Cold Tubbing Is Amazing

There are a lot of things that athletes do that are difficult and hard. There are a lot of things that they do that others would never do. For a while I thought that 8 mile runs, 5am workouts, and working out until you throw up were the most difficult things that athletes do. However, I was as wrong about that as the Mets were about winning with Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn and Jeromy Burnitz.

Cold tubbing is by far the hardest thing that athletes do.

Since I workout a good deal. (For example last week I went on a 30 mile bike ride and 30 minute run in the same day...and the next day went on an hour long bike ride and jogged 8 miles and hiked a mountain.) While I am no Jack Lalanne, I think I workout pretty hard.

What I am so bad at is recovering from those workouts, because I feel really guilty about taking off days. I imagine if I do, than elite athletes must feel even worse about taking a day off. They have a lot of things pressuring them to be on top of their game.

One way to recover is to Cold Tub.

Basically you put your legs in COLD, COLD, COLD water. So cold it feels like a person was teleported from an oven to the artic circle. I should have a small idea of what this feels like, since I have recently started doing my own version of cold tubbing.

I'm too lazy, and not dedicated enough, to put ice into the bath water. However, I will put the coldest water possible into the tub. I've also been able to go in my lake water recently since the water has been so cold.

No matter where I go there is one constant, IT'S COLD and I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE SCREAMING curse words. After awhile your legs get pretty numb and you get used to the water temperature.

And right after you get out of the tub you can't feel your legs, which is a great thing since they are usually so sore and tired.

The next day my legs feel so much better and not sore and therefore workouts are better and more fun.

For example after working out for a week straight I was able to have an amazing, long bike ride the day after I cold tubbed. I felt awesome and since then I have been a believer in cold tubbing, even if it's so cold that it makes me want to uncontrollably curse.

So when in doubt, and if you feel sore, cold tub. Trust me, the pain is worth the gain.