Of course, my definition of livin’ it up isn’t quite what it used to be. Going out for a coffee AND a beer in one day is all it takes. But this weekend has been a nice little mini vacation.
I came out here for a swim-coaching clinic with Sheila Taormina. For those of you younger than me (no comments please) she is a 4 time Olympian in swimming, triathlon, and modern pentathlon. She is an excellent swim stroke coach and a cool, down to earth person on top of it all. We had a full day yesterday in and out of the pool.
I figure if I can fix MY swim stroke then I will feel confident enough to help others. It’s a tall order. It’s never good when an accomplished swim coach says: “wow, I’ve never seen that before”.
So now I have to fix my run and fix my swim. I am definitely not going to have anyone review my bike form. That would just be depressing.
I am staying in Encinitas. It is lovely. My finger and heal cracks are very happy to have some humidity. But damn, there are a lot of people out here in California! In my little Colorado mountain bubble, I forget.
I stopped in at a nearby CrossFit gym this morning because their online schedule did not appear to have any classes. One of the trainers was there (I recognized him from the website), so I asked him about Monday morning classes. He looked at me with a blank stare and said, “well I know we have one in the morning. Maybe noon. Whatever it says on the website.” When I pointed out that it did NOT say on the website, that seemed to push his brain into complete steroidal overload (is that mean to say?) and he just looked away. I took that as my cue to leave. I guess I will go to the other nearby gym, which wasn’t all that organized when I went Saturday morning. But at least they know when their classes are.
I’ve reached the inevitable point of frustration in my recovery. I have been close to tears in CrossFit several times. I can do more each day it seems, but a) I am so afraid of certain moves that I can’t even convince my body to try them and b) my leg is so weak that it just feels like all the work I’ve done has gotten me only about 10% of the way there.
I’ll get past this temporary pity party. I knew I would hit this stage of recovery; I just didn’t want to face it. The quick gains are over – now it is a slow plod to full strength. This could take a full year from injury (if I continue to be diligent). That’s better than the alternative of never gaining back full strength.
My Denver CrossFit coaches are super and they push me when I need to be pushed and stop when they can see I am headed toward emotional meltdown.
My hope is by the end of the year to be able to take running steps on full body weight. Possibly I could start doing short bits of running sooner, but I fear that I will just adopt a compromised form. And honestly it may be longer: I can’t even make Altra IQ lady happy at 65% body weight yet. She is hard to please. My right leg stride and foot strike is great, but I am running on my toes on my left. It is a constant battle not to. I have been doing some jumping with two legs and feel like I am ready to start single leg plyometrics on my wimpy leg. That should help a lot.
Poor Puck had to be boarded this weekend because my husband broke his foot last week. We are pretty much just falling apart. It is a stress fracture and he will find out tomorrow what his recovery will look like.
As sad as our Colorado snow situation is right now (i.e. mostly non existent), it is working out well for the gimpy family!
Recent Comments