How to recover from rides

vorsprung
vorsprung Posts: 1,953
edited March 2013 in Road beginners
Latest post on my blog is about Rest and Recovery after rides.

So in a sense you shouldn't be reading this, it's not about what happens on a bike :mrgreen:
Audaxing Blog - Long Distance Cycling
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Comments

  • elderone
    elderone Posts: 1,410
    Good read, but I think what Eddie Izzard did was monumental and inspirational to any one.
    Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori
  • vorsprung
    vorsprung Posts: 1,953
    elderone wrote:
    Good read, but I think what Eddie Izzard did was monumental and inspirational to any one.
    Yeah, it's amazing! It was the ice bath he had every night that was the relevant detail. He wasn't particularly an athlete so this is an interesting way of accessing how good these baths are for recovery.
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  • djm501
    djm501 Posts: 378
    I'd love to do that (well maybe love is the wrong word) - but where do you get so much ice?!

    I think I could conjur up enough for a few G&T's from our freezer ;)
  • danlikesbikes
    danlikesbikes Posts: 3,898
    djm501 wrote:
    I'd love to do that (well maybe love is the wrong word) - but where do you get so much ice?!

    You don't need that much ice to be honest, you can get the same results with cold tap water and ice. If you watch the Eddie Izzard programme this was what he had to do in at least one of the hotels.
    Pain hurts much less if its topped off with beating your mates to top of a climb.
  • djm501
    djm501 Posts: 378
    Ah right, the only time I've seen it in anger is watching Andy Murray drop into an ice bath after a tennis match and he had *loads* of ice in it.
  • danlikesbikes
    danlikesbikes Posts: 3,898
    Had plenty of experience of them myself at race events & where they tend to pill in the ice, but are an easy option for the home if you just have a small bag of ice & some cold water, someone has even set up a website to talk you through it - http://www.icebath.org

    Advantage of having a lot of water & ice is it can be used again or to bring the body temperature down if racing in hot temperatures. Had one in Egypt after a race in 42 degree heat, just in a bin with water and ice. DId not like it one bit (was hard to get out) but it did get me back to normal in about 5 minutes.
    Pain hurts much less if its topped off with beating your mates to top of a climb.
  • vorsprung
    vorsprung Posts: 1,953
    Danlikesbikes wrote:
    Advantage of having a lot of water & ice is it can be used again or to bring the body temperature down if racing in hot temperatures. Had one in Egypt ...

    In the UK after an audax this time of year a hot bath is much more agreeable. I did have to wait a few minutes before having the bath to ensure my toes warmed up a bit first, I am paranoid about chilblains
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  • danlikesbikes
    danlikesbikes Posts: 3,898
    vorsprung wrote:
    Danlikesbikes wrote:
    Advantage of having a lot of water & ice is it can be used again or to bring the body temperature down if racing in hot temperatures. Had one in Egypt ...

    In the UK after an audax this time of year a hot bath is much more agreeable. I did have to wait a few minutes before having the bath to ensure my toes warmed up a bit first, I am paranoid about chilblains

    Time of year has nothing to do with it. The primary function of the ice bath is not to cool you down but to force out toxins & the sharp change into cold temperature causes your body to move into self preservation mode sending blood to your core. There it is enriched with oxygen, nutrients & enzymes once your out of the cold water this enriched blood then floods back to the rest of the body flushing out toxins and improving circulation.

    Agree that if its cold outside and you've been on a bike for a while it can be nice to warm yourself up. I'm not one for candles, Barry White, a glass of wine and a soak in a bubble bath. However I have been known to sit in the bath to warm my toes up!

    It might be more agreeable but from a recovery point of view if its an option after a hard session the ice bath at home is a cheap way aiding your recovery. The same as buying a foam roller and sorting your muscles out yourself rather than paying for massages.
    Pain hurts much less if its topped off with beating your mates to top of a climb.
  • vorsprung
    vorsprung Posts: 1,953
    If you have a proper turkish bath then you'd find it was alternating between cold showers and hot baths

    Sports science likes it the other way round, cold baths and hot showers.

    I am no big expert on physiology but I'm sure that there is at least some benefit from a hot bath after exercise

    This paper http://wingate.org.il/_Uploads/345485ho ... 0baths.pdf discusses combining hot and cold therapy after exercise. In the initial discussion of "hot" it says
    Thermotherapy has shown to increase tissue temperature,
    increase local blood flow, increase muscle elasticity, cause
    local vasodilation, increase metabolite production and
    reduce muscle spasm (Prentice, 1999; Brukner and Khan,
    2001; Zuluaga et al., 1995). Additionally, superficial
    heating decreases sympathetic nerve drive which causes
    vasodilation of local blood vessels and increases circulation
    The increased blood flow allows an increased supply of
    oxygen, antibodies and the ability to clear metabolites
    (Zuluaga et al., 1995)

    So if you had to pick one, hot or cold, cold would be better - but hot does have some benefits
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  • marylogic
    marylogic Posts: 355
    Thank goodness for that, because the closest you'll get me to the cold therapy is when the hot water runs out in the shower. *just back from ride in 3 degrees with ice cold wind*

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