Recovery & Sleep

All you can think about is the couch. Peaceful sleep and recovery. You’re hungry, tired, stressed, overworked or all of the above. The only place you want to be is on the couch.  To sink deep into the cushions, feel your eyelids get heavy, your breathing slow down; this is bliss.

I am at a Wim Hof workshop in West Harwich, Ma. I’m about to learn a first hand lesson in cold water immersion. I know the water in the giant tub is 42 degrees, but I am heading in, up to the neck, for the next 2+ minutes. Voluntarily. Have I lost my mind, or is there something to be learned in this cold tub?

Nothing is sacred. I used to step into the bathroom, turn the knob all the way to the left (HOT) then walk away, brush my teeth, shave or wax my legs and THEN, maybe, if the water was sufficiently cozy I’d step into the shower. Never before the water was steaming up the bathroom mirrors though. Then I read all this nonsense about the benefits of cold showers, and now, as stated above, nothing is sacred anymore.

What an amazing machine this body of yours is. I am constantly in awe at the elegance and economy of our design.  Don’t love your body?   Time to get over it.  You are a work of art; beautifully made. It’s hard to improve on perfection but I’ll give it a try.  Your body’s circulatory system, for all it’s efficiency and grace, benefits from a little jumpstart, a little help, from time to time.  Enter compression.

This kills my pride, but it’s time for an unplanned down week.  It’s a case of the dreaded workout burnout. Oh things were so good just a week and a half ago, in spite of the lousy weather.  The type of weather where just looking out the window gets you depressed. It was 33-34 degrees and raining.  If you’re from New England you’ve experienced these rain drops.  They’re fat, and thick and one step away from being snow.  They’ll soak you to the bone one minute; chill you to your bones the next.