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.
That's great news. The good thing is the "don't push it too hard" fits in well with you doing some longer aerobic swimming, which is really what you need anyway since you've been out of the pool so long.
I've felt a little bit of your pain the last few days. I fell very hard on an exposed rock skiing Sunday. I hit on the rear of my right hip. Very painful, but now starting to get better. I swam last night slowly and can definitely appreciate how difficult it would be to swim with the kind of pain you've been having.
Welll......I finally saw the doc again.
Yey!
She checked me over, asked questions, and showed me my MRI pictures. I'd never seen my MRI before, so it was quite nifty.
Apparently symptom wise I'm in the same condition as I was when I met with her a month ago. Joy.
I was cleared to return to the pool...yey! I can swim again! With the instruction that I have to modify my swimming to avoid primarily fly, possibly breaststroke, and flip turns and starts as long as I'm still getting pain from them. I guess I'm also supposed to not push too hard in any case. She said that when I reported feeling pain/numbness from those activities it was pretty classic for this type of injury, and that they should be avoided since they aggravate it.
Well, at least I've got my specific instructions now. That's good.
She also referred me to a spine specialist. I'm supposed to get an appointment to see if I'm a candidate for injections in my back! Freaky....but if it helps this go away then I guess I'll deal with it.
Unfortunately due to finals and the holiday break coming up, the earliest I should be able to get in there is probably January. I'm also supposed to follow up with the doc again after I see the specialist just to check things over.
I feel a sense of relief that I've finally gotten this sort of sorted out. I think that's good....
Couple years ago I got pneumonia and it wiped me out for 2months. When I finally got back in the water, I did 1000 yards and it took me 45 minutes, and I was exhausted!
It came back and it will for you to, be careful, be aware of bad signs, and you will get back into shape. You may have to be on a mindset that you are training for next season more than this season, although by the end of the season you may be in good form, if you are careful now.
I had my first swim again!!
It was *hard*.
Four weeks out of the water....ouch!
Fortunately my coach seemed to understand that I had been out for a while and so she eased me back into things.
I didn't end up doing all that much...my back started giving me trouble and I was sleepy...but still. I felt kind of embarassed because I did only slightly more than 1/3 of what my healthy teammates are doing now. *Yikes*
Here was the workout:
Warmup:
800 swim...alternate 150 free, 50 back
Main:
6 x 200 swim...no interval, keep constant pace, :15 in between. (It was basically for me to get an idea what my pace is..... I'm slow right now! *cry*)
Cool down:
300 swim...alternate 100 free, 100 back, 100 free
Total:
2300yds
I had another swim today... I think it was "make me hold my breath day..."
Seriously I ended up doing a lot of drills..sidekicking, mostly, to work on my rotation. Of course that involved lots of holding my breath under water for various lengths of time...fun! Hah.
I also did a lot of snorkel work. I actually like using the snorkel now. It's fun....
My coach also gave me this weird thing..she described it as a "swimming metronome". It was this belt I wore around my waist....and yeah it had a metronome on it. Everytime I rotated while swimming/drilling I heard a click under water. It was kind of weird, but fun.
I don't actually know how much I swam today..somewhere between 2400-3000 yds
Still kind of sore. Taking the ibuprofen....joy.
Well, I'm officialy on winter break now. It's 3 weeks of no 6am practices! YEY! Of course I'll still be in the water...buut...at least for now I'm able to do it when I want, haha.
My last practice was on Friday of finals week. Ouch.
My assistant coach gave me a set that was...well just evil. It was called the "Lucas 100s". Yeah.
Basically they're supposed to help you work on breath control, but in reality, they're just painful.
The way they work is that you basically take a stroke, then a breath, then two strokes, then a breath, then three strokes, and a breath...and so on until you finished the 100.
Theoretically, you could get up to 15 strokes or more before you were able to take a breath.
Yeah.......I'm still scared of that set. It was really not fun.
Hi :)
My back is slowly healing, although lately I've been having days where I get terrible pain. The last few nights the pain's been so bad I've been unable to sleep for a while. I blame it on not having the regular rehab I get when I'm at school.
Because I'm on Winter Break - which is why I haven't updated. I'm still in the pool, but doing mostly light technique work trying to improve my rotation on free and back. My teammates are just now finishing up on their training trip to Florida. I bet they're sore.
I go back to school in two weeks, and that's probably when I'll start regularly updating again until the finish of the season. Maybe I'll make a what-I-got-for-christmas post too! Hehe....
Hay.
Holidays rule i finished on friday, got 5 weeks of :D. With 2 exams in the second to last week but we'll keep that bit quite
It's good to hear your backs healing, and i wouldn't worry to much about the pain, mine hurt for like 3 months after. but it goes with time just take it easy and :D. were on holiday now so no more work and i can go swimming when ever i want and get up late ;) ;)
Swifty
