Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Elbow Viagra


Ugh. I made it to the pool last night for the first time in 3 weeks. Forget everything I have ever mentioned about swim technique - don't listen to me because I obviously don't know what I am doing. Everything went to shit pretty much from the start, I even cut the 400m warm-up short. Coach C told me immediately that I wasn't following through with my stroke, which is a problem I had been working on before Christmas.
I swam in a slow lane, so at least I kept my heart rate down, but my technique was awful. Every movement felt forced and awkward, every breath was half filled with water. I was dragging my feet, lifting my head out of the water, and kicking like a pansy. I knew all of this just from feel - but then Coach M caught me at the wall. He told me that my old nemesis - which I thought I had vanquished - was back with a vengeance. He called it "bent elbow", but I remember what Sickie had diagnosed it as - "limp elbow". I prefer to call it Olecranan Dysfunction in polite company.
Crap. How did that sneak back in to my stroke? I need to start over, break my stroke back down and re-build it. again. crap.
As I splashed around inefficiently in the pool, I realized that I am suffering from Ironman-itis as well. I have an insane level of endurance right now - a 2 hour swim is no big deal. My cardio system is stronger than it's ever been. But all the supporting systems are breaking down and rusty. My technique is poor (on the bike as well). My back aches. My knees hurt. My neck is sore. My saddle area (a.k.a. groinal crotchal region) can't handle long stints on the bike. My heart and lungs have stayed strong - but my winter inactivity has deteriorated everything else.
I'm calling the doctor about my ankle issue, getting Coach C to help me with my embarrassing limp elbow issue, and for IM-itis the only treatment is a long season of training - which luckily I've already prescribed myself.

2 comments:

katie b said...

your crotchal region huh? that phrase seems very very familiar :-P

Chris said...

Yep kb, that one was for you - blatantly plagiarized :)