The Rivanna River Sauna • Kath Eats

by HealthMatters February 23, 2024, 4:54 pm 1.7k Views

A gaggle of mates and I went to a non-public session on the Rivanna River Sauna. We alternated between a scorching steam sauna and the icy Rivanna River. Right here’s the recap!

Smile everybody!

Saunas are having a scorching second

Saunas are positively having their 12 months! I’m seeing an increasing number of sauna homes pop up, and we now have three sauna spots you may go to in Charlottesville – the Rivanna River Sauna, Hearth & Ice on the IX park, and Reset in Crozet (Thomas has been). Plus the saunas on the gyms and spas. A number of of my mates have put them of their homes, and naturally you understand I like my sauna blanket.

The Rivanna River Sauna

The Rivanna River Firm constructed their sauna in 2022 on a 20-foot tiny home trailer. It’s so cute! There’s a scorching sauna room, a small lounge / entryway, two exterior altering rooms, and loads of decking to unfold out by the hearth pit. There are bucket showers (included) and clawfoot tubs (an add-on) for close by plunging. And naturally there may be the Rivanna River flowing good and chilly proper past the fence!

Sauna season

Sauna season runs from the autumn by way of March. I’d completely do that 12 months spherical so I hope they are going to think about opening up extra instances and months! The second all of us left the property we had been able to e book it once more, however from what I can inform all non-public periods are full.

e book it

In the event you reside in Cville, you should use the sauna in a number of alternative ways: purchase buying slots in group periods (with folks you won’t know), girls’s solely periods, or reserving a non-public session for as much as 10 folks. We beloved making this a social occasion with a bunch of mates from our gymnasium! Together with an added tub of ice and snack boards throughout social time, the fee was slightly below $40 an individual for the ten of us.

Arrival

Our session began at 6pm, and we met within the Cantina the place the earlier group was ending up. There was a candy pet there to greet us!

Orientation

We got a brief orientation to go over the very best methods to make use of the options. We had a REALLY chilly day – it was within the 30s – so sadly being outdoors was actually chilly! I used to be actually doubting I’d get scorching sufficient to the touch that ice tub firstly. I do assume this expertise would have been superb on a hotter day the place we might have used the hearth pit and chairs extra, however for the reason that sauna was so scorching, it didn’t matter all that a lot.

Ice Bathtub

How chilly does this look? I used to be planning to simply use the chilly air for my “plunge.” Getting in a river scared me, and I simply didn’t know if I’d have the ability to deal with ice! I did need to attempt it, and I used to be pleasantly stunned with how I did. Our buddy Emily mentioned we might actually need to add on an ice tub for the comfort of not having to go to the river (which was possibly 30 yards away?) She was proper, and we truly wished we had paid for 2 on the finish of the evening. The tubs had been $40 so as to add on. It was actually nice to have the ability to go 10 toes as an alternative of the lengthy stroll to the river as a result of that stroll was fairly chilly! So positively get your group a bath!

The Lounge

The entryway lounge was very cute with room to place your garments and something you needed useful however didn’t need to take into the sauna – water bottles, telephones, flip flops. In addition they had important oils to placed on the rocks.

Future was so good and introduced her gown:

The Sizzling Room

The sauna was about 175 levels and was a lot scorching to begin. The longer the evening went on, the extra we opened and closed the door and let warmth out. Subsequent time we will likely be smarter concerning the door. Nevertheless it was nonetheless highly regarded within the sauna, and our purpose of an awesome sweat was achieved. They advocate staying in about quarter-hour per spherical, however I might have used extra to get actually tremendous scorching. It takes longer for me to sweat than most individuals.

Most of us had coronary heart fee monitor watches on. I famous my coronary heart fee would get between 120 and 140 once I was able to get out. We beloved placing eucalyptus on the rocks. And we additionally had a cellphone close to the ground that wasn’t too scorching (since warmth rises!) so we had some tunes and a “cold and warm” playlist. The highest shelf was the very best spot, so we rotated up and down as wanted. Convey loads of towels to sit down on and extra to wipe your face!

The River

For our first plunge, we went to the river as a result of the river temperature was reported to be 47 levels vs. the ice tub being 32 (I’d assume). 47 appeared simpler to get in! By the point I had make the trek to the river, I used to be a lot cooled off, so I put my toes in and that’s it. I knew I needed to get even hotter within the sauna first if I used to be going to get IN the river!

Thomas bought in though- complete physique down. By the tip of the evening he had dunked underwater!

The second time I went to the river, I ended up sitting down within the shallow finish. Apparently one secret to chilly plunging is leaving your fingers and toes out, so I sat down and tried to submerge as a lot of my core as I might by saved my toes out by doing a “boat pose” from yoga. I set a 1 minute timer and did it!

Again within the Sauna

After every plunge we went again within the sauna to hang around till one-by-one we left to chill off. We did plenty of chatting and laughing.

The Ice Tub

Emily and Matt win for many enthusiastic concerning the ice tub. They went for it immediately! Emily stayed in fairly some time till she began growling (haha!) It’s so loopy that the air was 32 levels they usually had been in ICE! Matt appears thrilled right here:

Aaron wins for many bold ice person. He took his plunges very significantly! (He loves ice and hates warmth.) He even dunked his head beneath!

And he was calm sufficient to take this pic, toes in and all:

Julie gained for longest plunge! Whereas her arms and toes had been out, she was in there fairly some time….

Lengthy sufficient that different folks needed to be part of her to get in!

My Flip

I lastly bought courageous sufficient to attempt the ice tub on my final spherical. You possibly can see how scorching I bought first by how crimson my face was! Emily got here with me for ethical help. With each of our toes out, we regarded like a girl giving beginning to an enormous – LOL! I believe the ache degree was on half with halfway by way of labor contractions. It is extremely just like attempt to breath by way of the ~~ache~~ discomfort. Haha.

How was it?

It was chilly, but it surely wasn’t as unhealthy as I believed it could be! Partly as a result of a number of the ice had overflowed and I’m certain the water was somewhat hotter and decrease then when the evening began. And partly as a result of my toes and shoulders had been out (though I kind of wished I might have had my legs in additional). I stayed in a full two minutes, and I most likely might have carried out somewhat longer!

How did I really feel?

Once I bought out, my complete core was positively attempting to shiver. I felt somewhat woozy, like I used to be drunk or floating for a couple of minutes. It took about 5 minutes again within the sauna to really feel regular once more. It was form of enjoyable although! I’d positively do it once more.

Sidenote: as somebody who’s all the time chilly this time of 12 months, I can not fathom chilly plunging with no sauna to heat up in earlier than and after. The folks I see who chilly plunge with out heating up first are arduous core!

Occasions Up!

Our session was 90 minutes lengthy, and truthfully we might have stayed one other hour! I did three rounds of scorching + chilly (break up about 20 minutes of scorching and 10 of chilly and transition) and would have carried out yet one more for certain. They gave us a 15 minute warning and nobody needed to finish with no last heat up. It was bizarre to go from soaked in sweat to dry garments with no cleaning bathe. Convey a 3rd dry towel for this goal! It was SO chilly out we didn’t even need the hearth pit – we needed to go inside!

Altering

Since we had 10 folks, everybody scattered to vary. The lounge would have made an awesome place for both all the boys or girls as a result of it was considerably heated, however we didn’t use it. As a substitute we took turns freezing our toes off in moist bathing fits within the altering rooms on the again of the constructing one to 2 at a time. Altering was the worst a part of the evening!

The Cantina: Social Time + Cheese Boards

Again within the Cantina by the wooden range, we had been ravenous! I drank a full 32 ounce water bottle through the 90 minute session and two cups of tea after.

We had pre-ordered boards of cheese, crackers, and apples plus smoked salmon and sausage for our social time. In addition they had ginger tea with lemon and honey. It was nice to have the ability to calm down and debrief what we beloved and what we might do in a different way subsequent time (preserve the door closed!)