Portal · Recovery

Ice, heat, and when to skip both

Ice numbs a fresh bang. Heat loosens a stiff back before an easy spin. Neither fixes a training error. If a calf is sharp on the first steps and then warms up, you are in watch-and-easy territory. If it stays sharp, stop.

Save the contrast routine for the day after a race, not as a nightly ritual that lets you ignore a limp. A 20-minute walk and an earlier bedtime beat a gadget if the week was already too full.