Saturday, October 14, 2006

NOW WHAT????

My shoulder hurts.

It started maybe 3 weeks ago, noticed it mostly while swimming, although it always felt tight like I needed to stretch out between my neck and shoulder. Then while making a reservation in the campground office I discovered I was holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder while I wrote. AHA! I'd been doing that every time the phone rang.

So I stopped that. I was glad it wasn't a swimming injury.

I don't think I had any shoulder trouble over the 2.4-mile swim at ChesapeakeMan.

Next swim.... hmmm, a little uncomfortable, no big deal. Last night's laps..... Ow. Oh, geez. Damn. Hell. WHAT IS THIS???? I bailed out of the last 10 minutes of the swim. My stroke count and lap times were deteriorating visibly and I thought, I'm going to hurt myself.

I was so happy with my last few swims because I got the Total Immersion book and figured out how to get more distance out of each stroke. But now my shoulder hurts again. I don't think it's exactly caused by swimming, but swimming aggravates it. Maybe because I'm pulling stronger, and longer.

Damn. I'm 3 weeks out from the Ironman. And I've got a bum shoulder.

My coach rewrote my swims for no time goals, no stroke count, no nothing except JFS (Just F-in' Swim.) Easy stuff. Nothing fancy. No watch (for counting laps and calculating pace.) No watch???? I'd rather swim without my suit. Well, no, not really.... I'll do without the watch.

5 comments:

Papa Louie said...

I hope you figure out what to do to help your shoulder to get better. I'll be cheering for you on your Ironman adventure.

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

I hope it's nothing that tapering and a couple of good massages can't fix!

Cliff said...

Ellie,

Ekk..i hope u get better with the shoulder.

I am sure by the race day u will be ready.

Kewl Nitrox said...

Oh dear, funny how we forget that lil things we do outside training sometimes hurts. Will be praying that the shoulder ache goes away and that you get right back into the grove in the swim.

Oh, and stretch, stretch, and stretch some more.

Dianne W. said...

Rotator cuff stretches? Be very careful.