Ice Baths...I'm a Believer

In my blog hopping, I've seen a number of people post about taking an ice bath after a long run to help with recovery of the leg muscles.  My initial thoughts were that an ice bath sounds absolutely horrible.  Why would you want to do that to yourself?!?!?  I did the requisite googling to find out more about it, and had to admit that the theory did sound convincing.  But the thought of actually doing it...not so much.

I went for a run yesterday and did 10 miles.  My legs were feeling pretty sore in the last couple of miles of the run, and I could tell I was going to be feeling it for days.  When I got home, I thought...what the heck.  Let's give this a try.  If it's horrible, I don't ever have to do it again.  But.....IT. WORKED.  I'm a believer.  I now completely understand why people will subject themselves to this torture.  I felt like a new woman after spending 10 minutes with my legs submerged in freezing cold water.  I'm not going to lie.  It wasn't the most fun I've had in ages.  But honestly, it also wasn't that bad, once you get past the initial shock.

My method was to crank up the heater so the air around me was warm, and wear a sweatshirt to keep my upper body warm.  I filled the bathtub about waist-high with cold water, sat down and submerged my aching legs.  Then...I added a big bag of ice.  Painful, but necessary.  I set the timer for 10 minutes and read a book to try to get my mind off the fact that the lower half of my body was freezing.  When the 10 minutes were up, I gladly drained the tub, took a hot shower and was no worse for the wear.

I'm telling you...it worked WONDERS.  Usually, when I run that far (not that I've done it all that much!), my legs ache for days.  Within an hour of finishing the ice bath, my legs felt great.  They were a little sore last night, but much better today than they normally are the day after a long run.  If you run longer distances and get sore when you do it, try this.  Just once.  I don't think you'll be sorry you did, once it's all said and done.

If you want to learn more about the theory behind how the ice bath helps with muscle recovery, there's a good explanation here.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Double Digit Miles!

Today, for the first time EVER, I ran 10 miles!  I've never run double digit miles before!  I went with three of the girls that are also doing the 1/2 marathon, and I dominated 10 miles!  There is a great trail not too far from where I live, and it's a good place to do long miles because it is flat and shaded.

 

Before today, the farthest I had run was 8.7 miles, and that was two weeks ago.  Last weekend, on my Saturday long run, I had planned to do 9 or 9.5 miles and I TOTALLY bonked.  I was struggling after the first mile, and knew there was no way I had at least 8 more miles in me.  So I gave up, turned around, and came home majorly defeated.  Major fail.  I ran 6 miles on Wednesday of this week so I told myself that last weekend was just a fluke, but I was still nervous going into today's run.  I was so happy that it went well.  I ran a 9:30 mile pace for 10 miles.  I'm not going to lie...the last mile was ROUGH.  My body was begging me to stop, but I turned up my iPod and just kept going.  I really don't think I could have gone 5 more yards after I hit 10 miles.  But I did 10, and that's what matters...I don't have to worry about going farther until next weekend.  :)

Here's a picture of where I ran today (swiped from WRAL.com, a local news channel website).  It's called the American Tobacco Trail.  There are mile markers every half mile (every 0.25 mile in some parts), so it's really easy to keep track of how far you go).  The section we ran today was packed gravel, so not as hard on the knees as pavement.  I think it really does make a difference.

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These Saturday long runs take. it. OUT. of me.  I am so worthless for the rest of the day.  I really don't know how people training for a marathon do it.  I just have no energy left!  So, I've got a lovely evening of laying on the couch and watching a movie planned.  Lame Saturday night, but that's the best I can do right now!

Also - I tried a new kind of energy chew today on my run - Luna Moons. 

They were really good! I can't do the whole gel thing - just the thought of swallowing a flavored shot of gel while I'm running makes me nauseous. I've been doing the GU Chomps (a different kind of energy chew) on my 8+ mile runs, and they're not too bad. But I really liked the Luna Moons. I think these will be my go-to! I had the pomegranate flavor today...yum.  Ok, couch is calling...

Two Months Until 13.1

I can't believe that my first half-marathon is only two months away!  Actually, less than two months - it's on December 12th.  I'll be running in the Kiawah Island Half-Marathon.  Kiawah is on the South Carolina coast, not too far from Charleston.  I'm so excited for this to be my first 1/2, because Kiawah holds a special place in my heart.  My mom's side of the family has been going to Kiawah every Thanksgiving for over 20 years and it is a vacation that I look forward to each year.  Kiawah is one of my most favorite places in the world.  Kiawah has been named one of the top 10 beaches in the United States...see how pretty it is??

I've signed up to run the race with 8 friends, and we've all been training for the past couple of months.  We're going to rent a big house for the long weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it.  As far as the training, my weekly long runs are currently up to 9 miles (I'll be tackling either 9.5 or 10 this Saturday), so I think I should be able to get up to 13 by December.  It blows my mind that I can even run nine miles.  A year ago, I would have struggled with two.

One very cool thing is that I will actually be at Kiawah (for Thanksgiving) two weeks before the race.  My training schedule has my long run that week at 12 miles (and then the final week before the race is a taper week, so the longest run is 5 miles).  This means that I can do a trial run of the course!  I think that running 12 miles of the course beforehand will really help me on race day because I'll know a) what to expect, and b) that I've done it (or most of it) before!

Any runners out there have tips for the big day?