5K swim

[kacie tri-ing]

Ok--so I know this is the triathlon tread, but I think of myself as a triathlete.....

I just still can't run. I am over 2 months out of my hip injury, and I am now allowed to run on an underwater treadmill.....lots of PT, massage, X-ray, MRI, sports doctor, chiropractor, dry needling, trigger point, you name it.

So....after missing the next 70.3 I was planning to do, I decided it was time to push my swimming ability (because I am not good at just hanging out).....so I signed up for a 5K open water swim next weekend. I swam 2.5 last week (farthest ever), and I was tired at the end, but I felt great.

I pretty nervous.......one week away!

[Urlea]

Kacie- I love the idea!!! I also have no doubt you will do it. Still sorry you can't run yet, but glad to see you are embracing other adventures. Have fun!! Really excited to hear how it goes.

[badger]

that's wonderful!

We did a 100x50m challenge last winter during one of our workouts. We were to be there at 5pm sharp and we swam the whole hour and a half doing this. If you pace yourself it's eminently do-able. Good luck!

[alpinerabbit]

You can do it :-)

If I ever get to SFO in season, I will do the "escape from Alcatraz" swim. It's "only" a mile, though in the sea - should be a great adventure!

They also have a 5k Bridge to Bridge swim, but that's a huge bite to chew on....

[Tri Girl]

Sounds like fun!!! The furthest I've swam was the IM swim: 2.4 miles (well, I probably swam more since I'm a terrible sighter) and that was fun, but tiring. I would imagine a 3.1 mile swim would wear me out- but in a good, fun kind of way. Is it wetsuit legal? Just wondering.
Have a GREAT time, and tell us all about it when you're done. I've never done anything like that, so I'd love to hear all about it.
Sorry you can't run yet, but you'll get there. In the meantime, this challenge is monumental and super exciting!!!!

[colby]

An underwater treadmill sounds fascinating. Good luck with the injury - hang in there.

What a great way to beat the doldrums with a nice swim If you can do 2.5, you can probably stretch it to 3.1, what's another 900 meters or so between friends. I know when my hips are tight I am a crappy swimmer, but when I had a hip injury I was still able to swim pretty well - especially after PT before I could run anything more than "a block" or whatever.

Is it in a lake, or river, or something else?

[roadie gal]

5K swim! My arms hurt just to think about it. Good luck and make sure you post a race report.

[kacie tri-ing]

Thanks for the encouragement! Right now, I can't really believe I signed up for this! Yikes. I am going to get a lot of needles stuck in my hip again tomorrow, which will leave me pretty sore for a few days, and I should be ready to kick that much by sunday. Now, I am not in any way a fast swimmer.....but I just have to finish, right?

It is in a lake by the way, so no real currents to help or hurt.....

[kacie tri-ing]

An underwater treadmill sounds fascinating. Good luck with the injury - hang in there.

What a great way to beat the doldrums with a nice swim If you can do 2.5, you can probably stretch it to 3.1, what's another 900 meters or so between friends. I know when my hips are tight I am a crappy swimmer, but when I had a hip injury I was still able to swim pretty well - especially after PT before I could run anything more than "a block" or whatever.

Is it in a lake, or river, or something else?

How long did you have to do pt after your ironman?

[spindizzy]

I'm a water wimp. I admire you. Greatly!!

[colby]

How long did you have to do pt after your ironman?

I must have started in August, and didn't stop until December or January? It was basically 2x/week at the very beginning, then 1x/week for a loooong time, then once every 2 weeks, then once every 3 weeks, then 4 weeks, then she called me and checked in every 4-6 weeks until this year's Ironmnan.

[kacie tri-ing]

Thanks for that Colby. I was starting to get a little gripy about having to go....I just want to feel 100% again! I just need to be patient and do my exercises (when I get whiny, I stop doing that too...)

[colby]

Thanks for that Colby. I was starting to get a little gripy about having to go....I just want to feel 100% again! I just need to be patient and do my exercises (when I get whiny, I stop doing that too...)

Yeah, I've been there. It was really frustrating to be told to run for 2 minutes or only walk when I'd done marathons, Ironman, etc. I was so happy when my exercises would change, even if only one of them was different. There were definitely some days when I wanted to skip them or waited until later in the day...I had to start looking at it as training. Training for my next "whatever" starts today, with these PT exercises. It's all a part of the plan. The most frustrating part was not knowing when it was going to end and feeling helpless about it. I had to stop thinking "when will I be able to run again" and just go with the PT until she started talking about running again - otherwise it seemed like I was getting nowhere.

Hang in... you'll get there, and you'll have a better system in the end. I can't say I'm a faster runner for having been through the PT, but I feel stronger.

[kacie tri-ing]

Thanks again. I know that I have slacked off on my excercises. Yesterday, I started a short term summer job teaching on a college campus. I wore a one-strap bag filled with my supplies and lugged it for miles. My hip hurt more last night than it has in a month. I think the twisting threw me totally off balance. I was so upset that I was hurting from carrying a stupid bag. My whole back is sore today, but I am trying to be careful, because I really want to do this swim Sunday!!!! I will be stuck with tons of needles tonight though, which is insanely painful, but I think it works! I seriously needed to hear your ironman story. My PT tells me I have to think of it that way, but for some reason, it is just hard to believe!

[KSH]

You sound like me!

I did a marathon 5-16-09. I believe I got a stress fracture while racing (no insurance, not confirmed, but it was hurting bad for a good week or so afterwards).

Since I couldn't run, I decided to sign up for a 3 mile swim. Why not? I can go see some family in Maryland and swim!

My swim is July 11th. It's kept my focus off what I can't do... and made me think about what I CAN do.

Good luck on your swim!