Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.

5-24-13

Two posts in a row...wwwhhhaaattt???

I joined the swim team at my private pool club in Glastonbury when I was about 8.  I joined the swim team to have a sport to do during the summer.  When I was younger, I played soccer and did dance during the fall, winter, and spring.  This left the summer open to swim and take tennis lessons at the pool club, which was essentially my sisters and my residence during the summer months. I continued until I got to high school, and I regret not trying out for the high school team when I had the chance.

I didn't realize until recently how great of a workout swimming really is, and that I must have been in super-good shape when I was younger to complete the workouts we did every morning at the pool.  Luckily, swimming is a lot like riding your bike: you never really forget how, you just need to build up your endurance.

So, for my first swimming workout I did a relatively easy workout, which was a good intensity for me as I was exhausted (and starving!) afterwards.  Here's what I did:

Warm up: 25 yds, 50 yds, 75 yds, easy freestyle

2 x 25 kicking
2 x 25 pulling

Ladder: 25, 50, 75, 100, 75, 50, 25

Cool down: 75 and 50 easy breaststroke (I was tired!) and 15 free

For those of you unfamiliar with pool lengths, a standard lap pool is 25 yds or meters in length, and Olympic pool is 50 yds in length.  The pool at SC can be set up as a standard or Olympic length.  Thankfully, yesterday it was at 25 yds!  So, 25 yds = 1 lap, 50 yds = 2 laps, etc.

It took me roughly 40 mins to complete this workout.  I took A LOT of rest time between segments, however I was excited to complete each segment without resting between laps, and I even broke out the flip turns!

My goal next week is to swim twice, probably completing the same workout to build up some endurance and speed.

Here's to the water and amazing swimming-induced-exhaustion sleep!

When life hands you lemons....

5-23-13

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I have written so I decided to get back on the bandwagon.  During this absence, I successfully defended my Master's thesis, passed all my finals for the spring semester, participated in the commencement ceremonies for my Master's, and managed to hurt myself...again.

My knee is my Achilles' heel...there isn't a lot of activities that I can do that doesn't hurt my knee or make it sore the next day.  My knee started to really nag me after taking the boot camp class I wrote about a couple months ago.  I guess my knee didn't appreciate all the repetitive jumping I did.  A few days of RICE and many ibuprofen later, it felt better and I resumed my usual (albeit, sporadic) running routine.

Then, about a month ago, I played in a pick-up game of volleyball (I used to play in high school), and when I landed from blocking a shot my knee shifted during the landing and I heard/felt the ominous "snap", "crackle", and "pop".  No, I did not land on some Rice Krispies, I managed to "break" something inside my knee.  The knee swelled, I was in lots of pain, and neither of these symptoms went away.  I knew it was time to call the knee doctor again.

Before my first appointment, I decided to test the knee out to see if I was just overreacting...so I went for a 2 mile jog.  I could tell something was wrong during my run: each time I landed on my right foot, shooting pains would exit from my knee and go down my leg.  I wasn't happy.

At the doctor's appointment, I retold my volleyball and boot camp stories to my doctor.  He performed some tests and was pretty certain that I tore my meniscus and that I may have re-torn my ACL. (Noooooo!!!)  I had to get an MRI to confirm, and this week the final diagnosis was revealed: multiple meniscus tears (probably 3), and no injury to my ACL.  Surgery will be in the near future (probably early June) and rehab will take place for most of the summer.

So, the surgery is my "lemons"...now what to do about it...

1- My running plans are on hold for now.  I will have to see how well I feel after rehab and see what the doctor thinks.

2- Since I have had extensive experience with knee surgeries in the past (this next one will make number 7...), I know I need to get my legs strong before the surgery.  I started back with a weight training program yesterday and will include a lot of single-leg exercises to help with stabilization.

3- Here's my "lemonade": a benefit of attending Springfield College is unlimited use of their Wellness Center and indoor pool.  Since I will be attending a summer class, and spending many hours at the college studying for my 5 Doctoral Qualifying Exams this summer, I am creating a swimming program to do.  I used to swim competitively during the summers when I was younger, and I know this will be a great complement to running, if I ever can get back into it.  Swimming will also be a good rehab for my knee, since one of the surgery options is a meniscus repair, which would require me to be non-weight-bearing on my right leg for 6 weeks.

So, here's to lemonade! (try it mixed with some sweet tea vodka....it's delish!)