Mike's Marathon Blog

I woke up Saturday morning at 6:30 for my weekly long-run. I cautiously peeked through my blinds and could barely see across the street through the snowstorm. Great. I ran to the computer to check my email to see if practice was canceled. Ha. Not a chance. The coaches love torturing us. They’re crazy and would run in a hurricane if they had to (they both had shorts on that day).

I was not feeling it that morning. I was tired and something I ate the day/days before was not sitting well. I made my toast, packed my bag and dragged myself out the door. I actually sat in my car for for awhile, watched the snow fall and contemplated driving to Wellesley. It’s hard enough preparing for a long run, but when your mind isn’t in it, you’re in for a very long run that day. And a long run happened to be on the menu that day. How long? 18 miles.

We ran from Wellesley to Cleveland Circle (in Brighton) and back. 9 miles out and 9 miles back. We ran the Newton hills, Heartbreak Hill, the 1.5 mile hill past BC and the hill on Washington Street. Twice. We were exhausted. The coaches told us that run is one of the most difficult runs that we would ever do in our lives.

And what does everyone talk about after running 18 miles? Ice baths of course. The coaches and many of the runners on the team speak very highly about ice baths. Cryotherapy (“cold therapy”) constricts blood vessels and decreases metabolic activity, which reduces swelling and tissue breakdown. Once the skin is no longer in contact with the cold source, the underlying tissues warm up, causing a return of faster blood flow, which helps return the byproducts of cellular breakdown to the lymph system for efficient recycling by the body. Though you could use individual ice packs, cold-water immersion generally produces a greater and longer lasting change in deep tissues and is more a more efficient means of cooling large groups of muscles simultaneously.

I was hurting after the run. My knee and hip actually felt good, but everything else was in pain. I was cold, my muscles were tight, my feet were sore and wet and my stomach felt like it had a brick in it. So, I decided to see what all the hype was about. I filled up the tub with cold water and got in. I’ve read that in the winter, you don’t even really need ice because the water is already so cold. After a few minutes, I dumped in all the ice that I had in my freezer. It wasn’t so bad. After about 5 minutes, you’re legs go completely numb, so you can’t even really feel them any more. It was my first ice bath, so I really have nothing to compare it to, but I did feel pretty good the rest of the night and all day today. I stayed out until 3 a.m., so it obviously helped a little.