Normally, I am an early morning runner. Like....starting at 05:00 or 06:30 kind of thing. Things are generally cooler. But I figured, it was only 5 miles, how bad could it be?
Mind you, it was "only" 71°F , but you have to add (depending on who is talking) 10-20 degrees more when you run. It wasn't a great run. I didn't even plan a route and ended up doing a lot of hills. Mind you. I need that experience, but again..........not well thought out.
I brought no hydration, but usually do not for anything less than five miles. During the summer, yeah, I do, but this is like Spring.....or Spring like.
Now my gym has just installed a "recovery" area. When I think recovery, I think spa or massage. They think a super hot sauna and a cold plunge pool.
These services is not yet fully operational, but they are allowing certain people to try it out and give feedback - and I was one of the selected few. I even had to sign a waiver. When this is fully operational, it was be a scheduled event and it is extra - meaning not covered in the monthly gym membership fee.
You know me, I'm not parting with dough that easily - even though they don't have pricing yet - for something I'm most assuredly not going to like. But until it's up and running, for me it's free........and that is kind of hard to turn down.
When I returned from the run hotter than hell, I kind of went - "well, it's now or never".
I gathered my things from the locker room and toted them to the recovery area.
The idea is to do the sauna, then cold plunge, allegedly repeatedly. Oh, and to shower between each thing. And you can't be nekkid.
While there is a sauna in the regular men's locker room (and one for the gals) that is about 160°F. The new one is not that.
I have no idea what the 8:37 is. How long the sauna has been on? It wasn't the time, that's for sure.
I'm not much of a sauna guy. I find it stifling and I'm not sure I get much benefit out of the experience. Ditto when it's hotter than hot.
It turns out, I'm not much of a cold plunge guy either - see title image.
Now I'm stupid smart enough to just go in. Dipping your toe and easing yourself in is going to make one stop themselves and never do it. And it is called a 'plunge'.
The water is 42°F !!! I think the coldest I've been in is the Atlantic in Maine where it was 53 - and that was awful.
Oh - there is a large atomic clock hanging there too, so you can see how long you've been in. The recommended time is 2-3 minutes. I can assure you I did not last that long.
87 seconds.
F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G.
Though not by the literal definition.
Hence the waiver I had to sign. On the upside I didn't scream. I thought I might.
Others I know have used plunges before. They say this is colder because the water in the tank circulates. In still water tubs, you kind of have a heat barrier around you for a bit coming from your body. This swirling does not give you that brief barrier - so it is colder.
Suffice to say, I did not go back and forth to the sauna and plunge.
One and done.
The shower was possibly the most interesting thing. It is hard to describe, but I'll try......
Imaging walking through a field of thistles Thousands of little pricks all over your body, radiating at slightly different times, but all the time. Tolerable, sure, but you felt the pain.....milliseconds at a time, but all over your body - head to toe.
It lasted well after the shower. A cold shower.....which was still so much warmer than where I'd been.
I showered. Shaved.
Between the run and the sauna, 87 seconds in a cold plunge does NOTHING to stop you sweating.
Lotion rolled right off me. I had to sit for a bit to even get a shirt on where it wouldn't soak through immediately.
Cold plunge is something I can cross off my 'to-do' list.
While I have access to do it again, it's going to have to be a scorcher, but I think my fail is embedded in my short term memory where I probably will not.
It was an experience and the outcome was what I knew going in: I'm a wuss........and I'm fine with it.
Song by: the J Geils Band
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