Ice bath's are good for you - hmm!

So I went back to see Dave the Physio and the good news is that I have no tear in my hamstring. However the bad news is that I'm getting old (thanks Dave) and I have some wear and tear and a potential overuse injury. The discomfort/tension I can feel in my hamstring is referred from a problem at the top of my calf and in my hip joint; he explained it all but i couldn't pass on the technical terms if I tried, so I'll not bother. All I know is that he had a good prod about and at some point when he found the problem area in my hip I nearly shot off the bed!

So I'm going back to see him on Thursday but he's suggested that i keep on running but do some extra stretches. I've been out twice since (6 miles and 4 miles) and there's not much change but maybe it's something I need to learn to live with in the short term.

What he did suggest "if you can hack it" was taking a nice soak in an ice bath after running! Now I know the basic theory behind the old ice bath's; shrinking of the blood vessels to force out all the old blood and toxins and then (when you warm up again) the fresh blood brings back nutrients and oxygen to aid the healing process. However I've never tried it. I've used ice packs on trouble area's but this seems a tad more extreme. Thankfully, I haven't got any ice and we've got quite a small freezer at home. "That's ok, you'll get a similar effect with just a bath full of cold water" - great.

I've given it a go - twice, so it can't be that bad. I assume that the addition of some ice (in the ice bath) would make things a bit more unbearable but I've skipped that stage for now. You'll not be surprised to hear that it initially takes your breath away but it's quite painful on the bony areas, especially around the ankles. It does appear to work though. After the six mile run the hamstring was noticeably tight and then after 10 minutes of hyperventilating in the cold tub it didn't seem so bad - funny how things shift your focus. With reference to the shrinking effect mentioned above, it's definately more noticeable in certain area's!

Here's a clip of Eddie Izzard's ice bath experience during his multi marathon campaign. I thought twice about posting this clip as it makes my 50 miles seem like a quick stroll out but Eddie produced such a valiant performance I figure it's worth me giving him a further plug for his efforts, it's worth 2 minutes of your time if you never caught the programme. Click the image to go to the You Tube link

Cheers
Mick