Ice baths – yes or no?

As you know I am a fan of cold-water therapy and ice baths and I’m aware that others aren’t. So I thought I would put up my take on it. Cold water therapy in the form of a quick shower or bath is not only very invigorating but it is also good for soft tissue. I am very keen on cold showers after my runs and use them all the time. I also like to flush my calf muscles after a run and can regularly be found standing in a bin down the bottom of the garden. In terms of ice baths I feel you can potentially use them too often if you are training for a race. I may get one in after a heavy week before I drop back down to an easy week in my training schedule and I always use ice baths as part of my taper or after a race. Let’s not forget they are very much an aggressive anti-inflammatory method. So in my training schedule build up I will focus on simpler recovery techniques such as good nutrition and as much sleep as I can get.