Monday, August 2, 2010

Fish Stories

So I ran Ragnar, Wasatch Back. After years of how can I do this with other goals looming, babies to be born and a little good old fashioned fear, I did it. There was pain getting there, and pain after. It was worth it and I am already on board for next year. Yet, getting back in running shape after being a human incubator can have it consequences. It is like your hips have been unzipped and folded out like a suitcase. As soon as that suitcase empties its precious cargo you are ready to close it tight and neat. Well, it takes longer than anticipated. Especially after your suitcase has been filled close to its weight limit, thanks Jack. The hinges are a bit creaky. Not to mention all the other anatomical features that somehow must travel back to where they came from. Some never make it back quite right. So thinking that all was back to normal was a figment of my imagination that led to bursitis in my hip--self-diagnosed and confirmed by my personal physician. So, after pretending I was being good, sneaking in a 10K, maybe a few fast miles on the treadmill, I walked with my inflamed bursa in my hip and tail between my ankles deciding I needed time off. So what to do?

Swim. Yes Swim. Beautiful non impact swimming. That sore hip surrounded by nurturing bubbles and no pressure on that bursa. So after a few youtube tutorials I went. Now when you go to lap swim at 5:30 in the morning be prepared for two things. 1. Everyone there looks like Michael Phelps, all decked out in professional swim attire, caps and goggles. 2. You will have to swim next to someone. Someone who will know you don't know what you're doing. It is hard to fake it when it comes to swimming. I brought Harris's goggles I think I bought at All a Dollar a year a go, no cap. I did purchase me a suit. I figured I must somehow look the part. I almost turned around and left. I am a land dweller. I do much better on tracks, bikes and roads. I like to swim, but I feel the gazelle in me more than the dolphin. Not that I look like a gazelle and really in my black and white suit I feel a bit more like an Orca. Yet, I bit my lip edged towards an empty lane next to an older lady who didn't seem to pose much of a threat to my inexperience. I dove in and swam. Of course I now how to swim. My childhood swim instructors earned there $5.oo an hour. Lets just say I was a hair under confident. Every thing I had read in preparation had made me feel intimidated. "Swim: the dreaded event of the triathlon. Most athletes just want to push through it and survive." What? It is that difficult. Push through it? There is a chance of non survival? So weighing my mortality I jumped in a swam. I survived my first short swim and went back to youtube for more instruction.

Youtube is to me as Wikipedia is to Aaron. I have a question say, what stretches loosen IT bands? I find a tutorial or two and watch. I am know a guru of all things bursitis and IT found on youtube. You can consider me your go to girl. So after watching some breathing and stroke techniques, I bought a swim cap and was back poolside a few days later. I swam, I swam as if I could no longer walk. My feet became fins and I glided. I grew gills with my newly learned breathing techniques, I was consistently inhaling and exhaling. The thing about swimming is you think you are going to be bored. No music playing and those blue shiny tiles are only amusing for about four laps. Yet, something happens. You enter the aquatic world and everything sounds different, everything feels different, everything looks different. I find myself in swim attire, an aquanaut. Discovering the undiscovered, at least for me. So there you have it. My only problem is how to fit it into my schedule, how to run as much as I want, swim as much as I want, and bike as well. Yea, it is a dilemma for another day as swimming and an occasional bike ride will have to suffice for now.

UP next:Kari get your Annie Oakley on.