Lessons Learned......the Hard Way

The last couple of weeks have posed as a challenge and learning experience. Last time I wrote, I had 1 more build week that was to end in a 7.5-8 mile swim. Ugh, yeah, well my body had other plans. My right shoulder had been sore; sore not painful. I expected sore. Who doesn't expect sore when you're swimming 20k+ yards per week? The good news was that it didn't hurt while I was swimming, only later in the day. Well, the Friday before my 'big' swim, that all changed. I was swimming a high intensity set and by the end of the workout, my shoulder began to hurt. REALLY HURT. But, when I got done with my workout and got in the shower, the pain seemed to subside and I went on to work (where I sit behind a desk for 8-9 hours). As the day progressed, the shoulder was stiff and by the time I got home, I was unable to raise my arm to parallel. OH CRAP! I got in touch with my kayaker and we rescheduled my monster swim for Sunday rather than Saturday so I could allow my shoulder to rest an extra day. Saturday morning, my shoulder was a little stiff and sore but my range of motion was MUCH better. Whew.....what I relief. I continued to stretch and rest my shoulder through the day in hopes that I'd feel good to swim Sunday. Sunday morning, same thing. Shoulder was a little sore and stiff but the range of motion seemed OK. After church, I headed to Westport to meet my friend and kayaker. When we got there, we were greeted with blue-green algae in the water. At the shore, it didn't look bad and seemed to get better the farther from the shore so I got in the water and started my swim. It only lasted about 5 minutes or so when the algae started to hit me in the face under the water like driving in a snow storm. After talking it over with my kayaker, I decided to call it a day. There was no reason to risk getting sick this close to race day. After talking with my coach once I got home, the plan was to start the much needed recovery week early and move the really long swim to the following weekend. With my 'A' type personality, this made me a little uneasy but try to stay positive. Monday morning, I was back at the pool, a short workout with some high-intensity short sets. Normally not a problem. I could feel my shoulder 'popping'. It was more annoying than painful and like the Friday before, by the time I had showered, it was simply a little sore and stiff. This time, by the time I left work, raising my arm brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't put my right hand on the steering wheel. I called my parents, in tears, convinced that my race was over. I was going to be side-lined. After all, I was less then 4 weeks away from race day. I'd missed my longest swim over the past weekend and was running out of time to get it done. Tuesday, I sucked it up and called the doctor. Of course, they couldn't get me in until the next day but they did get me the first appointment of the day. Wednesday was going to be day that would tell me what was going on, I hoped. 

I met with my doctor. He didn't think anything was torn but wanted to get x-rays and send me to a physical therapist. This just made me angry because physical therapy usually takes weeks to see results and I didn't have weeks. Can't you just give me a cortisone shot (and I hate needles) and be done with it? I promise to rest it and go to therapy after my race. NO, it will mask the pain and do more damage in the long run. UGH! Then the gal in the doctor office that handles the referrals, tells me it's going to be 72 hours before my insurance company would approve a referral to a therapist. I didn't have time for that. Here come the water works, I couldn't hold them back. She got on the phone and by the time I had paid my co-pay, she had an appointment for me with a therapist that afternoon and she told me she would call my insurance company and see what she could do and would contact me if she couldn't get the approval before my appointment. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. That afternoon I met with the physical therapist. He called what I had a 'shoulder impingement' caused by an imbalance in my swim stroke (I only breath on the left) and a lack of strength in the support muscles. I didn't really want to hear the details. Lets cut to the chase, can you fix it in time for me to swim my race 3 1/2 weeks away. He gave me a look and asked me if I can commit to meeting with him 3 days a week and do the exercises he gives me. I immediately responded with "If it will get me to race day, you bet". I also had to promise that I would balance my stroke by breathing to both sides. I will do whatever you say!!!! So, he worked on a few 'trigger points' and gave me a couple of exorcises that day. I met with him again Thursday. I was instructed that I could swim but I had to stop if it began to hurt so Friday, my workout was mostly a 'kick' set. I swam again Saturday and Sunday, low volume at a moderate intensity. I was truly amazed. My range of motion seemed to be back to 100% after only 3 appointments. I could swim with no pain. My neck and upper back was a little sore from the exercises since we are trying to strengthen the surrounding support muscles. After only 5 appointments, I was able to swim a 6k open water swim race and maintain my race pace. If I had a kayaker with food and water, I felt as if I could have swam all day. Hallelujah!! I'm still a little uneasy about heading into race day without having done the monster 7.5-8 mile swim that was planned 2 weeks ago but I just have to have faith that I've done enough and I'll get to race day healthy, ready to face the challenge. Hopefully, when I go to see my physical therapist this afternoon, he'll release me from treatment 'earlier than expected'. 

I believe in the power of prayer but I had never prayed for healing for myself or asked anyone to pray for me until now. Through everything that was going on, not only was I praying but so were my parents (along with members of the church they attend), my sister, my husband and my son. Like I said before, physical therapy normally takes weeks and several visits to see measurable results. I had almost full range of motion in 2-3 visits and no pain by my 5th appointment. My insurance company had approved 24 appointments, it that says anything. I truly give God the glory for His healing power. 

Less than 2 weeks to go. It's maintain, rest, taper time. This is the time than we look forward to during the duration of our training; counting the days to the time when the workouts have less volume and are a little less frequent. This gives us the time to focus on getting additional rest, heal any nagging aches and pains while mentally preparing for our race. I've done this before but it's also a time that, often, is accompanied by a lot of extra nervous energy. Family members find their athlete to be on edge, anxious and short tempered. I know it's coming and as much as I hope to keep the nerves at bay, I warn my friends, family and co-workers and apologize in advance. 

Another Early Morning

It's early. I should be heading to the pool this morning but to be honest, I'm truly not thrilled about the idea of driving to the pool at 5am to swim back and forth for another 4000 yards. My right should is sore and I'm tired. Oh, I'll get the workout done. I know I will. I always do. One of the benefits of focusing on only one endurance sport rather than 3, I have a little more flexibility when scheduling my training times.

Just a little over 2 weeks ago, my farthest swim had only been just short of 4 miles. But, I'm 3 weeks into a 4 week build and I've managed to swim distances I knew were coming but hadn't actually accomplished. About 2 1/2 weeks ago, I met with my coach to discuss what the plans were for the coming weeks. At the time, I was feeling uneasy about the seemingly fast approaching race day and my perceived lack of 'really' long swims. So, that Saturday, I had a 2 1/2 hour swim on the schedule.

After my last open water swim training session at Taylorsville Lake and the low water levels that I had to navigate, I knew that I would have to find a different training venue since we have had very little rain over the last couple of weeks. So, I opted to head for Westport, a small community on the Ohio River not far from where I live. I had never swum there but after looking online and asking a few other swimmers, it seemed to be the best choice. Because swimming 2 1/2 hours (which I suspected would get me right around 5 miles) wasn't hard enough, I had a 5k race to run that morning. So, rather than swimming early, the plan was to hit the water about 1pm. Much to my surprise, the water was cool. Not cold but much cooler than the pools have been the last couple of weeks. After getting the kayak in the water, I started down stream. I was going to swim down stream toward 18 Mile Island where there was a channel between the island and the shore. I hoped there would be calm waters with little boat traffic once in the channel. I was right. The water was calmer and the boats I passed were moving slowly or anchored so I wasn't fighting much chop. It was about 1 mile from the boat launch to the island and another 1.5 miles to the end of the island. When I got to the end of the island and looked at my watch, I was at about 1:10 into the total 2:30 swim. Knowing I was going to have to swim upstream back to boat launch, I turned back. Taking in nutrition approximately every 30 minutes alternating Infinite with trail mix and water, I never felt a slump in the energy. I did have a little trouble with leg cramps at about the 3.5 mile marker. I'm sure this had something to do with the 5k run I'd done that morning. When I got back to the boat launch, I was surprised by how good I felt. My arms were tired but I wasn't starving and felt like I could have swam further. Come Sunday afternoon, my right should was sore but stretching and alternating heat with ice seems to help.........A LOT. 

This past weekend offered it's own set of challenges. The plan was to get in total of 12k over 2 days. That's between 7-8 miles. With my work schedule and my sons cross country practice/meet schedule, the plan was to swim 5k Friday morning in the pool then the remaining 7k Saturday morning in the river. Friday morning, I hit the 86 degree pool. I swam continuously for 5100 yards stopping only for some liquid nutrition and water every 30 minutes. Then, later in the day, as I was figuring out the schedule for Saturday so I could finalize my plans, I realized there was no way to drop my son off at the bus for his meet, get in my 7000 swim, get a shower, drop the kayak and then get to the meet for his race in the time I had available. So, plan B. I made plans to swim 7000 yards in the pool. Yep, 4 miles in the pool; 25 yards at a time. I got to the pool at 7am, right when they opened; a different pool than the day before so the water was much cooler. I had the lane almost completely to myself for the first hour. But then, I was informed during a nutrition stop that they were going to close 2 of the 3 lap swim lane for a water aerobics class. This was going to cram about 8 lap swimmers into 1 lane. So, we all talked for a moment to figure out who would go first and how we would handle passing each other if necessary. I was elected to lead off and if someone needed to pass, we would tap the foot of the swimmer in front of us and pass at the next wall. This worked like a charm. As much as I hate to circle swim, it was a nice change of pace since I still had another 3200 to finish. The circle swimming continued for about 30 minutes when the other swimmers started to get out of the water as they finished their swims and I just kept on swimming. Ugh, whose bright idea was this? Well, I hit the 7000 yard mark in 1:48. That's a 1:31/100 yard pace. Faster than I swam the 5k the morning before. I was pleased with the swim and relieved that was over. Hope I don't have to do that again but it was a good mental training day. 

I have one more week in this 4 week build that has me swimming somewhere between 7.5 and 8 miles this weekend. I'll definitely find a way to do that in the open water. Next week is a recovery week and I am definitely looking forward to it. Just short of 5 weeks until race day. Ok, I'm off to the pool but first, another cup of coffee. #theSuckorBust

With each passing week, it becomes more and more obvious that I have a long way to go. The last two weeks have been my longest volume weeks with a long open water swims capping off each week. A week ago was my first 2 hour swim. The goal was to swim a full 2 hours while practicing taking in nutrition from a support kayak. We managed to get to hit the water around 11:00 that morning. The water level was high, covering part of the boat dock and closing all but one of the boat launches. Since the only boat launch open also happened to be the same place I was starting my swim, we were forced to navigate through the boat traffic at the start but once we were clear of the majority of the boats, the water, while a little warmer than I would have liked, was almost perfect. I had set my Garmin to notify me each 30 minute interval so I could stop for fuel. The first interval felt pretty good but when I looked at my surroundings, it was obvious I was going to get to the end of the lake before making it to the 1 hour marker. Sure enough, I got the end and I was only 40 minutes into the swim. We decided that I would swim back toward my starting point for about 20 minutes then turn around and repeat the whole trip again. My first nutrition stop was just Infinit sports drink so it was fairly easy to manage while treading water. I had planned on eating trail mix with a mix of dried fruit and nuts along with water at the 60 minute marker. I found that eating loose trail mix while treading water was hard to manage.

Mental note: maybe a fruit and nut bar would work better???

The good news was that both the Infinit and the trail mix managed to sit well on my stomach. I felt good through most of the swim and didn't begin to feel tired physically until the final 30 minutes. The hardest part was mental. With nothing to sight from other than the shore and the trees in the distance and nothing but my watch to tell me how long I'd been swimming, I found that I had no concept of time or distance. I noticed that it was right around the 20 minute mark when I was compelled to stop for a moment to check my watch.

Mental note: maybe setting my watch to notify me in shorter intervals would be helpful??? Maybe every 10 minutes rather than 30 would help???

By the end of the 2 hours, I was pretty much whipped but felt good about the swim as a whole......just short of 4 miles. I didn't realize just how short of 4 miles I was until I got home and downloaded the data from my Garmin; 120 yards. Heck, if I had realized I was that close, I would have swum another 2 minutes before calling it a day.

This past weekend was another long open water swim with the same goals as the prior week. This would be the last long swim of a 4 week build period before my recovery week. Knowing that the volume would be only about half of this past week made the swim more bearable even though I was tired. The plan was the same as before. Well, the best laid plans don't always come to pass. We got the lake at about the same time. Only this time, the water level wasn't over the ramp to the dock like the week before and there didn't seem to be as much boat traffic. I headed out to the right of the boat launch and headed for the end of the lake. I had set my watch to notify me every 10 minutes with the hopes that it would help me to have a better awareness of how long I had been swimming. I found this to be very helpful. I got about the 22 minute mark when my hand hit a tree stump under the water. I jumped and paused for a moment. A few strokes later, my hand went right into the sand......gross. The water is shallower than I thought but it wasn't until about the 25 minute mark when my hip hit a rock in the water that I decided that the water was too shallow to continue on. After pausing for a minute, taking a swig of Infinit and talking with my kayaker, I decided to head back to the launch and then repeat the loop. This was going to leave me just short of the 2 hours but I would be over 5k. Close enough at this point. Again, at the 1 hour marker, I tried to take in more fuel by way of mixed nuts and dried fruit. It was still to difficult to manage while treading water. I'm going to have to find a bar that I can cut in to pieces. By the time I finished the 2nd loop, I had completed 5500 meters in 1:44. When I downloaded my Garmin, I had held the same pace as the week before. I suppose there is something to be said for consistency.

 Now, it's a recovery week and I'm enjoying having a little extra time to help my son get ready for his freshman year at his new high school. My coach hasn't posted the exact workouts for next week but I know the volume is going to be somewhere around 20k. Yes, that's 20,000 meters. It sounds far. It is far but I know it's exactly what I need to do. Race day is in 8 1/2 weeks.

Surprising Myself

Over the last few years, I became used to being exhausted both physically and mentally during my Ironman and marathon training programs. I expected to feel the same way when I took on this challenge. Much to my surprise, I haven't experienced that "this is going to kill me" feeling. Now, don't get me wrong. I am plenty tired and worn out following a long or high-intensity workout but I have noticed that once I have refueled and taken an hour or so to recover, I feel fine......great even. Maybe its because I'm only focusing on one sport rather than three. Maybe its because swimming has little to no impact on my joints. Maybe its because I've been swimming since I was seven. Whatever the reason or combination of reasons, I'm surprised by it and find myself wondering if I'm doing enough or working hard enough. Right now, the yardage is at about 16k per week with 17k coming this week and 20k right on the horizon. Race day is 10 weeks away and my longest swim is only 90 minutes so far. I'll need to get to about 4 hours. When I think about how far I still have to go, I get that nervous pit in my stomach. 

Trust the training, trust the training, trust the training. (sigh)

Over the last few years, my 'threshold' pace was about 1:30/100 yards. This didn't waver by more than a second or 2 each year while training for both of my Ironman events. Focusing on just the swim and having my training personalized just for me, I've had much bigger gains that I thought I'd have. I've managed to reduce my threshold pace to about 1:24/100 yards in a relatively short period of time. At first, the adjusted pace made the training paces in my plan difficult and almost frightening. My thought was "Oh my, did I just test myself into a pace I can't hold?" At first, yes, it was a pace I wasn't comfortable training at. This has gotten easier over the past 6 weeks. Another pleasant surprise as I journey through all of this.

Another surprise.....I had someone ask me a few weeks back "what do you think about when you swim?" My answer.......nothing. Ha! Truly, I don't think about anything except the task at hand. Depending on the workout, I'm counting the laps or concentrating on my pace in relation to the tempo trainer or paying attention to my form and keeping my stroke long and smooth. If I'm in the open water, I'm thinking about my position in relation to the shore or other swimmers, looking for the next buoy and making sure I'm staying on course. It's almost hypnotic. I can't think about work, the kids, what I have to do that day or what I have to pick up at the store. It's so peaceful and relaxing......even when I'm working hard. I have friends that enjoy running or biking the same way. What's funny about the whole thing, I didn't realize how 'at home' I felt in the water until I took on marathon swimming even though I've been swimming most of my life.

Trusting the training, relaxing in the moment, enjoying the journey.

Let's get this party started

I first began swimming with a swim team when I was about 8 years old and swam competitively through high school. About 6 years ago I began doing triathlons after almost 20 years of virtual inactivity. Since then I've completed multiple running races and triathlons including 4 marathons, 5 half-marathons and 2 Ironman races. About a year ago, I read about an 8 mile swim event that is held in the Florida Keys. This event could be done as a relay with up to 4 swimmers sharing the distance or a solo swim. WOW, I hadn't heard of such a thing.  I didn't realize there were events like that. Some friends of mine had transitioned from triathlon to ultra-running which doesn't even sound possible to me but marathon swimming....that is something I can do. If I can train to run 26.2 miles with running, I can train for a swim marathon; which by definition is anything over 10k.

So, I was looking for a race that was relatively close to home and late enough in the year to give me plenty of time to train since the longest competitive swim I'd done to date was 2.4 miles. I was also looking for a fresh water race. I've done anything but play in the ocean and didn't figure my first should be in salt water with waves and tides to deal with. In the midst of my search, someone had suggest a race called 'Swim the Suck' that is held in Chattanooga, TN. I was surprised that I hadn't come across it during my resent google searches but as soon as I got home I looked it up. It was a little longer than I had originally had in mind; it's a 10 mile swim rather than 10k (only about 4 miles farther, right?), close to home being only 3 hours away and it's on October 10th, which happens to be the Saturday before Ironman Louisville this year. The race is in the Tennessee River, down steam, point to point which means you have the current working with you and it's fresh water. The only possible down side is that it follows English Channel Rules which means no wetsuit. Hopefully, this shouldn't be a problem since the average temperature has been around 70 degrees.

Registration opened on February 1st and they only allow for 100 swimmers. Historically, the race had been selling out in only a couple of hours. So, Superbowl Sunday, February 1st at noon, I was sitting at my computer with my debit card waiting to begin my registration. It took completing the registration form twice before I got it to go through. I suppose I wasn't the only one attempting to get my registration in before it sold out.

YEAH, I did it!!!

The next thought was

"OH CRAP, what have I gotten myself into."

Since I had found training plans for my past races, I thought I'd begin the search for a plan. Ha, that proved to be fruitless. Rather than finding specific plans, I was only able to find general guidelines that only gave estimated weekly yardage totals. Knowing that I needed something more concrete and specific if I was going to take this on, I got in touch with a swim coach and he was kind enough to agree to help me. Sigh......thank goodness!

At the time, I was still (kinda) training for the Kentucky Derby Mini-marathon so the plan was to get started the beginning of May. I began following a training program that my coach had put together for a group of swimmers preparing for a 5k on June 13th. The purpose was to get a good base and used the race as a stepping stone to the 'A' race. The race was a success and the furthest open water swim race I had completed finishing in 1:32:59, 2nd in my age group, 10th woman and 25th overall. My pace wasn't exactly what I was expecting and I felt like I had plenty left in the tank at the finish so I probably could have gone out harder. I had no complaints other than a stiff lower back (gotta do that core work) and I was STARVING.

I've had a week of recovery and a couple weeks of speed and tempo work. Now for the fun part. The time has come to begin increasing the weekly yardage up to about 18k over the next 4 or 5 weeks. I'm ready for the challenge even though I'm a little nervous about the whole thing.