Day 12 - Ice Bath

Yep, that's right. Only 12 days into my marathon training and I had to succumb to an ice bath. Friday night after dinner we went to the park with the kids. My quads starting getting kinda tight, so I would periodically stretch them. As the night went on, and after I'd been sitting for a while, the pain would get worse and it was starting to wrap around to the back of my legs - like the top of my hamstrings. I took 600 mg ibuprofen and went to bed. I only had 7 miles to do this morning, so I went ahead with the scheduled run. My sister couldn't run with me and I left the dingo at home so I could carry my water/gatorade. I haven't run fully "alone" in quite some time. I actually enjoyed it. Turns out I saw 2 deer, 1 bunny, and multiple squirrels and dogs. All of those things make for a very distracted dingo! Don't tell him, but I'm kinda glad he wasn't with me. In any case, I was feeling pretty good throughout the run. My upper legs were definitely tight and still aching when I got started, but the pain dissipated the more I ran. Until I hit about mile 6. Now, the course was pretty hilly, so maybe the hills exacerbated it? My quads and hamstrings just felt like giant blocks of cement. It felt like a charlie horse that wouldn't relent. I kept going, knowing that once I stopped, that was it. I figured I would experience this problem eventually while running....but I thought it would be during the last 8 miles of the marathon! So with my house in sight and my iPod showing 7.1 miles completed, I stopped. OH THE PAIN! I hobbled up our front steps and into the house. I took anther 600 mg of ibuprofen. Besides my legs, I felt fantastic. My lungs/heart could have run forever today and I wasn't the least bit tired yet. So I called my sister (who's a PT) and asked what to do. It's rather odd, in that I did nothing yesterday exercise-wise. This pain literally came out of nowhere. I thought for sure I had the beginning stages of flesh eating bacteria. Yes, I work in a hospital and know too much (but not enough)! She suggested icing, as a way to speed recovery. I googled an article on ice baths and that's what I did. OH THE PAIN!! But this was a good pain, as I knew it would ultimately help. I grabbed a magazine and read in the ice bath for about 15 minutes. I couldn't stand it anymore. I didn't have enough crushed ice to fill up the tub as much as I would have liked. Essentially the tops of my quads never even touched the water, but I figured it was better than nothing. I got out of the tub and wrapped up in a towel and climbed into bed. I could feel the blood rushing back to my muscles. I was praying that this was a good sign that I would be better! I layed around for an hour or so and then got in the shower. I felt about 75% better after the shower. I could walk without hobbling and transitions from sitting to standing were much better. As I type this, I still feel decent. It's just so random....and that scares me. Tomorrow is a scheduled day off, but I may walk just a bit to keep my legs moving. Hubby is gone for the day studying. I don't know what the kids and I will get into.... I'd really just like to lay around, but I know that won't be happening! So, my third week of training comes to an end. October can't get here soon enough!