The Folly of the ice bath

Since we've been working out at Velocity Sports, the lactic acid has been building up in our legs, arms, everywhere. The two of of have been hobbling around the house, ow ow owing as we sat down, stood up, moved.

Last Friday night, I couldn't stand the soreness anymore, which is unusual, because I like the soreness as a general rule, and decided to take an epsom salt bath. A nice hot bath.

Kris came in and said, no, no, I shouldn't be taking a hot shower and hot bath, I should be taking an ice bath. Greg Wolff would swim in the ocean after a day of tournament play. Half of the men on Mischief took turns trying to sit in a bathtub full of ice and water at both Regionals and Nationals this year. Watching them sit, or rather, try to sit, in the ice water is worth the laughter it inspires in observers.

So, when I was done with my bath on Friday night, Kris decided to join the ice cube club and sit in an ice water bathtub. I left the bathroom when he was drawing the water. Because the nights have been so cold around here (below 32°F, as plants have been dying of frost), he didn't need to add any ice to the bath, the cold water from the tap was sufficiently cold to chill muscles.

Five minutes after I left the bathroom, I heard cries of "Cold! Cold! Ahhhhhhh! Cold!" After a few minutes of this, I walked into the bathroom. Kris had managed to get all of two feet and one hand into the tub. Apparently, he wasn't able to get farther than those three body parts without putting the family jewels into the water... and that was too painful.

I started teasing him, cajoling him into getting into the water. "Come on! How cold can it be? Just sit down. Sit down already. Just go right in. Come on! Even I could just sit down."

He wouldn't sit down.

"Fine! You sit down!" he finally said, and hopped out of the tub.

In I jumped, and sat down. It was cold. Cold, cold, cold. Did I mention cold? Yeah, it was cold. Certainly not freezing, but cold. It didn't take long for the water to hurt.

I jumped out, and said, "There. You go."

He tried again, and was barely able to sit down. "If my wife can do it, I can do it." I wonder if I can convince him of that for childbirth, too.

My legs hurt for a couple hours after that. Lingering ice pain. For which Kris heckled me right back for.