Learning to Swim as an Adult

For all you triathletes that were never swimmers in your younger years, you know what a steep learning curve there has been for most of you to get the hang of it.  While there are a few exceptions, most adults don't easily learn the mechanics of a proper stroke without a tremendous amount of work.  It reminds of when I used to teach piano.  Most of my kids soaked up all the information and benefitted greatly when their parents made them practice every day.  On the other hand, my adult students rarely had time to practice every day, and their minds and bodies just didn't pick it up as easily.  It's the same with swimming.  I'm convinced one of the reasons adults learn technical things more slowly is they just never get immersed in it like children generally do when they learn a new skill.  Most kids who learn swimming on a team will attend practice 3 to 5 times a week.  This leads to quickly gaining new skills.  How many adults will take daily lessons, or even practice daily?  Therefore, the learning takes much longer.  Bottom line, if you want to truly learn to swim well, you have to take frequent lessons and practice as much as possible.  Once a week practice just won't make you comfortable in the water!  Lately I've been giving lessons to an adult male who needed a lot of help.  I've been so impressed by his desire to improve - he practices our lessons quite frequently (at least 3 times a week) so that he's making much more rapid advancement than I usually see.  It's very exciting!  Yes - adults can learn to swim late in life.  It just takes time and dedication!

5K Here I come!!!

A couple of weekends ago I did a "Prediction Run" with the Florida Striders.  It's just what it sounds like:  Before the race begins everyone fills out a form and makes their best guess on their finishing time.  No watches or other timing devices allowed.  At the end of the race whoever comes closest is the winner!  This is a lot of fun and takes away the pressure of running as fast as you can.  You just have to know your own pace.  Well, considering I haven't raced a 5K in almost a year, and I've been slowly working back to race shape since I broke my foot, I really had no idea what my pace would be.  I didn't want to kill myself, but at the same time I wanted to challenge myself a little.  I chose what I thought would be a challenging pace that I would have to work for a bit - 28:30.  I even had doubts I would come close!  Much to my surprise, I ended up with a 27:25!  I was really pleased to be that fast, all things considered.  It gave me hope for my future racing, even though I won't be doing much this summer.  I'm currently coaching two swim teams and giving private swim lessons, so most of my Saturdays will be taken up with Swim Meets.  I do plan on racing the Florida Strider Memorial Day 5K though.  Hopefully I can pull my time down even more.

On another note, my daughter Tori has undertaken a very rigorous training plan the last four months and has finally surpassed me in the running department!  I always knew she was capable of doing so, she was just never consistent enough in her training to do more than beat me in a short sprint.  She was a minute faster than me in the Prediction Run, and I couldn't have been prouder!  When it comes to training and racing, consistency is key!

Racing Once More!

Yes - I did my first race this past weekend since breaking my foot!  It was great to be back in competition.  For my first one back, I chose something really different - the Mandarin Biathlon. This is a combination 6 mile Kayak and 4 mile Run race.  Last year my husband Jim and I did it as a team - he paddled and I ran, both doing what we're best at. (We took first place in our division.)  This year we both stepped out of our comfort zones and each did the race solo.  To prepare, Jim took me kayaking for the past two weekends.  Up to now I've only done a minimum of kayaking.  I have stage 4 arthritis in my wrists (actually I had one of them replaced, so I guess it doesn't count any more), so I never thought I could do much paddling.  But it hasn't seemed to bother me much lately, so I decided to give it a try.  And of course Jim hates to run, so that was a real challenge for him too, especially since his long run is about 2 miles!  I've actually gotten up to 5 miles now, so I knew I'd be ok in the run.  Well...., it was definitely a challenge!  Six miles in a kayak is way more than 6 miles running!!  I thought the kayak part would never end! The course follows a continuous curve, and at every turn I kept thinking this is the last one, but then there would be one more!  I paddled my butt off, and thought I would be the first woman to finish, but about three fourths of the way I got passed by a woman paddling a tub!! (Just joking - it was a kayak, just not as nice as mine, which is a testament to how well she paddled!) She was really good!  Fortunately I outdistanced her on the run, but not before following her on a wrong turn (she was following someone else!).  We all figured out we were going the wrong way (including the man following me) and turned around and got back on course.  We lost about 4 minutes I figured.  Then at about mile 2.5 another woman passed me.  She ended up a total of 2 minutes ahead and took 1st woman overall, which made me second.  I did take 1st in my age group, but I'm still not sure if there was anyone else in my age group!  All in all, it was a fun experience, and a very hard workout!  I had been up around 2:30 am that morning, just couldn't sleep, so I was exhausted by the time we got home.  Since I had a party to attend that night, I ended up taking two naps! 

To give a little racing advice, I had my usual PB&J for breakfast as soon as we got on the road to the race along with a cup of coffee (Jim had the same).  That gave me an hour and a half to digest, which is just barely enough time.  I could feel it sitting heavy on my stomach but was glad I had something for energy, especially since I would be sitting for the first hour plus of the race.  I had Jim set up a water system so all I had to do while paddling was lean forward to get the drinking tube in my mouth and take a sip.  I drank a good bit.  In contrast, Jim later told me he never stopped for water - he doesn't get thirsty.  We both stored gatoraid in our boats and downed about 8 ounces at the end of the paddle before starting on the run.  At the end of the race, we both drank at least 16 ounces of Poweraid (and I had a banana and an orange).  When we got home and weighed ourselves, I had lost 1 pound since that morning, and Jim dropped 4.5.  For me that's about a 1.3% drop in weight; for Jim it's about an 8.6% drop in body weight.  Jim was severely dehydrated.  Anything above a 2% loss in body weight after a race or run is too much, especially considering how much we drank at the finish.  I'm always telling Jim he needs to drink more, but of course who listens to their wife?  For the rest of you - your race will suffer if your heart has to work overtime to compensate for lack of blood volume due to reduced fluid levels.  But at least Jim can say I didn't pass him on the run, which was his goal!  He finished about 20 minutes ahead of me on the kayak.  As for my wrist, I'm paying a heavy price.  Hasn't been this sore in ages.  Guess I won't be doing more kayaking real soon!

Status Update

Where to start?  So much has happened in this year since I broke my foot.  Between my physical issues and my personal life, it's been a real rollercoaster!  But here I am, three surgeries, a death in the family, and guardian of my mother with Alzheimer's Disease later, and I hope things are somewhat back to normal.  At least I have a bit of an excuse for not keeping up with this blog!  But no more excuses.  I want to get back to keeping this blog as I continue my journey back to fitness.

So where am I?  The heart ablation seems to have worked.  No more heart flutters although there's something else going on which the doctors couldn't diagnose.  I think it's my nerves which vibrate at night, but since the doctors aren't concerned, I decided I won't be either until there's a reason to be concerned!  So, two surgeries down, the last one was on my mouth.  I will be getting an implant in a front tooth, which is a 6 month process.  Mostly it's just inconvenient, but other than a week of taking it easy, has no effect on working out.

Workouts are progressing nicely.  After my initial start, I went about proving why you shouldn't do too much too soon and had to stop running.  I was just too darn excited about running again and couldn't resist piling on the mileage.  My feet didn't like it too much!  Even my left foot (I broke the right one) was giving me fits.  I've always been prone to stress fractures in that foot, and I guess all the inactivity made it weak again.  So....., the rule of thumb is do not add more than 10% to any one run, and don't add more than 10% total to your weekly mileage.  I've learned to follow that rule now, and my longest run is up to 5 miles.  I also learned to stop and walk when my feet tell me to, and that prevents a twinge from becoming a pain.  In addition, I mix up my running surfaces so it's not all on the hard concrete.

I'm swimming as often as I can get to a pool.  I've always preferred running just because it's so quick and simple to get out the door!  But I need to swim, so I do.  I'm considering entering the Ed Gaw Amelia Island Open Water Challenge on May 26th.  You can do the 5K or a 1 mile swim.  I've never swam a 5K, so today I went to the pool and swam for an hour and 15 minutes with only two short breaks for water.  I went just over 2 miles, so I think I could do it within the required time (you have to finish in 2.5 hours).  I wasn't really tired either.  It all depends on whether I'm free that weekend.

Back in the Saddle....

I'm finally back to doing some type of aerobic workout almost every day.  I did my first bike ride with my husband Jim last weekend.  We only went about 8 miles at a very relaxed pace.  I felt fine.  The next day I decided to go again by myself.  Ouch!!!  I was not expecting the sore butt!  The next day I decided it was time for my first run.  I have the limping down to a minimum and the swelling is better.  So I put on my compression socks (that's a workout all by itself!) and took off.  I can't tell you how excited I was to be outdoors on my own two feet.  Well, all I can say is that now I have some sympathy for people trying to get in shape for the first time.  It was tough!  And to put yourself through that torture and do it again the next day takes some real determination.  I only went for a very slow mile, but that was enough.   At least my swimming doesn't seem to have been affected as much as biking and running.  I'm swimming with my High School Team occasionally and I'm still faster than quite a few of them.  That surprised me.  However, it's a little daunting to think about how far I still have to go to get back to where I was.  Before breaking my foot and all the heart issues, I think I was in the best shape I've been in for quite a while.  I was also working hard to get faster, especially in my running.  I'd like to concentrate on running again, but I know my foot won't let me do that just yet.  Too much and it still swells up quite a bit and doesn't feel so great.  So, this is a study in patience and preserverence.  At the very least, I'll learn some empathy for people who are starting at the beginning of a fitness program!

This may take a little longer....

The good news is, I'm swimming again!  The cool water seems to be good for my foot.  In fact, it's just about the only thing I do that doesn't make it swell!  The bad news is that I'm still limping.  First thing in the morning I can almost walk normally, but by the end of the day, depending on how much I've been trying to walk around, the limp is much more pronounced.  It's kinda weird - you would think that's something you could somewhat control, but it's really not.  I guess this healing process sometimes just takes longer that we'd like!  On another note, I had the ablation done.  It was a long day in the hospital, and the doctor's thought it went well.  However, I'm still having the flutters at night that put me there in the first place, so I'm thinking they just didn't get it all.  I let the doctor's know, and I'm supposed to go back on a holter monitor, but they haven't set it up yet.  I've discovered that Cardiologists are very busy and rarely get back to you when you call.  I guess I'm low on the priority list, which I suppose is a good thing!

Broken Foot update

The crutches are gone!! Halleluia!  You can't imagine how good it feels to walk on two feet and have my hands available while I'm doing it!  It's really hard to do chores at home without using your hands!  Most amazing, the swelling which has continued this entire time finally seems to be under control.  I guess you have to step on your foot to push the blood back up.  I have a bit of a limp, but I don't think it will last too long.  The craziest thing when I saw the doctor and she decided I was ready to walk again, was when she told me to hop on the bad foot.  I literally couldn't do it at first!  Two months of no use and my foot just wouldn't do what my brain was telling it to!  I finally did (ouch) and she deemed me ready to walk.  So...., one step down, another to go.  I will be having my heart ablation this Tuesday.  I had to wear a holter monitor for a couple of days this week and once the doc saw the results, they put me on the schedule immediately.    I guess they finally believed what I've been telling them - my heart does flip flops constantly.  It wakes me up at night.  Even Jim (my husband) noticed the bed shaking one night!  Hopefully this will fix it once and for all and I can train harder than ever.  First though, I have to get over the inertia of no activity for 2 months.  It's amazing how lazy you can get.  This is so easy!  But, I've never been fond of easy.  So hopefully in about a week I'll start clawing my way back to good shape! 

Hammerhead HOT

Today I was at the Hammerhead Olympic and Sprint Tri's.  As usual, it lived up to it's name, and I'm pretty sure it set some records for being the hottest race yet!  It was fun watching for a change instead of being the one racing.  I'm so used to going over and over my race plan, doing my transition in my head and a ton of other little things to ensure I'm ready for race day.  It was different to be calm and simply interested in what everyone else was doing!  Some observations from race day:  get there early!!  I preach that religiously to my classes and noticed that some people truly need to learn it!  Those who show up early get the best place for their transition.  They also get set up with time to review the course and to figure out where you enter and exit transition areas.  They can do a warm up, although when it's this hot, you don't need much of a warm up! Those who arrive late are likely to forget things and not put their stuff in the best order for transition.  Not to mention how nerve wracking it can be to need more time to set up and the announcer is calling for everyone to head to the swim start!  Another thing I noticed - many people don't practice their transitions.  You need to practice putting on your bike shoes in a bent over position while balancing on one foot!  It's not easy to do when you're racing and a bit nervous!  But if you practice a million times, your body will remember how to do it when it comes time.  Otherwise you waste many precious seconds getting it done.  Last but not least, is planning for the weather.  That starts at least 6 weeks before the race.  You've got to work up to running and biking when it's really hot outside.  If you gradually do this, your body will develop heat tolerance and you won't die on a day like today.  There were quite a few people very adversely affected by the heat today.  This can be lack of conditioning, lack of gaining heat tolerance, lack of proper hydration (you need more than water when you sweat like crazy!), and lack of proper rest.  Any one of these factors can mean serious injury.  All in all those, most people I know slowed down from their usual times, but still finished well.  Congratulations everyone who did the very hot HOT!

Hardware is Removed

I guess I'm making some progress on my foot healing, but it sure is slow.  I finally got the pin removed, but the daily swelling continues.  The doctor actually removed it in 4 weeks instead of the proscribed 6. She said the healing process has started and will continue as long as I don't put weight on it.   I think she was more concerned about my heart issues than my cardiologist.  The reasoning was that my heart procedure would get moved up without the pin, but that hasn't happened.  It won't likely happen till early September.  It was nice to have the pin out though.  A relatively painless procedure.  Basically she yanked it out, it bled a little and got a bandaid!  Not complicated at all.  The wound has closed up, so I was all prepared to start swimming.  The physician's assistant I saw said to wait, for fear I might pass out in the pool (unfortunately I've been doing that a lot lately).  I told her I'll only swim where there are lifeguards to be safe.  I'm still a little leary however, but yesterday at swim practice I had my team racing in relay fashion.  One of the relays was short a person so I jumped in and took a turn.  It was only one lap of the pool and I was dying when I got out!  (Of course it was sprinting as fast as I could to keep up with High School swimmers!)  How quickly fitness goes when you're not getting any aerobic exercise.  I'm up to 7 weeks now with nothing aerobic.  My weight lifting and core work is pretty good, but it just doesn't get my heart rate up since everything I do is from a position on the floor.  Oh well - hopefully just another few weeks and I can start the process of building back up.  I'm so looking forward to it!  It's been difficult keeping my weight down after being used to burning close to an extra 1000 calories a day.  I've cut back on eating, but probably not enough.  Just a little longer to hang in there!   I guess my biggest lesson is a huge appreciation for people who go through life while missing a limb.  I really can't imagine what that must be like after my short experience with it.  It's truly difficult, and I have to say I admire those who do it with such a positive attitude and no complaints!!

Triathlon In Northeast Florida

There are many advantages to living in northeast Florida.  Chief among them is the abundance of triathlons to choose from.  Since I started doing triathlons in this area, we've gone from one series each summer (the Beaches Fine Arts Series at Michler's Landing) to several series, including the DRC JAX Tri series in Fernandina and now the Amelia Man (also in Fernandina) and the MarineLand Series in St. Augustine.  Of course there's also the prestigious "HOT" which is now an Olympic and Sprint Tri put on by the Hammerhead Triathlon Club.  Not to mention all the tri's that are within a reasonable driving distance, although most would prefer to do them as an overnight trip.  If you want to do a triathlon, there are many to choose from.  I started my own season this year doing one in Tallahassee for a new challenge (it's called "The Toughest Sprint in Florida" for a reason - lots of steep hills!).  Most of these Tri's are governed by USAT rules.  Occasionally one comes along that is a non-USAT race and that can be fun too.  They're generally more relaxed about rules and all about just having fun.  One of these I did for several years was a small race in Marianna, Florida called the Freedom Springs Triathlon.  It's always held on the 4th of July.  It starts in a freezing cold spring and then bikes and runs through lots of farm land.  A kids tri is held after the adult one, and parents are encouraged to get in there and help their kids.  Both my girls did it one year and I had a blast as my husband and I doubled teamed my youngest as she finished the swim and we plopped on her helmet and pushed her off for her start on the bike.  I also was able to finish the run with my oldest daughter after completing it myself.  I encourage you to search all these triathlons and find one that appeals to you.  Sometimes it's fun just to mix it up and do it differently in a new place on new courses.