Another day of more than 1k!

40 minutes of constant pace meant I totaled 1025m . I had the ipod, the watch and the aquabelt, I remembered underwear and I had $2 for parking  so it was a good day all round. Only two others in the lane meandering so there was a bit of darting and diving but generally I was content.

There was no vacuuming being carried out so another hurrah! Yes, in the world of deep water running it was a glorious day! I'm always stoked to go over 1k! Who'da thunk it! The weather outside pretty much mirrored the conditions in the pool....wet!  so no sorrow there! And a man held the door for me.

The aftereffects of DWR are pretty heavy! My abs are feeling over-worked, I'm sooooo tired and I could eat a McDonalds Angus Burger when I'm finished! I make do with a bowl of Special K and soy milk.  Recent research has shown this has equivalent benefits to drinking a restore/replace drink so I'm happy!

What were they thinking!

Today was 8x2:30 intervals. It was also the day or time the lifeguards decided to vacuum the pool! Now if you are putting a vacuum with a very long out of control blue hose attached into a lane where someone is deep water running what would you do? Would you say "I say excuse me! We're just going to vacuum here. Stay in but you may need to just use half the lane"? Well they didn't! They just pretended we didn't exist! So I was doing 10m loops at one end of the pool and a guy was doing 5m loops at the other! And the life guards just avoided eye contact! Lucky I wasn't doing distance! 9am is usually a fairly busy time but Asian ladies were absent today. Then after 15 minutes they removed the vacuum and put it away. So tell me this....what do we do in the aqua jogging lane and far end of the slow lane that means it requires vacuuming when the rest of the pool does not!

I got my workout in but it was not as fulfilling! I figure I covered about 800m but who knows! And to make matters worse I didn't have the strap for my ipod so no music! I think it was equivalent to a mud run on a pouring day.

Long run!

Yesterday I deep water ran 1.5k in the pool! Not easy! I did 5x5min intervals and managed to knock it off it just under 45 minutes!

I shared the aqua jogging lane with a blind guy. He bungyed himself to the lane divider and swam in place while I charged up and down. We coexisted very happily.

I'm still enjoying deep water running. I may get too fond of it and never want to run on dry land again! You keep relatively cool, there's no stress on your legs, you get to smell of chlorine 24/7 and you get a nice raisin pattern on your fingers. What's not to love!

The day was completed by a lovely BBQ brunch...just like the land runners do!

Otterbox....Oo rah!

Today's DWR session was brilliant! There was only Asian lady 1 in the pool and she meanders at such a pace I can turn when I reach her if necessary and not get in her way. She keeps left which is always a plus!  She left when I had 5 minutes to go and I was joined by a new player - very pregnant woman. She was slow but sure and I was able to do 1.5 lengths to her 0.5 so we never clashed.

The otterbox is a winner! Time flew while listening to Ozzie singing crazy train, Guns and Roses, Pink being a bad influence, Matchbox 20, good old Miley, Pitbull and my REALLY guilty secret (as opposed to Miley my simply guilty secret) the cast of Mamma Mia the movie! The earphones were comfortable - not even noticeable. Good comfortable earphones is a big ask for me as I have narrow ear canals. Plus they keep the water out! The otterbox clips securely into the armband so after a couple of laps I forgot all about checking it. I thought it might feel cumbersome and weighty but it was not even noticeable. I tucked the earphone cables through my togs strap and this kept them on my back and out of the way.  So fantastaballistic!

It was good I had my tunes because today was a hard one. Probably because it was building on yesterday. The session today was 2 sets of 7x1:30 intervals with 30sec recovery between intervals and, again a glorious 2 min recovery between sets. At the time it didn't feel too bad but when I got out of the pool I knew I'd worked hard! During the workout I covered 925m. Tomorrow is just a 35 minute straight DWR session so that will be a nice change. It'd give all the other pool occupants a rest from my serious pushing my limits face!

And the highlight for pool goers today  was...I wore pigtails! I don't feel I can wear a swimcap because my head doesn't go in the water. I may need to wear googles for long 'runs' because my lenses don't like the chlorine. Such an attractive sport!

Two things!

Number one!
My cheapie sports watch did the job in the pool! I could keep track of my intervals and just made sure not to press any buttons in the water. It beats slogging up and down counting "1 Missississipi 2 Missississipi.....". 6x2:30 intervals today with 30 sec recovery. My abs are being put to good use! And I no longer think about how deep the water is which is huge progress. Of course, I double check my belt before entering the water.

 The turning at the end is still a slog....I seem to be fighting to get across and round. My technique (I use this term very loosely) goes to pot and I end up leaning sideways with my left leg sticking out. I keep telling myself "You are a swan. Calm on the surface and paddling/running like hell underneath."

Number two! 

Since I am getting around in a moon boot or two crutches I noticed the diffrence in attitudes between the sexes. The door to the pool is a heavy Art Deco style one which has to be pulled to open.  Men will generally hold it open for me and will even run to do so. But women! Today I was behind a woman who saw me, opened the door, stepped through it and let it close in my face! This has been my general experience apart from the woman at the coffee place at Wellington airport who insisted on carrying my coffee and food over for me.

Is it so hard to spend two seconds holding a door open? Especially for someone who could hit you a good one with either crutch. I always smile and thank them. Where are those Random Act of Kindnesses? I may start 'accidentally' putting my crutches down on toes at the pool side or in the changing room.

And so my rant ends!

Morgan and I are considering chess or petanque as a safer sport but me and heavy boules are probably not a good idea. As Morgan says "yep, big steel balls are always dangerous!".

Bad day!

Not running has made me a little bitter. Today was a rest day from pool running so I had little to work my anger out on. So it was a bad day for Simon to go to brunch and a) not tell me and b) not check why I wasn't there.

Finally at 1:30pm he arrived home. I was not a happy camper. It felt quite depressed....didn't even want to sneak off and do an extra DWR session.

Health and safety warning:

If someone is injured to the extent they can do very little, DO not do anything that might anger them.

On the bright side, I've found an intensive 9 week DWR (Deep Water Running) program. It has DWR 5 days a week and cross-training if able.....which I'm not. So now I'm happy-ish! At least I have a focus and feel like i'm not blindly treading water.

I've ordered a bouyancy belt so I won't have to hire the pool's ones which are always adjusted for huge abdomens. And so I penguin on....penguins fly in water, right!

Pool running!

Since I can't walk, can't run and can't bike and have a pathological fear of swimming I needed to find something to stop me from killing every runner I see.

The answer is pool running! Delicate petals refer to it as aqua jogging but I refuse to. I am going hard out so I'm running not jogging and I'm in a pool....pool running!

So what does my new sport involve? Basically I wear a bouyancy aid around my waist which by the miracle of science stops me sinking to the bottom of the 4.4m deep pool.....this is the woman with the pathological fear of deep water we're talking about! There is a lane for aqua jogging only so you don't have the annoyance issue. When I first tried it I spent 10 minutes in the Rec swimming lane so i could get used to rhe sendsation and still be able to touch the floor. Stepping into the unknown of the 4.4m deep pool ewas a real leap of faith! Once in the pool I move up and down in an exaggerated running motion. I managed 45 minutes today! I will get better. You can do most sorts of running workouts...apart from hills! It is quite boring going up and down up and down. There's no music playing in the pool and I have no waterproof ipod. Currently I use visualisation to keep me going but when I'm up to 2 hours or more I'll need something more!

You work really hard but your heart rate doesn't seem to get that high, you're cooler (no sweat!) and there's none of that impact! But you do end up feeling tired! Not muscle aching tired, just "Ooh it would be nice to curl up for a nap now" tired. You also seem to get a better upper body work out than with running due to the resistance of the water. Also if you pass close to a fast swimmer going in the opposite direction you get the added resistance of fighting their wake!

The people on the running machines in the gym overlooking the pool seem to find me very funny but as Lisa pointed out they are running and getting nowhere so who are they to laugh! at least I get to race elderly Asian ladies.

I'm planning to follow my Kepler training program in the pool so I'm going to spend a lot of time at the Olympic pool. I'll be there just about everyday up until my orthopod appointment and then see what happens. Either keep at it until I have surgery or if surgery is a no-go then I'll carry on! I guess I'll get used to the smell of chlorine which oozes out of your skin despite liberal use of body wash. I may have to invest in a waterproof mp3 player.

Long long runs will be fun! I guess I hop out of the pool every hour and hydrate (ha ha), eat something small, do a toilet stop and then back in. Currently I have to do two lengths every 8 with my arms tucked behind my back because they lose strength due to the fibromyalgia. But it means I concentrate on good technique while doing it so it's a win-win!