Icing

Next to ice baths, icing is my next favorite recovery tool (foam rolling is pretty close on this list as well!).  It offers another safe way to reduce muscle inflammation and soreness–I personally only use medication such as ibuprofen as a last-resort if I’m really, really sore or otherwise sick.

How I ice is simple.  I use 2-4 ice packs (bags of frozen vegetables may often work even better because of the mold-ability, but also may thaw quicker) and place them on sore or tired areas such as my quads, hamstrings, knees, calves, achilles areas, or even my feet.  I let the ice packs sit in any specific area around 10-15 minutes before rotating the packs to another area.

I do this while I’m watching tv or reading and like to do it on days after hard or long workouts (long runs, speed work, races, etc), and often do it even when I’m not even “sore”.  Even for just tired legs the ice seems to be soothing and aid recovery.

Try not to ice any certain area too long to avoid skin damage.

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