Recovery, Recovery, Recovery.

Cold water immersion

Finishing the race in Gibraltar I wasted no time rehydrating and over the course of an hour I drank close to 1L of a carbohydrate / electrolyte drink and continued drinking for the rest of the day*.

Aisling & Cian preparing an ice bath after the ACP 2009

Without wasting too much time I took the bus back to the ship with Tony and went straight  to the swimming pool on the upper deck as was the plan and sat with my legs in the water for 30 minutes during which time I drank a Powerbar recovery drink.  I had tried the bath water in my cabin but I didn't think it was cold enough for my needs.


The cold water immersion was followed by a shower and for the rest of the day and the following day while traveling I wore my Skins recovery tights.

There's a lot of talk about the pros and cons of ice baths to aid recovery but I have used this routine for years and would regularly take a cold bath during the winter which is usually cold enough or during the summer I'd buy a few bags of ice from the supermarket on the way home from a long run.  My recovery routine is planned well in advance and it's almost second nature at this stage.  If I drive to a run location I'll have my recovery drink in the car for when I finish and will phone home so the bath is ready or if starting from home I'll prepare my recovery meal while the bath is filling.

Waking the following day I was moving quite freely although there was no denying I had run 100K the day before but apart from some slight muscle soreness I don't think I was showing any obvious signs of the distance.  I was back to work on Tuesday and having recently got a pair of the new Skins A400 running tights I decided to try them for a short run on Wednesday and it was like having a new pair of legs.
 
*Includes reasonable amount of alcohol and went to bed before bar closed.