New Right Leg or Ice Bath?

This week started out with still feeling sick, still sleep deprived and still hurting. The pain is something I've tried to forget about, almost like if I don't talk about it, it's not there. I was born with a major biomechanical dysfunction in my right leg. When my mom was 6 months pregnant, she had to start pushing my toe out of her ribs every time she sat down. When I was born, my right leg was internally rotated past the point of no return. The needed to cast my leg and hip into the correct position and I wore braces with a large metal bar between my legs well into those first 3-10 months. The orthopedic surgeon told my parents that I may never walk. Riiiight.

At any rate, my right leg is pretty messed up and it only affects me when I'm training excessively, like now until the next 6 months. When my right knee is facing foward, my right foot is rotated out to the side by at least 45 degrees. Every time I put force through my leg when running and cycling, a very unnatural torque is created, which creates extreme muscle tension and trigger points. Usually, I can stretch it out or massage it out on my own or with a foam roll. Sometimes I use a rolling pin with full force to push out the trigger points. Unfortunately, I'm learning that this may not work long term. You won't hear me mention this much even though it's a type of pain that literally keeps me up at night. The more I talk about it, the more overwhelming it becomes and the less resilient I will be to work through it. So, for the record, this is another piece of the Ironman puzzle for me that I will have to work through and make the best of.

Last night, I tried an ice bath after class for once. Holy Christ, it was COLD. Liz's notes said to "put on a pair of shorts, a warm shirt, a hat, and bring a warm beverage in with you." God, that should tell you something. I ended up forgetting the shorts because of the mess but heeded the rest of her advice. Brrrrrrr. I had to get in and out the first few minutes it was so cold. Finally, I acclimated to it and my leg did feel much better. The idea is that the cryotherapy restricts blood flow thus reducing inflammation that is creating the pain and tearing up muscle fibers. After 10 minutes, you can get out and the benefits will continue. I was instructed to take a warm shower 30-60 minutes later to re-introduce the blood flow which would then flush out the toxins. I slept well actually, and I will definitely be doing this again. Maybe with the shorts on next time though!