Deep Heat and Deep Freeze patches

A while ago I was sent some Deep Heat and Deep Freeze patches to try.

They also sent me some information as to when each product is suitable to use, which I found really useful as I am never sure when heat or ice is best. They also included some Top Tips from John Miles, a professional physio.

Enjoy:

Deep Heat works on several levels. As a counter-irritant it helps dilate blood vessels and relaxes muscles, while its warming action triggers sensory signals which damp down discomfort by flooding pain pathways with competing sensory messages. It’s a trusted brand where its soothing warmth has become a sporting staple. A growing number of users have also cottoned on to the power of the rub or spray to prevent injury and use Deep Heat as part of their warm-up routine. If an injury occurs, it is best to use Deep Freeze initially for first for the 72 hours and then switch to Deep Heat to manage your recovery. Deep Heat is much more than a pain reliever. It not only prepares your muscles for sport as well as offering pain relief, but the heat it provides helps with the remodeling of the muscle after injury and it increases the blood flow so it provides the essential nutrients direct to the site of pain.

Deep Heat Patch

Deep Heat Patch provides effective, warming relief from muscular aches and pains, joint stiffness and backaches for up to eight hours. Each patch contains iron and activated charcoal. When the pack is opened, the air activates a heat generating reaction that produces a warming effect when the patch is applied to the skin. This local, superficial heat improves the circulation to the muscles, so reducing pain and stiffness. Each Deep Heat Patch is active for up to eight hours after the pack is opened, providing long-lasting, deep-relieving warmth. With no smell and no associated grease, the self-adhesive patches are easy to apply and convenient for use during the day.

Unlike Deep Heat, Deep Freeze uses cold analgesia to take advantage of the ‘gateway’ pain relief principle in which cold signals can block out or reduce competing pain signals along the nervous system. Cold analgesia is recommended during these early stages following an injury or trauma such as strains, sprains or knocks. It is the ‘I’ in the established principles of PRICE (pressure, rest, ice, compression and elevation). These principles are most important in the first 72 hours following an injury and provide the tissues with the best possible environment for recovery, ultimately leading to a quicker return to normal mobility and freedom from pain. The benefits of a cold analgesic preparation include: Helping to reduce the blood flow to the damaged area; Helping with the reduction of clot formation and tissue bleeding; Helping to reduce the swelling; Helping the reduction of inflammatory activity in cells; Helping to reduce pain by stimulating the receptors in the superficial nerve endings to trigger the transmission of sensory signals to the brain which compete with and dilute the pain signals arising from the damaged tissue.

Deep Freeze Cold Patch

Deep Freeze Cold Patch offers initial, effective pain relief, just like an ice pack, and provides long-lasting cold analgesia to the site of pain. The adhesive patch is applied simply and easily, and can be worn without restricting movement or needing to be replaced frequently to maintain the cooling effect.

DEEP HEAT TOP TIPS

John Miles, head of medical and phsyio services at Cardiff Blues, offers his top tips on using heat therapy to prevent and treat muscular and ligament aches, sprains and pains.

  • For muscle injury prevention – For those people who suffer with  stiff hamstrings, calves or lower back pain when exercising, the application of Deep Heat over the muscle prior to exercise can be a great benefit in stimulating blood flow and therefore reducing muscle soreness and potential problems.
  • Returning from injury – When returning from injury, particularly concerning muscle issues, the site of injury can often remain stiff for a while. Applying Deep Heat over the general area will immediately warm up the area bringing blood flow and oxygen back allowing normal movement to resume again. This speeds up the body’s ability to recover normal full function again.
  • Cold weather activity – Whether you are preparing for a light run or a day in the garden, it’s important to get warm and remain warm while carrying out your activity to avoid and relieve muscular stiffness and cramps. A great tip for keeping hands warm when out in the cold is to apply Deep Heat to the back of the hands as this will stimulate blood flow to the area and in doing so keep the hands warm.
  • Cramping – For those who suffer with cramp either when running or just in general day-to-day life may find benefits from applying Deep Heat over the main muscle area of the calves, or where cramp tends to appear for you personally. This will improve the circulation to the area and keep a fresh supply of blood in the muscle.

 

DEEP FREEZE TOP TIPS

  • Like an ice pack, but more convenient and easier to use, Deep Freeze works by lowering the temperature of the skin and underlying tissue which helps numb nerve endings and reduces both pain and inflammation. It contains menthol, aloe vera and water in a hydro-gel layer which slowly evaporates to produce prolonged cooling relief.
  • Immediately after strains and sprains – After minor joint, tendon, ligament or muscle injury, the usual advice from medical professionals is the P.R.I.C.E regime (protect the area, rest, ice, compression, elevation). However when out and about ice is not always easy to come by. An excellent solution here is the application of Deep Freeze Patch. It has been proven to give an immediate cooling effect to the area and therefore will assist with the reduction of swelling to a recently injured area.
  • Recovery post exercise – Sometimes, after a work-out or even a particularly challenging day in the garden, muscles and joints will feel hot and often throb. This is usually the body’s response to stress and most likely a mild inflammatory response. Applying Deep Freeze Spray to the area will provide not only a pain relieving effect but also a cooling anti-inflammatory response.
  • General cooling down – Deep Freeze can be a great help in recovering after running, cross-training or a gym session, by allowing muscles to settle down. Just apply Deep Freeze Gel over the general area, which will create a flushing of fresh blood through the muscle and aid with recovery.
  • Keeping cool – When out rambling, climbing or just working on a hot day, applying Deep Freeze Spray, Deep Freeze Gel or Deep Freeze Patch to the wrists and calves can help keep the muscles cool and stop general overheating.

So, how did I get on with them? I hurt my shoulder a few weeks ago and was going to use a patch overnight, but then I read the instructions and you can’t, so I put one on in the morning instead.

It heated up really quickly, and did provide some relief. I think also I was more conscious of my shoulder so I was careful when moving, and mindful of sitting up straight. It is only meant to be left on for 8 hours but I couldn’t take it off at work and kept it on a little longer, whoops.

The only thing I would say (and they do warn about this on the packet) is that it did irritate my skin a bit, but I do have a mild allergy to plasters so it was the fact that something was stuck to my skin as opposed to what was in the patch if that makes sense. But my skin only got irritated after several hours, and once the patch was taken off my skin was fine, so I would use the patches again. I do like using normal Deep Heat but I am not a massive fan of the smell, plus it gets on my clothes too, so I think these patches are really good.

Do you use anything to help after exercise? Do you know when to use heat or ice? I also like the sound of having some Deep Heat cream to warm up my hands on a cold day!

In other news I went to parkrun today and what a beautiful day it was too. I actually got there early for once, and bumped into someone else from the Sweatshop club (the faster girl who I managed to keep in sight this week). It was the off road route but at least the grass and mud is now just soft and not slippery. Before I went I decided to aim for 28.59, as my previous times on the off road course have been 30.36 and 29.41. I felt like I had sped up a bit but I also know that the hills means it is not close to my 5K pb. Anyway, I pushed very hard and found the final lap very tough. I had kept the girl in sight but she was just too far ahead for me to catch up. Then as I was going up the hill for the final time I heard someone call “hey Maria”- it was someone who has not been to Sweatshop for ages, so we chatted briefly before we said we would catch up at the finish line. I was really struggling by that point- possibly a waffle for Friday night dinner and then half a clif bar was not the best fuelling strategy, but normally before a parkrun I don’t have any breakfast. Then just before the finish line someone else called my name- a girl from work was there with her children (they had already finished, what a speedy family)- it was great to see some familiar faces.

Originally I had put down to run 10 miles this weekend, as I saw a nice looking local 10 mile race, but by the time i had checked that I was free it had sold out. So I took my things with me with a view to doing 6 miles, like I did the other week. But I felt so tired that I told myself I would just go home. But then I chatted to the girl at the finish- she was doing some cool down laps and an 8 mile run tomorrow, so I decided that I could manage a couple of miles as a cool down- then at least I would be 50% of the way to my long run pledge. I took it very slow though!

Later on the results came through- 28.36! Not bad at all- a pb on that course and pretty close to my prediction.

Cleaning out the freezer

Hey peeps

This has been a very busy week! At the moment we get our shopping delivered on a Tuesday evening, and I had ordered a few bits to go in the freezer. I often freeze things but I never label them (should be a resolution really)- there were questionable baked goods from ages ago, and rather sadly I found a stollen that I think I made 2 years ago. Yup. So we had a good clear out.

I knew I had a busy week ahead so bought some bean burgers- they had a spice rating (I am sure it was called that) of mild, so I thought they would be OK. Along with some sweet potato fries and a salad, this was lovely (and hooray, not too spicy). I had some melon as a starter (well it would not have gone well on the plate I don’t think).

We also found this ice cream buried under bags of frozen fruit so we finished it. A benefit of not organising the freezer is nice surprises like this.

There has been some running this week- my legs were so stiff on Monday so I had a rest, then on Tuesday went out for an out and back 3 miles. I felt like I was going so slow, but each time I looked at my watch I was doing sub 10 min miles so actually not as slow as I felt. I got home and wondered if I should have attempted my time trial.

On Wednesday I was off to Sweatshop- I started off trying to keep up with the speedy girl, but that didn’t last too long (until the first traffic light- she can really speed away from a standing start). I ran with someone else and we both kept saying it was a bit fast for us, but we kept going. We managed an 8.31 and 8.45 miles (the others I am not sure as I started it on the way up so they are skewed by me stopping it partway through)- phew. We even managed to keep another girl in sight, and normally I can’t see her after the first mile, so that was good.

Last night I didn’t go to pump as we had a family thing. My only strength workout was carrying the huge pile of books, work and folders to my car, up my stairs (and this morning back to work). Although I am not sure I would have managed as the last two nights I have had so much to do- was up til half 12 last night so I think I would have had to skip pump anyway.

Tonight I am off to The Waffle House after work with some friends, so no running today. I am off to parkrun tomorrow, so hopefully my legs will be rested and I can have a real go at the time. Although I have also put down that I will run 10 miles this weekend- not sure if that is going to happen.

Are you good at cleaning out your freezer/ labelling what is in there? 

Had a good week?

Jantastic week 11

I can’t believe that I am in the final week of Jantastic!

So, how did last week go?

Well it was a busy one.

Monday- 3 miles after work-all I could fit in.

Tuesday- Rest

Wednesday- Sweatshop- 5 miles including 3 fast ones.

Thursday- Pump. It was the new release. Apparently some of the tracks are easier, which means you have to go heavier. I hate that. For example they now think that for squats you have to go 3 or 4 times your warm up weight. I can’t even lift that amount, let alone sit it on my shoulder, and you can forget lifting it off my head once the track ends. I did go heavier for biceps and paid for that the rest of the weekend. The back track is also weird, loads of rows (they must have heard me say how I hate the wide triple rows). The abs track had the hoover back which is good as I find all the ab crunches a bit boring and I am never sure how effective they are. The music wasn’t great (except for The Killers track) although I say this every time and usually the tracks grow on me.

Friday- 2 miles at school for Sport Relief, plus a walk around the lakes.

Saturday- Rest. Well, cleaning plus a few hours at the allotment (including finally using our new push along lawn mower to mow the paths. That was hard work- I have the bruises to prove it!).

Sunday- 6 miles for Sport Relief, plus run home=8.5 miles, and a walk around town.

18 miles for the week might not sound like much but it is a lot for me. I am really pleased with how it went.

I still have to sort out my predicted time. I did look to see if I could change the distance, but no, it will only let me change the time. I am going to attempt it tomorrow if my legs are feeling rested (they are sore today) and then probably go to Parkrun on Saturday, but of course it is the off road route so I will change the prediction a bit- maybe aim for 29 on the dot.

Now lets zoom in on Saturday.

I was super shattered after last week so had a lie in and very lazy morning- after reading in bed for ages I had a lovely breakfast of apple, granola and milk with a tea.

Andy went to the allotment earlier while I stayed at home to do some cleaning and stuff, and I also made a cake as my Dad was coming around to help with the gardening too. I was going to make an apple cake, but flicking through the Clandestine Cake Club book I found a recipe for Pumpkin cake, and as I have a surplus of tinned pumpkin I went for it. Plus the air was still cool with that almost autumnal feel so I thought it would go. I still had some of the lovely lemon infused oil so I used that instead of plain oil in the recipe and I think the lemon flavour went really well with the pumpkin and spices.

I didn’t have any brown sugar so used golden caster sugar and a tbs of treacle to give it that flavour. While it was baking I was so efficient and got on with loads of cleaning and tidying and filing away paperwork- such a good feeling to get that all sorted.

I was going to head up to the allotment later and so had one of these lovely Pulsin bars (I was so excited to find these last week in a local shop) for some energy before all the planting and mowing and weeding.

I made some icing for the cake which I left to set in the fridge while we worked, and then spread it over the top once we got back.

We got back at around 5pm, after a few hours of work, so we all enjoyed a slice with a cup of tea- I was so cold!

If you have done it, how do you find the new pump release? And do you ever manage the proportions of weights that they suggest?

Sport Relief 6 miles

So this morning I woke up early to have some porridge before my run.

I was feeling quite relaxed about the whole thing, as it wasn’t chip timed or anything I felt like there was less pressure for some reason. After pottering about a bit I got dressed and Andy dropped me off at the sports centre. The directions just said “head to the athletics track”. Well, I did, along with about 5 other people. I am not kidding! I was there about 20 minutes before it was due to start, and gradually a few more people turned up. A lady came to chat to me as I was on my own- she was going to do the 6 miles but had a cold so had decided to stop at 3.

At around 10.25 we were ushered to the running track and told: 12 laps for 3 miles, 24 laps for 6 miles- keep a track of how many laps you do yourself- I was glad I had my Garmin as I was sure I would lose count otherwise!

We did a little warm up (well needed as it was freezing) and then were counted down. I was not keen on the idea of 24 laps- I was worried that I would get rather bored. But in fact it was not too bad- the laps went down quite quickly. There was a mixture of 3 and 6 mile runners- there was one lady in front of me who was going just that bit faster, but in the end she turned out to be a 3 miler- I was only around half a lap behind her when she stopped so I was pleased she didn’t lap me (and I did think that if I was doing the shorter distance I could have kept up with her). I was lapped in about my 4th lap I think by some fast 3 milers. At around the same time I was also lapping other people- there were quite a few people doing it in little groups who were run/walking, and also an amazing lady who was doing the whole thing using a push along walking support thing (not sure what they are called)- she did about 1/4 of a lap for each one lap I did, so I went past her several times and a few times she encouraged me on (and me to her too). I lapped the lady I was chatting to at the start, as she was coming up to her final lap, so it was nice to wish her well.

At this time I realised that most people (and I tried to count- I think there were about 30 people running) were stopping at 3 miles- I almost chickened out at that point but for Jantastic I had said I would do 8 miles so needed to keep going. Plus it was actually quite therapeutic- as you went around one corner you were into the wind a bit, but then of course it was behind you for the rest, and there was music being played and other people to watch.

After I had done about 4 miles more people were turning up at the track as there was a one mile run at 11.30- I really wanted to be finished by then. There was one man running and he finished when I had 2 laps to go- by this point all the one milers were doing their warm up (the lovely marshals were having to ask them to mind out of the way as I was coming through).

Finally I was on my last lap! I was about half way around when the one milers set off, so I really went for it as I wanted to finish on my own (my final mile was 8.38- my fastest). I was the first female haha! There were 2 girls who finished about a lap behind me- no prizes of course but you have to be in it to win it! It took me 56.07 for 6.05 miles (all that overtaking!!). I looked up my pb for 10K, which is 56.14, so I was pretty close to that. And the best thing is that I felt comfortable- in the back of my mind I knew I had to run home, so I could not go crazy, but except for the final lap where I really went for it, I felt like I was running pretty hard, but still in control.

One of the guys gave me my medal and some water, and I took a few photos of the milers going around the track, although the dark clouds were looming at that point so I didn’t hang around.

 

I was pretty cold on the way home- it rained a bit and I was unlucky with traffic lights too. At one point I was waiting and noticed that my watch said 7.99 miles- I even tried sticking my arm into the road in case that would get to the 8 miles (you know, otherwise that mile would be a lot slower) but it didn’t work. In total I ran 8.5 miles, not too shabby.

I was hungry after that!

I had a few chocolate truffles and a drink, before a hot shower and pancakes for lunch.

After finishing the lovely buckwheat pancake mix ages ago I have been hunting far and wide, and found it last weekend, so I had some of that. One with blackcurrant curd, and the others with chocolate pb, plus some melon.

I really enjoyed it in the end. I was feeling a bit apprehensive at the start when there were hardly any people there- I had visions of me running around on my own, but actually I do prefer smaller races. It was good to not have to worry about crowds, and because there were more runs later on, I didn’t feel like I was holding up the staff or anything. If I had needed to drive there, there was plenty of parking, and “real” toilets, and really friendly marshals too.

A nice morning out 🙂

Speeding up again

Hey folks.

So this week I went to Sweatshop as usual, and luckily as we did the hill last week, we were on a flatter (but more boring) course this week. I started off chatting to one of the girls who is quite a bit faster than me, so I decided to try and keep up with her for as long as possible. I managed it for over half a mile, but then after we stopped to cross a couple of roads she was right up to speed and whizzed off. Then I tried to keep up with a couple of others who are normally a bit further ahead of me. I kept them in sight for the next couple of miles, and caught them up when they were stopped at traffic lights- at that point I did an 8.56 mile so I was pretty pleased. Still not quite my parkrun pb speed, but getting there (and it is hard to compare as we have to cross a lot of roads, and it is not pancake flat which the normal parkrun route pretty much is).

This week I have been adding some of the course oatmeal to my porridge- it is really lovely. It gives the porridge more of a texture and of course makes it even more filling too.

On Thursday I was on a course when meant I got home nice and early. Before dinner I made some muesli bars for work, as we were all doing a mile for Sport Relief. I took the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook- basically they were raw flapjacks- you melted butter and syrup together, then stirred in oats, cornflakes, muesli, dried fruit/ nuts and coconut.

Then you pressed the mixture into a pan, covered in another sheet of baking paper and put it in the fridge with something heavy to weigh it down.

I sliced it in the morning, but it had not really set that well. I don’t think I would make them again, but anyway people seemed to enjoy them.

On Friday my car has it’s MOT and service to Andy had to pick me up after work. It wasn’t quite ready so we went down to the park and walked around the lakes- the paths are still underwater! So parkrun will be off road for the next few weeks I imagine. I looked on the Jantastic website to see if I could change my distance for my predicted time (as I could choose my 6 mile Sunday run) but you can only change the time, so I will have to do that as there is no way I can do 26 something for the off road route!

Right, I am off to run my 6 miles for Sport Relief in a bit- have a great Sunday.