Pre Athens Paula Radcliffe... what was she thinking?..

Malarkee

Malarkee

Malarkee

Associate
Joined
24 Oct 2003
Posts
754
Location
England, Newcastle
is it any wonder she wasn't fit for the event and caught some virus or something?...

I heard that after her training she would go and lie in a bath full of ice... am I missing something here is is that just plain stupid? All I can think of it doing is cramping your muscles up and making your body expand a ton of energy to try and keep you warm...

Surely a nice hot bath would have been better paula? ;)
 
Ice baths are designed so that all the blood moves out of your muscles (to prevent heat loss), and then when you get out fresh blood then moves into these muscles.
 
Baker said:
Right... So that would explain why athletes from many other sports also use them - they all have varicose veins.
Click to expand...
I'm sensing some misdirected sarcasm here.

Are you telling me that because there are other reasons for using ice baths after training it means everyone must use it for the same reason and no other? Really?

She uses them specifically because of her varicose veins. You can decide whether to believe me or not and I don't really care. She may get some added benefit through decreased muscle recovery time, etc. through use of the baths, but thats not the reason that she has them.
 
I've heard athletes typically use cold baths as it slows blood flow leading to more effective removal of lactic acid as well as helping to prevent impact injuries or strains. Not sure how true that is but it seems to work for me at least.
 
saw an interview about a year ago with Amir Kahn - he got out of the training ring and jump straight into a wheelie bin of ice cubes and water.

It is all about the lactic acid and muscle recovery times whilst also lessenning the effect of any injuries by preventing swelling and so allowing the blood to flow properly when you warm up again.
 
Ice baths speed up recovery between runs. Like someone said they reduce the microswelling from the damaged tissues, hence she can train harder/ recover quicker.

Hot baths would feel nice but would be very bad.

These athletes run 150+ miles a week not very surprising they pick up bugs their immune system must be shot.
 
Why don't you just type it into google and read up on it? England's rugby team use them after training and so do several football teams, Swedish people have been dashing out of saunas and into ice water for decades - there is plenty of good reasoning and science behind it.
 
I know Mkaya (I know that's spelt wrong lol) Ntini get's chucked in an ice bath by the SA coach in between sessions in Test matches. Think that's to wind him up more than anything and make his bowling more fiery though :p
 
Goatboy said:
Why don't you just type it into google and read up on it? England's rugby team use them after training and so do several football teams, Swedish people have been dashing out of saunas and into ice water for decades - there is plenty of good reasoning and science behind it.
Click to expand...

Just looked it up, so its to do with the blood flow and tears in the muscle fibre? seems to make sense it just seems to counterintuitive... :p

Was just fishing for some information really... ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom