Saturday, August 28, 2010

medicinal runs

8/17 Another 3 miles in the rehab bag. 4 min run, 3 min walk. Last one was 6 min run. Starting to get hopeful. Will roll the leg again tonight and break up more scar tissue. Swim: Storm came up 1/2 way through and while I waited out the initial first impact (wind and driving rain) the wind after the rain passed was enough to exhaust me. I kept wondering if I would be swept down the coast or not - the currents were really weird and pulling south. Glad to be done.

8/19 run 5 walk 3 run 5 walk 3 ... it's getting there. Apparently there are DEER in the jungle. I've heard it but never believe it until I saw Bambi venado today on my run. Weird. I've got Bambi, manta and sting rays, baracuda, crocks, snakes, iguana and crabs. Oh and tortugas everywhere nesting. Swim: got in a really quick 2 loops before the storm came in. Lightening flashing and thick black clouds all around and the manta ray is bag. Dayum but he is BIG. :)

8/21 10 run 3 walk 7 run 2 walk 7 run 3 walk 7 run 3 walk 6.5 run. I had to slow it down seriously on the last 3 runs and I've finally figured out it is my peroneus longus not my soleus that starts the downward spiral. Tortugas are still laying feverishly and I saw tracks this morning from one who headed off the beach onto the "road" (sand and "dirt") before heading back through the bushes to the beach. Two new nests night before last on our beach and a couple hatchings. Looks like we'll have hatchings really late into the year this year - October to November. Wonder what that says about winter?

8/22 Water felt great. After 2 really rough days we finally caught some good weather. Stroke felt really good today and it is starting to come together.

8/26 run 10 walk 3 run 10 walk 3 run 10 walk 3 run almost 8. This is what I had planned last run (Sunday?) but my calf just didn't feel right after the first 10. I think I'm done with medicinal runs now and can move back to running again. Went out at midday and it was rather hot. Looking forward to Saturday's early run - I'll go for 5 and see how that feels.

8/28 It felt incredibly slow (and it was) but at least it isn't a medicinal run. Back to full on running (albeit slow) again. Was going to do 5 but figured I'd be conservative (for once). Back on the train again. Let's see how long I can go without reinjury.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

return?

8/9 Did my own injured "brick". Swam 1200 yd (4 out and backs) but that barracuda still had me worried and then I saw a somewhat large stingray and I finally figured out how I must have gotten bloody that one time and that was it for swimming. So I then did 25 min of water "running".

Yeah, I'm a real pussy. Oh, the water was choppy so 1200 was enough for me (though I definitely could have done 2 more loops but since I'm going every day now I want to try and keep my shoulder healthy - yeah, that was the other "reason" - save the shoulder). Still unable to walk without limping so 2 weeks just doesn't seem enough now. I'm hoping maybe next week....sigh...

WooHoo! I ran! Well, I walked for 12 min, stretched for 5, then ran for 3 min then walked, ran 3, walked 3, and was amazed I didn't tear the calf again! I'm so happy to finally make it back to medicinal runs. So now I'll do medicinal runs instead of water running. I had totally lost ALL motivation to run in the water. So happy to be back on land again. Broken toe still letting me know it is there but I'm not listening. :)

8/10 Well, now that I see the future devoid of running (I'm not yet walking without a limp, so this is going to be a LONG rehab).

Today was 1500 yd swimming in some serious chop. It was tough on the way out but sweet on the way back. Did 2 laps (300 yd) of one-arm fly drills and that was a challenge considering the chop. At times I'd totally loose the buoy (my marker) in the valley of the wave. No stingrays, no barcudda today. Nice. I actually ended up done 300 yd more than yesterday but in the same time as I was so distracted looking for the cudda yesterday. I still don't know what got me bloody that one time but my bet is off the cudda.

Finished with 15 min of water running alternating x-country and normal every 5 minutes.

8/12 1/2 primary Ashtanga in the early morning and then 2100 yd swimming afternoon. One-armed fly drills and 300 yd kicking drills. No cudas, no rays. Lots of fishies and wicked, horrid, awful kelp messing with me.

I am NOT limping today!!! First time in over a week!

Friday, August 06, 2010

f*cking calf

Managed to damage the calf again just before I headed out to the beach today. Ugh. I'm starting to think this (2nd original injury) will need a full 2 weeks to recover. I'm starting to wonder why even bother if I'm never going to run again. Sigh. I also managed to BREAK MY TOE walking to the beach!

40 minutes (I was only going to do 30-mind-numbing minutes) of steady stupid f*cking water running. No intervals today. Didn't want to stress the calf further.

8/3 The water was rather rough today but it was the wicked current that worried me enough to cut my swim in 1/2. I didn't want to get tired enough to get dragged over to Cozumel ;).

8/5 Didn't get attacked by anything today - that's a plus! :) Yesterday I came out the the water bloody with no idea how or why. Decided to increase the swim a bit today and my shoulder is not happy with me. I guess I need to start PT for it if I'm going to continue swimming. Did IM stroke work today. Big black clouds on the horizon all swim. Water super calm today - calmest yet, and I was constantly distracted by all the pretty fish.

8/8 No, I really DON'T like barracudas. So I was 1/2 way through my workout when I saw this GIANT barracuda hanging on the sandy floor, his mouth nicely open so I could see all the rows of sharp teeth. I swam FAST back to shore (at least 100 yd) and ran up to John (divemaster) absolutely ready to cut the workout short. He goes on to tell me that barracudas are not agressive - they are so strong and so fast that if they were, I'd have no hope. Um, thanks for the pep talk?

So I make it for 2 more taps (300 yd) and see him again. I've now swum over him 4 times. I am not going for 6. So I cut the swim short. Yes, I know I'm a baby. A baby will ALL my toes. for now...

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Swimming and aqua running

Tried to swim without goggles. I almost ended up on the reef in front of Don Pepe's haus so back to the middle I went and absolultey zig-zagged myslef to the reef and back again. It was insane. I tried both breast and back but I wasn't going to do a full mile of breast and back so I bagged it after one loop. 300 yds.

Finished up with 39 min of water running. I was DYING today. I wanted to stop after the first one (I did 6 x 5:00 with 1:00 between each one) and had originally had plans for 8 but I was dead after 5 and getting to 6 was about all I could do. I dunno why my legs were so dead but they were. I had NOTHING out there. Hoping for a better day tomorrow - I really didn't even feel like going out there; I should be back on the roads today. big sigh.

Monday, August 02, 2010

water baby

Oh man. I never imagined I'd fall back in love with swimming again and I'm not sure if it is the calm seas (versus the rough chop of winter) or the fact that I'm FINALLY losing that hard-to-lose belly fat or the fact that swimming is toning my arms like Ashtanga never did (that BITCH) but after totally burning myself out in AAU (yeah, back with the dinosaurs) and masters competitive swimming) I'm starting to come back around. I'm doing 6 out and back loops about 150yd each out (or back) to just about the reef and getting stronger all the time. I enjoy the tropical fish and even saw a ray one day. Thankfully, the sharks stay on the OTHER side of the reef (we have an agreement).

After breaking my toe and being totally unable to walk for a while I was finally able today to do Ashtanga (yoga) though it was a bit painful at times. It is amazing how often we use those toes. And tomorrow, I'm hesitantly going to run 3 miles (and swim at noon).

If the cost were not so high ($250USD) I'd seriously consider Cancun 70.3 (1/2 Ironman) in September, but I just can't justify that kind of money for a hobby. So instead I'm looking at marathon training and possibly a sprint tri in November at XelHa. But we are also thinking of a US trip in Oct/Nov and I might miss the tri.

At any rate, I've endured 2 weeks of water running and I have no idea if it kept anything in running shape or not, but I definitely have refound my joy of swimming. Enough that I now need to look for shoulder injury prevention exercises. And tomorrow I'll start week 5 of Hal's marathon plan and we'll see what happens with the calf. If nothing else, I have my sights on a Campeche 21K in early September.