Brrrrr

At some point over the past two and a half years I was introduced to a very foreign concept called The Ice Bath. The idea is that after a long run the runner would submerge herself in a cold tub water and ice cubes. Ha, what a bunch of weirdos, I thought when I listened to a group of runners talk about their afternoon plans which included beer, burgers and a bath of ice.

I am not sure when I decided that the idea was not as outrageous as I originally thought, but one day after a training run for the Portland Marathon, I came home and announced I was going to take an ice bath. And I did. I took a few that summer as I trained to run 26.2 miles. After my one and only marathon I decided I liked running 13 miles much better than 26, quickly taking my insanity level down a notch. Training for a half marathon meant half as much time training, half as many aches and pains and made ice baths a distant memory. In fact the last time someone mentioned an ice bath I declared I would only take an ice bath after running 18 miles or more, which I have no plans to do as of right now.

Of course, I broke that declaration yesterday. You see, yesterday I ran the Seattle Rock n Roll Half Marathon. I was under-trained and my sneakers were old. I have been in a habit of doing minimal stretching and I have been under a bit of end-of-the-school-year related stress. Not the best conditions for running 13.1. Still, I figured I would be a good sport and do it. Unfortunately my IT Band-a little tendon with a big personality-was not such a good sport. The IT band runs from the hip to the knee and is not technically a tendon, but its something like one. You feel IT pain on the outside of your knees and the pain can sometimes shoot up your leg all the way to the glutes. Anyway once it starts to act up it makes running, walking, climbing stairs and downhill runs really miserable. Mine started to act up around mile 7 and though it wasn't bad enough to pull me out of the run, I knew by mile 10 that I was in need of some heavy duty icing.

Not unlike childbirth, the ice bath is one of those uncomfortable experiences that you remember as painful, but cannot quite conjure the extremity of it until you do it again. Yesterday afternoon I filled my tub with cold water, filled a large pitcher with ice, made a cup of hot peppermint tea and grabbed an oversized hoodie. At this point I ask that you do your best not to picture me naked, but if you must, please note that when nude I look surprisingly like Angelina Jolie sans tattoos. I stayed clothed from the waist up in a tank top and that warm hoodie. I set my tea on the edge of the tub, knowing it would warm me from the inside out. I stuck one foot in the tub and then stood there--it was a painful shocking sensation- as if I stepped barefoot into a snowbank. I pulled my other foot off of the floor and went to submerge it but I just couldn't. I just stood there balanced on one foot like a flamingo. Every time I went to put my foot into the water it was if it had a mind of its own--there was no way it was going in. I probably could have stood in that position for hours, but let's face it, I had just run 13 miles (14 if you include the mile we ran just to get to the start line) and there was no way I could balance like that forever. Finally I gave in and stood with both feet in the cold, cold water. I thought about frostbite, and stupidity and the fact that I was an idiot for trying. I stood there for about five minutes when I finally became brave enough to sit....

I lowered myself into the tub inch by inch. I had a surprising amount of strength and was able to hover in all sorts of positions before my bottom finally hit the porcelain of the tub. BRRRRR that water was so cold. I hugged my legs to my chest leaving my knees high up in the air. My whole body was shivering. I took a sip of tea and started to push out my feet hoping my knees would follow-another sip of tea-my feet pushed away another centimeter. At this point my knees and most of my legs are still dry, I'm shivering so I pull my hood up and tie it tightly in hopes for a little more warmth. This entire time I am reminding myself that the purpose of this bath is to ice my knees and they are still sitting pretty at 68 degree room temperature. Finally, with a wave of courage I didn't know I had, I pushed my legs out straight and they went under the water. YOW!! It was soooooo cold. I sat there afraid to move, and waited to go numb. Eventually I started to get used to the water, except for my toes, they just never recovered from that snowbank feeling--I lifted them slightly, so that the tips of my toes could poke out of the water. I was starting to settle down and decided to have another sip of tea. I looked to my left and there by the tea cup was the pitcher of ice. I had forgotten to dump it in. Believe me it crossed my mind not to do it, this water was plenty cold, but I went ahead and dumped in the cubes. I dumped them carefully in the corners of the tub, hoping they would be kind enough to stay away from my body. Any time a cube floated near me, I started to swat at it. At some point I realized I was speaking to the ice cubes. I was seriously saying things like "Come on, stay away from me...please." The arctic temps. were getting to me- I was actually pleading with frozen water!!

If all of this wasn't enough, my cat Autumn was in the bathroom and at some point decided she was very interested in the ice cubes in the tub. She hopped up on the ledge and hung over like a ragdoll. She stretched her paws as far as they could go and tried desperately to bat at the ice cubes. She was maybe a half inch from the water's surface and could not manage to get any closer. I knew there was a good chance that if she inched forward any further she could fall in--making herself miserable, but even worse, splashing me with the cold water. I could have scooted toward her and given her a nudge off of the edge and back onto the floor, but that would mean moving and I was quite frozen to my spot. I just held my breath and watched her, every now and again I would look away to continue negotiating with the ice. "Really you don't want to come too close to me, I might melt you." My eyes darted back and forth ice cubes, cat, ice cubes, cat, either one could possibly send me screaming at any given moment.

Finally, when I felt like an eternity had passed I decided to pull the plug and get out, but pulling the plug meant once again moving, and I just couldn't bring myself to it. Time kept ticking, Autumn kept her position, and eventually the ice cubes began to get smaller. My toes never stopped hurting. Eventually, I felt like I had to get out before I popsiclized. And so I did. I drained the tub and hopped into a nice hot shower.

I don't really know if the ice bath helped much. My knees are still sore, but not as bad as yesterday. I plan to take some advil, maybe put some ice packs on, perhaps elevate my feet, definitely go for a walk to keep my other muscles from stiffening, but I do not plan to ever, ever take another ice bath. Unless of course I run more than 18 miles.