I have been training for a marathon, and after long runs I would use a ice bath to help aid with recovery. Seemed to work. When do/should you ever use heat (heating pads/hot tubs) etc. after races or long workouts?
As a general rule of thumb ice is for acute injuries for the first 48-72 hours after trauma. Heat is for more chronic injuries.
bump.
I’m curious too.
I use a hot epsom salt bath after long sessions. I have tight hips and have had problems in the past with my piriformis, so I find the baths really help a lot in keeping the hips loose. Plus with the crummy weather (cold & very wet) we’ve been having, it helps warms me up afterwards. 
I do find that it does help my recovery (i.e.: it’s far far better than just a hot shower). If I get in within 15min or so after my session, my legs feel great afterwards - not cooked.
Heat before training to stimulate bloodflow and warm your muscles…Cold after training to reduce swelling and aid recovery.
-Vlad
I ice only the first day I feel something is amiss. Only time I ever use heat is on an injury, and I use it in conjunction with ice (15 min cycles of each, repeatedly) after the first 24 hours has elapsed.
I also just read something regarding epsom salt pultice(s). You can make an epsom salt pack which may assist in getting the magnesium salts into the tissues.
This is if the hot bath makes inflamed/hot muscles seem too hot and the ice bath is too cold.
Worth a try…?
After trauma to muscles OR tendons, you want to use ice for the 1st 24-48hr’s. Reason: your main objective is to get the inflammation down. After 24-48hr’s you want to use heat to help heal the injury. Reason: you want blood flow to the area to help healing. The exception is tendons. Since there is very little blood flow in tendons, you should continue with ice. Reason: the tendons have a sheath around them. When the tendon is injured, it becomes inflamed and puts pressure on the sheath (which causes the pain). To get rid of that pain, you need to get the inflammation down. If left too long, crystals develop and now your into chronic pain. Your only recourse then is to break up the crystals thru either intense friction massage or ultrasound.
Also, with ICE do you not get more blood flow AFTER icing as the blood rushes back to the injured area?
The MAIN objective in the 1st 24-48hr’s is to get inflammation down. You will get an increase in blood flow once the blood vessels open up again after icing. The real healing comes once the inflammation is down and you apply heat. If you apply heat 1st, you will just increase the inflammation and extend the healing time.
I do the Ice Bath too. its awesome.