. The idea is similar to that of using cold therapy for soft tissue injuries like sprains and strains. The cold water is believed to stimulate blood flow in addition to nutrient and waste transportation in the body. CWI may also affect nerve transmission speed which results in decreased pain perception.
I won’t go into all the details of the findings, but basically, the scientists found there is evidence that CWI reduces DOMS when compared with passive interventions involving rest or no intervention (they compared CWI with warm water immersion, contrast immersion, active recover, compression, and doing nothing). They did note the limitations of the study so couldn’t speak to other types of intervention, like ibuprofen. They also stated that more research needs to be done into the benefits of CWI and to establish a protocol for its use
So there you have it. A scientific reason for why I sat in a tub for 20 minutes with a cup of hot tea and my iPhone for company. Lucy also hung around, fascinated by the water.
I wonder, would eating a tub of ice cream have similar effects but working from the inside? Wouldn’t hurt to test that theory! Okay, maybe it would hurt by giving me a stomach ache, but it’s all in the name of science!
