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The icy dip
When I was a kid, being a fan of truly refined comedy, I got a talking Ed Grimley doll. (I still have it somewhere.) You could pull a string on his back and he'd burst out with "Gee that's a pain that's gonna linger!" or "I'm as doomed as doomed can be, you know" or "I'm going completely mental, I must say."
Spending 20 minutes in a tub of ice water is one of those things to file under "If you had told me 10 years ago I'd be doing this, I'd have told you were going completely mental." Of course, so is going out for a 2-hour run, which is the behavior that necessitates the ice bath.
I'm getting older. I used to save the ice or cold-water bath for the really, really long or hot workouts. But now, at the ripe old age of (almost) 32, it feels good after any longish run. My knees feel a little more beaten up post-run than they used to.
The cold water seems unbearable for the first few minutes (and that has nothing to do with the shrimp-colored tile in our bathroom), but after that it's downright pleasant. I wear a fleece top to keep my torso warm. And this water was only about 59 degrees (not that I measured the temperature with a meat thermometer, noooo, I'd never do that). That's about the same temperature as the Bay right now. (And, come to think of it, the air outside.) Colder would be better, but I didn't have much ice to spare.
What seemingly mental things to do your hobbies drive you to do?
June 8, 2007 4:17 PM
My idiosyncrasies are too embarrassing to print here, and I was too overwhelmed with jealousy as to how clean your tile grout looks.
Ice baths are one of those things that I know I should try but am terrified to. Oh, and to try and explain to my husband why I'm doing it, when he already thinks I'm a dork for all of the other wacky triathlon things that I do.
ok. most recently (on sunday) i stayed up waaay too late trying my hand at lemon meringue pie - again. after failing once with flat meringue, which you got to sample firsthand, i was determined to conquer this culinary challenge - but didn't quite get started until 9pm.
thankfully success (and delicous pie) was to be had just before midnight.
given my current physical state, i'd have to say that's about as crazy as i'm getting with my hobbies for a while. :)
on the ice bath, my one & only attempt at it was after ironman. i didn't even make it 20 seconds. too freakin' cold.