relaxing, rejuvenating muscle recovery soak

"Disclaimer: I received a canister of Epsoak Sport as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"
 
When I was growing up, I remember my mom used to take Epsom salt baths for inflammation. It was in a plain cardboard box, and I didn’t think anything of it or its magical powers. In fact, I pretty much forgot about it entirely until recently when the opportunity came up to test it out. Since I am recovering from a torn meniscus and am working my way back into running and training again, I thought the timing might be perfect.

This enormous (8.5 lb) canister arrived from Epsoak Sport, the sports performance line from SFSaltCompany.  Holy cow! It comes in 3 varieties – Energizing, Soothing (with peppermint & eucalyptus), and Pure unscented. I received the Soothing blend – which was infused with lavender oil. This ain't your momma's epsom salt from the 70's!

Epsom salt is a pure compound of magnesium and sulfate. It has been used for decades to relieve joint and muscle pain and inflammation. In water, the salt breaks down and is absorbed into the skin during a warm bath. It has a myriad of other uses, but for now let’s focus on recovery for athletes. What is the science behind it? More than 325 enzymes in the body require magnesium to function properly. Magnesium stimulates nerve and muscle function, limits inflammation, and improves oxygenation and blood flow through the body.

I first gave this a try after a 5k race. It doesn’t sound like much, but for me I just started running again and learned that I have bad arthritis in my knees.  I opened the tub of Epsoak Sport and took a nice breath of the lavender scent. Ahh.  Really nice. According to the directions, you can use anywhere from 2-4 scoops in your bath. 2 is the minimum, 4 for maximum sport recovery. It dissolves within about 2 minutes.

I will confess that prior to this, I have not been a bath taker. I’m too impatient, I just want to take a shower and be done. Making myself take the extra time to enjoy a long warm therapeutic bath has shown me that it’s worth it to do this as something good for yourself, and part of the training/recovery cycle. I was pre-warned that this isn’t an overnight magical potion, it takes some consistency to get optimal results.

Since I knew I needed to do it more often to get results, and because I enjoyed it the first time, I embarked on a #soakstreak.  I soaked for 4 days in a row, and it was awesome! I was wondering how long I needed to soak to get the benefits. I read somewhere that the minimum was 15 minutes. So I set a timer for 20 minutes and just grabbed a mug of piping hot tea.  This is easy for me to do in the winter since it’s always cold in my house, but I’m wondering how I will keep this up in the summer in Arizona when it’s 110 on a regular basis?

I’ve been doing some cross training because of my injury so I decided to do a bath after a spin class since my legs aren’t used to that type of intense activity. Again, such a treat to just relax and do something good to help your muscles recover. I got to take a hot bath listening to the rain drops outside. Really nice. I had minimum soreness the next day from the spin class.
One cool side benefit of taking the baths is that between the lavender and the Epsom salt, I seem to be sleeping even better. Score!

So while this canister seems huge, if you’re using the recommended 2-4 scoops, you go through it pretty quickly. I am beyond sad that I’m more than halfway through this container.  Epsoak sport retails for $21.99 for the 8.5 lb container and if you buy it through the sfsaltco.com website, they do free same day shipping. Could you buy your own plain generic Epsom salt and add a few drops of lavender oil to it? Sure. Would you get the same result? Maybe. I enjoyed this enough that I’m going to continue to use this product. With my arthritic knee I feel like I need to give it a try, and keep this “me time” and self-care going. I'm considering it a "new year's resolution" to do this to feel better as an athlete.

DISCOUNT!!!

Use code "RAVE10" to save 10% off Epsoak SPORT 5lb bags in all scent varieties.! Visit their site and treat yourself.


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