Well the weather this week has been hot, very hot, but I'm not complaining. I've done my highest mileage ever, it's been uncomfortable, but I've managed OK. There's no point moaning about how bad the British weather is all year, and then complaining about it being too hot in the summer. So no protest will you hear from me.
Apart from one very small thing...
I like my ice baths. They seem to work for me. They freshen my legs up a treat. One of my first posts on this blog,
"Ouch that's cold" was on this very subject. I sit in icy water at about 5°C for maybe 15 minutes, and then heat my legs back up in a hot bath. The cold shuts down the capillaries, squeezes out the accumulated rubbish, and reduces any inflammation. The heat then opens everything up and the blood courses through and flushes out the system. That's the theory. It has its opponents, but it seems to work for me.
Another runner's essential is the shower. Mine is a standard electric shower with 2 heat settings and a flow control marked cold at 1 o'clock through to hot at 11 o'clock. During the winter I have it on the high setting and the dial on about 4 o'clock. As winter turns to spring, I've noticed I have to turn the dial progressively towards the cold end of the dial as the tank in the loft heats up. Eventually the dial ends up at 1 o-clock, and the minimum temperature.
My shower is its own little weather station. It's a measure of how hot a summer it is, as to whether I have to start using the low heat setting. Some bad years I don't need to bother with the lower setting. Usually though, at the peak of the summer, I have to switch to low heat, otherwise the shower is just too hot.
This year has been exceptional. I switched to low heat weeks ago and haven't used the high setting since. In fact the flow control has been steadily progressing from around a 6 o'clock setting through 3 o'clock, and is now on 1 o'clock. I can't get the shower any 'colder' without switching off the heater completely. The water coming from the nozzle is the same temperature on the low heat setting as it is during the winter with the high heat setting.
The water in the tank in the loft, feeding the shower and bath, is rather warm!
And so to my ice bath.
Realising the water from the tap was quite warm, I bought an extra bag of ice from Tesco. I filled the bath, put in the ice, which melted rather quickly, put on my Helly-Hansen, fleece, and woolly hat and jumped in.
Mmm! Rather pleasant! In fact I felt a bit warm, so removed the hat. This wasn't the ice bath experience I usually have. It all felt rather nice and cooling - a most pleasant escape from the heat.
I had my thermometer handy so popped it in the bath: 17°C! Not exactly cold. In fact if that was the sea temperature, I'd regard it as quite swimmable; not what you want from an ice bath, having paid Tesco for the privilege.
B***er!
Postscript: I am aware that if I'd run the taps beforehand to empty the roof tank, and let it fill with fresh water from the mains, then the water would have been colder. However, being the tree-hugging, planet-saving, eco-warrior that I am, in view of the current water shortage I elected not to do that.
