How Being Crafty Made Me a Better Swimmer

Cross posted from my main blog

I'm very open about the fact that I'm a lousy swimmer. I figure it's nothing to be ashamed of. I never learned properly as a kid, I was never on a team.

But for reasons that still elude me, I really wanted to do triathlon. So I cobbled together knowledge from swimmer friends, fellow tri bloggers, my triathlete PT, and the little bit of coaching I've been able to afford along the way.

Moving up to 70.3 this season was a huge motivator, in an abject fear of the swim cutoff kind of way.

I knew my regular routine of slogging through junk yards at the gym wasn't going to cut it. Especially after months of recovery from plastic surgeries, followed by my compressed spinal cord situation, kept me out of the water for over a year... and let's be real, I hadn't been in it all that much since my comically bad performance in the 2015 Chicago Tri that I won't even pretend was due to the 58 degree lake.

I had always assumed I'd go to the Master Swim class at my gym once I was ready to take the next step. But it's currently not happening due to lack of instructor, so I was on my own.

Started researching training plans. Understood I had to add things like drills and speedwork.

Quickly discovered that I can't keep track of it all in my head.

Then I remembered seeing swim sets being laid out for the Master Swim on the white board at the lap pool. Thought about using that, but since I'm not an experienced swimmer, I couldn't entirely figure out the cryptic notes.

I needed something simple. So, I made myself a card that incorporated options for all the various types of swim training plans and drills I've seen floating around tri geek world.

Then, I...

• Laminated it to make it waterproof and dry erasable
• Punched a hole in it
• Used a binder ring to hang it from my swim bag

Before I head to the gym, all I have to do is fill out the card with the swim sets in the training plan.

The only catch is if I shove it in my bag, the dry erase can rub off. But I'm too lazy to bring the hard copy of the workout and a dry erase marker to the gym, so I just try to be careful not to rub too much off.

It sits poolside, right next to my pull buoy and other related torture devices.

Sometimes I secretly use checking it as an excuse to take a few extra seconds of break between hard sets. It makes me look like some fancy athlete doing something all official when the truth is I'm just a terrible swimmer with no stamina in the water.

But it really has helped a ton. I waste a lot less time pausing between sets trying to remember what the hell I was supposed to do next, or counting on my fingers trying to sort out how many more laps are left of a given set.

It helped take my tri swim from abysmal to below average. That's a big win for me.

The guy crawling behind me was all of us
after that unbelievably hard swim.
Rescue pulled 210 athletes from the lake that day.

The swim coach I worked with this spring very much approved of it as a training tool. Between her fixing my stroke and general approval of the direction I was taking my training plan with help from this planning tool, I was able to take my swim from never gonna make 1.2 miles inside 1:10 to reliably doing it in roughly 48 mins in practice.

Of course, we all know you never know what race day will bring. In the case of Steelhead 70.3 2018, it brought huge waves and, because Lake Michigan is a fickle bitch, an are you freaking kidding me wetsuit optional water temp of 76.4. Hundreds of us opted in, because we like not drowning.

This picture is of me frantically checking my watch as I cross the timing mat to find out if I was disqualified after surviving the uphill swim through the washing machine stuck on the murder cycle.

I squeaked in with 2:34 to spare.

I couldn't have made it without the focused effort I made in the pool with an appropriate training plan, made easier with this swim training aid.

If you're like me, you're heading into winter thinking about lazy easy ways to hone skills so you come out of the off season ready to train. This card is the perfect tool to help with that.

You can make your own handy dandy swim training card with this free PDF download.

Laminator not included. Sorry, Google hasn't sorted out how to digitize that yet. But they assure me they'll get to work on it as soon as they nail down the self driving cars.

 At some point I'll write the race report for Steelhead. It was an epic personal victory. I cried a lot.

Taking My Ego for a Ride

Cross posted to ShesAlwaysWrite

I got my racing bike off the trainer, dusted it off and cautiously pumped tires that have been flat since last spring, when my OB laughingly informed my non-stop puking self that I was pregnant.

Here's what I learned:

A) Headwinds still suck.
B) Holy shitballs Batman, I am out of shape.
3) See A and B.

This was the conversation between my legs and cadence computer about 3 minutes into the ride...

CC: You suck.
Legs: But... but... complicated pregnancy! Puked every day for 9 months! Pre-eclampsia and bedrest!  Emergency c-section!!
CC: You TOTALLY suck. Now HTFU and give me 85.

Also? Postpartum bellies and aero bars are mutually exclusive concepts.  And what was I thinking signing up for a triathlon that is somehow only 9 weeks away?!

There was some good news...

1) I can still clip in without wiping out.
2) I still remember... mostly... which gear levels do what.
3) I can, technically, still pull 21 mph into a headwind while hauling 100 extra pounds on this poor, tired ass.

It's not gonna be pretty, but I'm fairly confident I can finish the Danskin sprint in August. Even if I have to hold hands with Sally Edwards to do it.

Bottom line? Time to spend less time pounding big girl martinis and more time hammering in the big girl ring.

My Future Relay Team

This pretty much sums up where I've been for the past year.

Gleektastic

+

+ 

= New Favorite Workout

Hardest part is restraining my geektastic show choir drama club marching band self from running hard and singing at the top of my lungs.  Cause that would totally kill the Zone 2ness of it all.

Harder to Wait for than Christmas

Waiting to give Bear his bike at Christmas was a zillion times easier than waiting for it to be nice enough to let him take it outside!

After that epic blizzard, we've still got some waiting to do before all this snow melts and we can trade our ski caps for bike helmets.

You Say It's Your Birthday

I have days when being in my late 30s feels really old... like when I hear teenagers asking store clerks where the legwarmers are and I'm all "um, hello, it's NOT 1986." 

But mostly, I feel like this is a great age to be and I try to enjoy being young. ish.

Regardless of what kind of day I'm having, I never stop feeling this way about my holiday birthday.

Not Exactly Funny 'Ha Ha' But We Laughed Anyway

Sitting around the table after a belated Christmas dinner with what's left of my mom's family, we were randomly chatting and the subject of birthdays came up (and not by me).

A minute or so into the topic you could see a light go in on my mom's face. She reached across the table to get my attention and says (Ooooh how I wish I was making this up):

"Hey, in case I forget, happy birthday"

This actually happened a couple of years ago.   This year she remembered... and texted me. *head desk*

I Bet Santa Rides a Trek Too

A while back I asked Bear what kind of bike he wanted for Christmas.  Bear said "A red one!!"

Did you know that every decent bike model out this year is green or blue or orange or neon yellow or any color of the rainbow that's not red?

I knew the Trek Jet 16 (after exhaustive research, the model I favored anyway) came in red.  I just couldn't find one anywhere - all the bike shops had blue.  Turns out the red was from a previous model year.  Cue the fruitless searching.

One last ditch Google the week before Christmas turned up what might possibly be the last red one in existence, at a bike shop about an hour from here (and on clearance to boot!). 

I know this looks like Bear is more excited about the Percy train, but me asking him to stand by his bike was the first time he EVER he voluntarily posed for a picture... and he smiled!

Here's a better shot of the bike bling...

I was worried that it would take a few weeks or months for him to figure it out, but by the end of the day he was zooming up and down the hall, doing intricate loops around furniture and asking when he can "take bike outside go fast!!"

I think I know where my run workouts are going to come from this spring!

Cross Posted - Another Kind of Holiday Self Control

My newest post is up at ShesAlwaysWrite: Another Kind of Holiday Self Control

New and Old

I haven't been tri blogging much lately, but not for lack of interest or desire.  I've just had to be rutheless about priorities.

So many things are happening - some are new and exciting and some are new and scary and some are old and necessary.  All are for the better, and with diligence some of them will help bring me back to my beloved tri community sooner or later. 

In a nutshell...

Work
Work was great this year.  So great that I barely had time to keep up, now that Bear is napping less (and his therapy schedule wouldn't accomodate any more than 1 morning of daycare).  My confidence in myself as a consultant has skyrocketed, years of networking and skill development have paid off, and I landed a couple of high end international scope clients this year.  There are days I'm in tears from the pressure of getting it all done, and it's frustrating to have turned down a couple of jobs due to time limitations when I needed the money.  But I'm proud of myself and looking forward to what next year brings.

Health
I just got a long overdue PCOS diagnosis.  It explains everything that the thyroid problem alone does not, and I'm grateful to finally have these additional problems recognized. I started on the new scrip about a week ago and am having a moderately challenging transition. (If you've ever taken Metformin, you know what I mean.)  But if it means A) way better chances of having another baby, and B) way better chances of not following everyone in my family down the path of Type II diabetes, then I'll suck it up and hopefully I'll be one of the patients for whom the side effects dissipate in a couple of weeks.

Fitness
I've started seeing a trainer once a week.  It's not enough, but it's all I can manage right now.  I can already see the improvements, and in general it's incredibly motivational.  Just knowing I'm already taking this (big, time consuming, difficult at this time) step has made it easier for me to go back to making the positive choices of my heavy training days.  I'm also easing yoga back into my schedule. Because, well, yoga rocks.

Bear
My beloved Baby Bear turns 3 tomorrow.  The last few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster, with all the transition meetings as he ages out of Early Intervention and moves under the jurisdiction of the school district.  I just got out of his IEP meeting this morning and am now working out what our weekly schedule (group therapy, daycare, home therapy stuff) will look like between now and next August (when he can start preschool).

He's doing AM. A. ZING.  So much so that many people who meet him now have no clue that his bowl of alphabet soup is full of neurological acronyms.  I'm so proud of him I can hardly stand it.

Blogging
Over the summer I launched a blog at ShesAlwaysWrite.com to have an outlet for the deeply challenging and emotional ride that is life with a special needs child.  I now participate in a community of special needs mommy bloggers (our segment is SPD with a signficant overlap in Autistic community).  I've become a member of the SPD Blogger Network and was recently honored with an invitation to become a bimonthly guest contributor on the award winning author's blog Hartley's Life With Three Boys. 

I thought about it long and hard, and I decided to keep this blog alive too.  I know in my heart triathlon will continue to be a part of my life, and the girls over at the SPD network don't really care how much I improve my swim or that I negative split the Turkey Trot 5K  : )

I miss you all, and I do try to keep up with you in the rare moments I steal to peek at my Reader feed.  If you see comments from shesalwayswrite, please know it's just me too busy to log into my triathlon account.

Hugs & love to all my tri peeps!
Siren

Funny Cycling Jerseys

Found out about these from a cyclist friend on Facebook and couldn't resist sharing them here.  The only question for me is which one to get!

You can find these and more at ShareTheDamnRoad.com.

Big Boy Bike

Bear outgrew the little garage sale bike a friend got us as a joke for our baby shower. In fact, he was too tall for it before he could really even ride it. Guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise, given that he's taller than one of the 4 year olds at our park he sometimes plays with.

We moved the seat on his trike all the way back, but he's all scrunched up and has lost interest because it's not fun to ride that way.

With his 3rd birthday fast approaching, we decided it makes sense to get him a Big Boy Bike. I immediately geeked out about it and took him last week to get sized. Sure enough, at 33 months old he already needed to move up to the 16" option.

I was so excited about the whole thing, thinking we'd have our pick of great bikes for him (I saved all summer to set aside $150, which to me, seems like a HUGE sum to spend on a bike for a 2-3 year old.) I thought I'd be able to walk into anyplace that sold bikes and look at options from reputable brands like Schwinn, Giant and Trek.

Turns out, unless you look really, REALLY hard... your options are Transformers, Spider-man and Cars.

And contrary to the box office take for the movies that spawned these overpriced preschooler marketing ploys, the reviews for these licensed character bikes are pretty wretched. I don't want to drop $90 on a bike that multiple parents reported have pedals that fall off on the first ride.

We started looking off the beaten path and did find a few options that fit my original fantasy. Problem being, the prices on those START at $180 and approach $300.

So my choice for Bear's special 3rd birthday Big Boy Bike appears to be a crappy bike I can afford, or a good bike I kind of can't. And I think that totally sucks.

That said, I'd rather scrape together a little more money to get a higher quality bike that will probably last him all the way through the 7" inches of seat post play that I know at least one of the good bikes has.

These are the the main choices we're considering.  Wide open to suggestions from anyone with experience in this area.

Diamondback RM 16

Giant Animator

Schwinn Gremlin

Trek Jet 16

Doing the Right Thing

Made the difficult decision to take a pass on the women's tri in Indianapolis I wanted to do this weekend.

Even though business has picked up on the front end, clients are painfully slow to pay their invoices on the back end.  Things are predictably tight because of this.  So between the tri this weekend and the trip to Minnesota next weekend so Grandma Clara - who's rapidly going blind - can see her only great grand Bear... where to spend what little travel money we could scrape together was a no brainer.

I feel good knowing that the workouts I've been able to sneak in recently told me I would have been able to finish the race strong and happy, with little or no shoulder discomfort.

And because I can haz mad copy skilz... and a personal trainer peep whose growing business was in dire need of a website rebuild... I can haz personal training that started yesterday!  Because friends don't let friends get fat and lazy / have suboptimal internet marketing.

I'd casually "worked out" with my trainer friend in a side by side treadmill chat kind of way.  But oh. em. gee.  Are you ever in for a fantabulous feel the burn sweaty hour if you're her client!

This has given me a whole 'nother reason to look forward to Fridays.

(If you're in the northwest Chicago burbs and in need of a trainer, check her out. Plz note: as of link time, this was the outdated site I had nothing to do with. Upgraded awesomeness to launch in a few weeks.)

Three Times the Awesome

July 26, 2010 Chrissie Wellington Event

I went to the Chrissie Wellington event sponsored by Runners High n Tri in Arlington Heights.

It was awesome.



Meeps and me happened to be next in line, so we snuck a quick photo in front of the official backdrop when Chrissie took a restroom break.

Oh Happy Day

Not much to report in tri doings for me, other than a lovely open water swim two weekends ago, a very nice brick last weekend and a kick ass Q&A event last Monday night I went to with Meeps where we got to meet Chrissie Wellington.

Yeah, THAT Chrissie Wellington : D

(yeah, I know, no photos, it didn't happen. Hard copy in hand, still working on getting e-copy from the event folks)

Anyways...

Like I said. In lieu of anything real to report in my tri world, thought I'd do a virtual happy dance on another topic near and dear to my family's heart...


Prop 8 Ruling

Farewell, Proposition 8. You won't be missed.


Fancy embed courtesy of award winning blogger Joe. My. God.

Formula for Success

(Wonderful Husband + Bear + Park)

+ (((Me + Kona + 2 mile run) / 85 degrees ) X (Running 1.25 mile w/out stopping))

+(Nice kick left in me at mile 1.25 to show off for folks at park)!*

- (Kona chasing geese)

- (Kona barking at kids)

- (Kona forcing my pace)

+ (Kona on best public behavior of his life)

+ (brief visit at Bear's park)

= AWESOME



*Why yes, that IS a factorial! Little shout out to my geeky peeps : )

Sporty Yet Orthopedic

Realized we're leaving on yet another vacation that I don't have adequate footwear for, and ended up spending almost 5 hours yesterday dragging poor Bear around trying to find a decent pair of sport sandals.

I heart my Birks, but leather plus hot sweaty walking all day = bad stinky shoes. And my Chacos rock, but I feel their walking limits on the 2 mile jaunt to Bear's park and back.

Read great things about Merrill and Eco sandals, but of course could not find anywhere with them in stock. Not even the uber awesome REI, which is pretty much always worth the 3 hour round trip. Went there just to try on the Keen Whispers, but it turns out they run more narrow than most Keen sandals and didn't work out. Tried on the Keen Venice H2 sandals to compare, but they were so chunky and ugly I couldn't do it. Plus, their generous width was still not enough for my hobbit feet.

Tried on the Teva Tirra sandals on a whim (i.e. last resort). Pleasantly surprised that they were wide enough and seem to have enough arch support. They seem to have a dual personality - the ankle strap says "I'm a rugged sport sandal" and the bottom half says "I'm an orthopedic nightmare trying to be cute."

Wore them on errands today and am happy so far. Now I'm not dreading the all day walk around at St. Louis Zoo this weekend.

Her Sun Set Too Soon

I just found out about what happened to Wendy Buckner.

Because we lived in different countries, I only got to hang out with her once in person. But I was immediately drawn to her, and I enjoyed every moment in her wise and witty presence. We've stayed in touch the last few years, and the news of her passing hit me hard enough to stop everything and have a good cry.

Godspeed, Wendy. I hope that red Prada purse is waiting for you in Heaven.

Wendy at the 2007 IMWI Tri Blogger meet up.

Bulletish Points

Life is hectic, still buried under those two big website projects with no end in sight. But the clients are happy with the work I'm sending in, so it's all good.

Squeezed in an afternoon at the lake on Saturday with Bear. And my BFF and her toddler (Bear's favorite human being on the planet, whom he asks for daily.) And another awesome friend and her 1 yo and 3 yo. And my sistah Dag and our godson the unbelievably Adorable Quiet Child.

I think the kids had almost as much fun as I did.

Had a GREAT time. Discovered that A) SPF 70 rocks and B) there are bits on my back I can't reach with SPF 70.

Which brings me to C) Lidocaine aloe gel rocks. Someday I'll be able to put on a bra and lean back against a chair again.

Oh, and a quick jaunt out to the middle of the (tiny) lake proved I've been doing the right thing by my shoulder by *not* swimming. Not that my pool is open - now they're hoping for repairs to be done by July.

Not sure if I already mentioned... Bear's EEG was clear. So, officially no seizures. Which means the explanation for his little "spells" are probably self-imposed time outs by a sensory overloaded brain.

Shoulder still a problem, already hurting again just a few weeks after cortisone shot. Didn't race in Naperville on the 13th, but did go volunteer and had a BLAST.
Apparently when you know what's going on, organize your station and answer all the athlete's questions they give you a walkie talkie and put you in charge. Made it worth getting up at 4.

And the total bonus was I got to see MommyMeepa obliterate her PR by 30 minutes! She so totally rocked that race, I can't wait to hear how she does at her first Oly next month!

We Oughta Be a Case Study or Somethin

First off, in case I haven't said it loud enough for y'all to hear through the window, BIRKENSTOCKS SO TOTALLY CURED MY PLANTAR FASCIITIS!

Kay. On to new business.

Saw the good neurologist Friday. The one we waited for 6 months to get in with. Worth every minute of that wait. LOVE this man. First time we've had an appointment where I felt like the doctor was truly intent on evaluating and diagnosing the problems with my precious Bear.

And boy, oh boy was there some diagnosing going on.

In a nutshell:
1) Sensory Processing Disorder - the one we already knew about, and what brought us to him in the first place

2) Speech and Language Processing Disorder - not exactly a surprise, but still disappointing to hear (but on the bright side, probably improves his chances of getting continued therapy through school district once he ages out of EI)

3) Possibly: Autism... wait and see. There are enough red flags to prevent him from ruling it out altogether (unlike the previous neurologist, who laughed it off). But, he's far from a clear cut case. His social development is delayed and we are under orders to watch it closely. In time, if he catches up socially we're in the clear. If not, doctor will revisit possibility of autism.

4) Possibly: ADHD... wait and see. Too young to rule in or out, and could just be the sensory seeking behaviors that are often dead ringers for ADHD. Doctor and I agree medication is not appropriate for him. Doc said when he's school age, if he really, truly can't function, we can consider meds as a last resort. So, back burner on this one.

5) Possibly: Non Epileptic Seizure Disorder - Bear has little spacey, unresponsive spells. I thought they were infrequent, but now it sounds like I just don't see them as often because he's more independent (i.e. playing in next room) or with another adult. After talking with all his therapists, every single one told me it's something they've noticed and been wanting to discuss with me. But, might not be seizures - because of his sensory disorder, it could be his brain putting him in a self-imposed time out due to sensory overload. EEG scheduled for early June to learn more.

Oh, and he's getting the surgery to put tubes in his ears next Monday.

Aaaaand... oh yeah! Today, my endo declared recent blood test results "Excellent!" My inner overachiever is hoping he puts a gold star on my chart.

With all this, I somehow managed to squeeze in an appointment for my chronically owie shoulder. Doc gave me 3 choices:

1) Ice & ibuprofen & time (because that's worked so well thus far!)
2) PT
3) Cortisone shot

I'd kill for the time (& room in my budget) for more sessions with my awesome PT. But that's just not gonna happen right now. So, I opted for the cortisone shot.

Bear was with me, making things interesting.

I can now say I've taken a 4 inch needle in my right shoulder while wrangling a Bear with my left arm. I is a Mommy ROCK STAR.

My doc (marathon guy) half jokingly suggested I could still do the tri in 3 weeks if I floated on my back and didn't use my right arm to swim. I don't think he'd bat an eye if I actually DID try that. But it doesn't feel like the right thing to do, seeing as how my shoulder's been painful enough to wake me up at night and I'm resorting to giant needles because that's somehow the easy way out. There's still the race in August - that's feels like plenty of time for my shoulder to recover.

And now... I'm off to do Bear's pre-surgical hospital check in call. Good times.

(Oh, and that whole Mean Mr. Meaniehead Husband suggesting my bike speeds weren't legit thing? I. WIN.)