evening swim

I had a great swim workout with Colleen tonight. Started out with some warm up 100yards sets of freestyle, kick, and pull buoy. The we did a bunch of drill to help my technique. Lets see if I can remember them all.. Started with rotating to each side and really extending my arm out in front. Then finishing each stroke but pushing my hand back up out of the water with some force. One arm drills, which i got confused on which arm i was working on when and which side to breath on - go figure. I think that was it. Other pointers included getting my head in the correct position so my legs would float better - ie look down or even behind when swimming. Kick with entire leg rather than just lower legs. I hope I'm not forgetting anything..
Then we did a ladder 25 yards, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 150, 100, 75, 50, 25. I might have lost track on the 200 and did 250 accidental.. That was about it - I think it was around 9pm by then so just did a little stretching and got out.
Colleen told me about a after swim product to help get rid of the chlorine smell and stuff called Triswim. Which I defiantly going to check out. All in all I felt good a bit tired on the 200 or 250. My knee felt great no pain at all. I even did a breast stroke kick a couple times and it felt just fine. yeah it is healing :) Now I'm really tired and I'm going to go to sleep/passout. lol

beautiful sunrise

I went and ran 4 miles this morning as the sun was coming up. I wanted to do it outside since it is really boring running in the gym but since I don't know where to go from my house I went down to the trail at Marymoore and ran out and back 4 miles in about 37 min. I took it sort of easy because of my knee. I would not say my knee hurt but it does not feel right. I still can't really stretch my left quad - so I used the stick when I got home to try and loosen it.

back to work

I did a 1 mile warm up run and walked for another 5 min. My knee felt ok even after running - it is still stiff and tight and hurt when I bend it to much or try and stretch my quad. Then I just did some upper body weight training - bicep curls and shoulder press 2 sets of 20 with 8lb, 1 set 20 with 10lb. Skull crusher 3 sets of 20 at 8lb. Lat pull down 2 sets of 30 at 40lb, low row 2 sets of 30 40lb. sit ups 3 sets of 50, bicycle crunches 2 sets of 50 , reverse crunches 2 sets of 30. I also stretched - my hamstrings and back seem tight I assume from yoga. Still can't do the quad stretch on my left leg.... All in all felt good though.

weekend recap

Saturday I focused more on catching up on random chores and misc stuff around the house that had been neglected over the last 3 months or so.. I intended on get a swim in but never did.
Sunday was much better. I met Colleen for hot yoga - which was really good. I treated myself to one of those towels with grippers though I think I used it upside down (oh well). But the towel was great I had great grip for all the postures and never felt like I was slipping. After class we look another look at this weeks plan and I'm going to try and stick to it just be aware of how my quad feels and don't push it to much.
Later in the day i went and swam at the pool. My quad felt alright as long as I just did a flutter kick or used the pull buoy - it hurt when I did breast stroke so none of that for a while. I swam for about 60 min doing the same work out as earlier in the week but about half way though my sets I forgot where I was and started over at the 50 yrd sets. I also worked really hard at trying to be patient with my stokes and breath on both sides rather than just my right. All in all I felt good I also added in some bicycle motion kicks off the wall to test my knee and it felt good.
All in all yes it was bummer not to do the olympic tri but I think it was the smart thing to do since the last thing I was is a long term injury. At this point it already feels like it is healing and the faster the better :)

and Molly says...

My massage therapist Molly says that I seem to have torn and strained some of my quad muscle by my knee. She could feel some torn muscle tissue - and put her finger in it which hurt a lot. lol Also some of the surrounding and lower tissues was definitely strained. She said I do need to let it heal - though she knows me and never said that I should not do anything just that I need to let it heal and that I do heal fast but still.. So now I don't know whether or not to do Black Diamond on Sunday.. Kyle of course doesn't think I should - but I think half of that is because he does not really want to do it. Tonight I'm taking it easy and just resting and icing. I guess just see how it feels tomorrow and go from there.
I'm super bummed about the chance that I "should" not do the event. I hate letting an "injury" bench me and I really wanted the chance to know that I could do a longer race. But I guess if it means prolonging being in pain... I can focus on the half marathon in November (which is plenty I guess). On the other hand I can always walk the 10k if it hurt - but that would be frustrating to... Who am I kiding I know I should not push it and risk getting more hurt..