Ironman Training: The CryoSpa Experience


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This sport (sports) is so time consuming, especially training for distance events such as an Ironman. At times you feel like you could use a few more hours in each day to accomplish everything you had planned and to recover from one workout until the next.

This weekend was no exception. I had a weekend stacked with miles and hard miles. I am now less than three weeks out from 70.3 World Championships so my workouts have been building with power and my legs are feeling it.

This week I decided to add in some extra recovery to my plan to see how my legs would manage the weekend. If you have never heard of a “Cryospa” you need to check it out. It’s the coldest three minutes of your life but well worth the freeze. I am lucky we have one here locally inside CrossFit Lake Mary.

I like to call it the “cold chamber.” As you can see in the video attached to my post, you stand inside the chamber with your head exposed. I can be a little claustrophobic at times, like in my wetsuit, but this did not bother me that way at all. The cold is from Nitrogen. The temperature was actually -251 F, now that is cold! The first minute in there is not that bad, the second minute you are really starting to freeze, the third minute you stare at the clock waiting to get out. After you get out, you jump on the bike for five minutes to accelerate the blood rush back to the extremities.

When I first used the chamber this week I was having pain in my left calf muscle from a pretty intense bike trainer workout. The calf definitely felt better after the first session in the spa and gone by the second session. The second session was after my long bike ride Saturday to help my legs recover for Sunday’s long run. My run was great. Best I have felt in a long time. I look forward to heading back!

The purpose of the CryoSpa is to accelerate recovery (healing) but also has many other benefits. I was most interested in the accelerated healing benefit but CryoSpa is also useful for pain management, especially people with chronic pain. This would be worth trying for people that are trying to find an alternative to popping pills for pain control. So don’t be a chicken.

Check out the CryoSpa yourself and get your freeze on! http://crossfitlakemary.com/cryotherapy/

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