So since at least two people on this board are interested in my adventures in joining my University's team I thought I'd create a thread (much like ande's swimming blog) to detail all of it. Yeah.
Since the season doesn't actually start regular practice for another week and a half, this is mainly an intro post - and I'll update it with what happens when I go meet the other girls on the team and such! Stay tuned! It'll be better than any general hospital or passions!
Today I actually swam for the first time (since my freshman swim test last year) in the University pool. It was huge. And cold. Over the summer I got used to swimming in health club pools with water hovering around 80-85. Not exactly the most comfortable water at times, but at least nice and warm. The Ratner pool here is...freezing by those standards. I'm guessing the water temp is 75 at the warmest. Gives new meaning to the term "warm up".
I was really nervous when I first got in - the girls and guys returning members were having informal practices and I was sort of afraid they'd notice me. Although, I don't think they did. Or maybe they did and I just didn't hear what they said about me. Haha.
I also swam a 600 for the first time in a long time. I mostly stuck to 400s and below in my summer workouts (yeah, I know, I'm a little bit of a wimp). Unfortunately, that couldn't last. The coach suggested when I met her that I get in the water and swim 6-800 straight every day this week as part of my workout. It kind of hurt. Actually, it was one of the odder experiences of my life. For the first 200 or so my chest was tight from my asthma and I was freaking out about the distance (I was also really cold). Then all of a sudden I started to get really into it and just kept on going. I probably could have done 1000 if I wanted to.
The workout was cut short - only about 2300yds - because I promised my friends I'd come home and cook dinner for them tonight. And that's where I leave it tonight.
Background: For those who didn't see my posts on the board throughout the year, I'm a soph. in college who has been going through the prepartion to join my school's team. I attend the University of Chicago (a div 3 school) and was a competitive swimmer for seven years before high school. Burnout put me out of the water for almost 5 years, however, and I'm only recently getting back into it.
Don't be scared. This is the start to a solution, what ever it is. Finally some more answers. When my daughter was very ill, the worse thing was never knowing why. When finally after 2 years of dealing with it, they found a name for what she had, it did not cure it, but at least we knew what we were dealing with.
When you know what you are dealing with, there is much less stress. Hopefully it will not be a severe condition.
Sorry that I fell into a little bit of a void for the last few days...but frankly there's really nothing much to update on.
Since I'm out of the water, all of my practices have been the same - a mix of weights, stretches, rehab, ab work, biking.......in some order. Fun. Not really.
But I had my MRI today! By some miracle the trainers managed to get it moved up two weeks and I just got back from it. It was one of the odder experiences of my life.
Being in a tube...for almost an hour....with walls all less than a foot from my head. Weeeeeird. And it makes such funny noises!
I don't know the results yet...won't for at least 3-5 days at the minimum. We'll see how they turn out. I'm a bit scared.
Well, an unexpected family emergency has left me out of practice for the last two days. Fortunately, things are finally getting resolved and I can get back to my normal life.
Let me tell you though, it was unexpected.
I felt bad about missing practice on Wednesday and Thursday, even though I am not in the water right now and even though I obviously couldn't control the situation, the guilt still crept back into my mind that I wasn't there.
I hope my teammates don't think I've dissapeared into an abyss.
I'm still waiting on the MRI results, although I haven't been in for my rehab in the last two days for the same reasons either. So...maybe they have them already, I don't know.
The good news is that the injury has been getting a bit better, I think. It seems that being out of the water and doing constant rehab is helping it.
I'm just wary now of getting back in.
Don't get me wrong, I miss the water. I miss swimming. I love it, but I've now developed a fear of it. Well, perhaps not a fear, but an anxiety. I'm afraid of it hurting. I'm afraid of being in pain again.
I don't know how to deal with this. First athletic injury...(while I still don't know what exactly it is)...comming off of an injury? How do I do that? How do I deal with the inevitiable pain of my first swims back? How do I avoid being discouraged by my weakness and well.....slowness. Yikes!
Well, today was day 1 of our huuge invitational.
Since today is a friday, not that many teams were there. I think we had 5 total.
Let's see if I can remember them all...lol
There was us, 3 swimmers from Illinois Weslyan (the rest of the team arrives tomorrow), College of Dupage, Luther College, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, and the Wash U divers (their swimmers are comming tomorrow I think).
Apparently tomorrow there will be 12 teams. :eek: !!
Our pool is huge, but I can't imagine having that many swimmers there! I mean it was already full today, and now we're talking about adding like 150 more swimmers to the mix? Yiiikes!
I spent part of this meet writing and calculating the diving scores. I guess the girl who normally does it didn't show up, and one of the other team's coaches was being kind of assholish and refusing to write numbers. Whatever.
The teams are lucky they've got an injured swimmer like me around! ;) I'm just so useful!
I guess tomorrow I get to go back to timing at least for the morning prelims. The finals I'm not sure if I'll be timing or writing again. Weeee'll see
I brought a bag of pretzels to feed my teammates. It dissapeared in like 15 minutes. Hahah. We're a hungry bunch!
Being at meets (even if I'm not swimming) totally makes me want to continue swimming. During the week sometimes...I have my anxieties and doubts. A lot of that is due to the pain I end up in when I swim from the injury. I also don't really like getting up in the morning, lol. Oh well.
But there's just something about the meets....kinda makes it worth it! Although, perhaps I can say that now because I'm not feeling the competition anxiety! Eeeeek!
Aaaand now I'm off to chill with some friends....apparently we're trying some sort of drink called "flaming dr. peppers"...should be interesting!
Having a reoccurring injury is frustrating. Having an injury that you are afraid of making worse or re-injuring is even worse. A lot of people share you pain.
The only advice I can give you is to keep your head up and know that you need some time to recover and get back in shape. Ask your doctor or therapist what some signs are to look for when you are overdoing and what is "normal" pain when getting back into swimming. Knowing the signs and paying attention to what your body is telling you is key to getting over an injury and not making it a chronic or reoccurring thing.
Hope this helps....
We have swimmers from our age group team that go to Wash U, specifically a 500 freestyle guy. He's a cute sophmore, look for him!
I think once you are over your injury,(and you will get there), swimming will not cause you that kind of pain. Yes, you will have the slowness of being out of shape and the muscle soreness, but if you continue with your exercises and stretches(forever!!), you can likely prevent further incidences, unless of course, you fall off the blocks like I did!
We did starts last night off the blocks I hate. The last time I did starts off those blocks(about 18 months ago), I ended up with back pain and leg numbness for weeks. The chiro told me to avoid them. Last night I was tentative, and practiced form off the side. I did a few off the blocks, and this morning I am fine. So if I can get recovered at 44, you can at a much younger age! Hang in there, it will get better.
If St Louis U is there today, one of my most favorite little fliers will be there from our age group team!
Well yesterday was the last day of our huge invitational. It was pretty fun, although I totally not into it during the morning prelims (less than 7 hours of sleep = me being cranky and tired!). After some caffeine and some lunch I felt better during the finals section...and was really able to cheer my teammates on and such like that. Good times.
In the end, we finsihed 3rd overall...the ranking went something like this:
1. UW Oshkosh
2. Luther College
3. U Chicago
4. Wash U
5. Illinois Weslyan
(6, 7, 8, were divided between IIT, Milikin, and North Central somehow)
College of Dupage and Carthage were also at the meet for the prelims, but they went home for the finals and so didn't score any points.
On the guys side, they got 1st place. As usual. They have a pretty good team!
That's about it for now....off to swim lessons!
Morning and afternoon practice today...*cue unenthusiasm*
Dryland is oh so fun. Yeah.............no
Had my rehab again today. I've been in pain pretty much all of the weekend. It hasn't been good. I don't think the constant sitting / getting up while working the swim meet helped the back. Sigh.
Still don't know the MRI/X-ray results. Earliest will be tomorrow, maybe Wednesday when I (theoretically) follow up with the doctor.
Sigh................
Newmass - Not really sure. The pool I swim in now is the Myers-McLoraine pool at the Gerald Ratner Athletic Center. However, I believe that was only completed in 2004. I'm not really sure what the facility was prior to that...or in the '80s...
Congrats on your teams performance hmlee! Sounds like y'all did really well at the meet. It turns out that I swam at our conference championships (which coincided with the Midwest Independent Swimming Championships) at y'all's pool (I think?) all 4 years that I swam at SMSU (Now called MSU) from 1984 - 1987. You guys do have a nice pool that's for sure.....I always swam my fastest times of the season in that pool.....Nice memories. It is the University of Chicago's Swim Center right?
Newmastersswimmer
