Recovering from shoulder surgery; feeling crummy...
Former Member
and actually considering giving up swimming. I am so discouraged these days....
I fell and hurt my shoulder about 9 years ago. I didn't have surgery at the time (was told I didn't need it) and thought I healed correctly. Fast forward to today...after swimming 6 years I start to feel an ache in my "bad" shoulder when I swim longer than a mile. So off to the sports med doc I go....I get an MRI which looks like I might have torn cartilage, which is causing the pain. Surgery is scheduled....they find nothing. Nothing is torn; nothing to fix. So now I will have to swim with the pain....
I know that some of the tension is a result of an imbalance in my freestyle...I always breath to my left, which means I pull harder with my strong (right) side. When I try to breath to the right it all falls apart. I don't feel balanced in the water; I am sure there are a million things wrong with my stroke...I should kick more...blah blah blah.
I just started swimming again...been in the water for the last few days and I am very discouraged. I'd love to hear from folks out there who have taught themselves to breath to their uncomfortable side.... and how you did it, how long it took, etc.
Anyone else out there going through a discouraging time...or if you have in the past, how'd you get over it?
Ande - what are your thoughts?
I used to box...maybe I should just go back to the ring and stay out of the water....:(
Kari,
I learned to breathe on both sides, and it took a while, but now I am very comfortable with it. I do mostly open water swims, and I wanted to be able to breathe wherever I needed to, so I worked on it a lot. Now I breathe every 3 strokes, and am very comfortable with it. In fact, if I breathe only to one side, it feels "off" and I have to go back to breathing every 3.
I think it has really helped to balance out my stroke a lot, plus some personal coaching. If your stroke has other problems, I would recommend working with a private coach, if you can afford it and find one. It is worth the investment, to get some really good pointers. My coach actually gets in the water with me and looks at the stroke from all angles. The tweaks she has made have made a huge difference.
One thing that helped me was to really focus on how you feel when you breathe to your strong side (where your hands are, how your body is rotated, etc.), and then try to replicate that "feeling" on your weak side. I hope this makes sense.
Good luck!
Diana
Kari,
I learned to breathe on both sides, and it took a while, but now I am very comfortable with it. I do mostly open water swims, and I wanted to be able to breathe wherever I needed to, so I worked on it a lot. Now I breathe every 3 strokes, and am very comfortable with it. In fact, if I breathe only to one side, it feels "off" and I have to go back to breathing every 3.
I think it has really helped to balance out my stroke a lot, plus some personal coaching. If your stroke has other problems, I would recommend working with a private coach, if you can afford it and find one. It is worth the investment, to get some really good pointers. My coach actually gets in the water with me and looks at the stroke from all angles. The tweaks she has made have made a huge difference.
One thing that helped me was to really focus on how you feel when you breathe to your strong side (where your hands are, how your body is rotated, etc.), and then try to replicate that "feeling" on your weak side. I hope this makes sense.
Good luck!
Diana
