More swim tips from Kiko

I had my second session with Paralympic coach, Kiko VanZandt, and was really excited to see my progress.

Since my car accident, I've taught myself to swim one-handed but am really happy to find a coach that understands the ways I need to compensate for the injury. I need to rely on my rotation even more than most swimmers, so I don't injure my good shoulder.

I am rotating a lot more, since Kiko had me work on the timing of my stroke. I'm leading less with my shoulder, and more with the hip rotation. She had me practice turning my hip as my hand pulls next to it under the water. She calls this "opening the door to the garage" :)

It's amazing how much less effort this takes, when the timing is right. She also noticed that I was dropping my elbow a bit as my arm came out of the water. Kiko had me work on rounding my arm, to scoop the water with my hand and whole arm as it enters the water.

I also did some work with a swim paddle to find the right hand position. I was amazed to feel the difference, depending on which angle my hand enters the water. This is going to be a great tool to find both the best pull position, but also to feel when I use my shoulder more than I should. It really hurts if I get the angle wrong!

Kiko also noticed that my left leg gets a bit lazy when I'm going for air on the left side. Since I only have one arm working, it's more important to keep a good strong kick going. I'm definitely going to have to concentrate on that, since I caught myself doing it a number of times in the session.

I talked to Kiko about mentioning her name in this blog, and she said she loves blueseventy! She sends thanks to Roque for providing her paralympic swimmers with skinsuits--they really loved them, and the records they set with them. I just tried mine out in the pool, and it was a blast slipping through the water:)

Heddi

Training with a Coach

I have been wanting to train with a swim coach for some time, but was looking for one that had experience with one-armed swimmers. I wanted someone that would understand my limitations and how to compensate for them, but as you can imagine, that's not an easy thing to find.

Well I recently had a really lucky break. I found out that one of the paralympic swim coaches lives in Seattle, and this Saturday I had the great fortune to have my first training session with Kiko VanZandt. We spent only about an hour together, but I can already tell that her work is going to completely change swimming for me.

The first thing she noticed was that I'm breathing too late in my stroke. When she had me practice breathing earlier, I noticed that I got a lot more twist out of my torso, and finally understood what other swimmers meant when they talked about the "snap" they feel as they rotate through the water. Kiko is gearing her coaching towards longer, open-water swims for me, because triathlon is my focus, so getting good rotation is important.

She also noticed that my arm position was off, so she gave me a drill to practice that has me extending my arm completely, both in and out of the water. I'm supposed to pretend I'm scraping the ceiling and the bottom of the pool. Although she said this isn't proper swim form, it will help teach me to reach in the water, and keep my elbow high out of the water.

Kiko also had me practicing flicking my hand down at the wrist right before it enters the water. I immediately felt more energy in my pull, with the extra burst that added.

Now I get to practice these changes and get good at them before our next session. I'm so excited to finally have someone with experience teaching physically challenged athletes working with me on my form.

I'll be doing my first Half Ironman next year, and although I'm confident in doing the distances separately without a problem, it will be key to come out of the water with energy to spare if I want a good race. I can't wait to see how I improve my swim time by then!

Heddi's St Croix Coral Reef Swim

We arrived in St Croix a week before the Oct 19th race, and were immediately surrounded by warm 89˚ weather and strong winds. The winds had me worried about the race, especially since the water was looking pretty rough at the time.

By morning though, things had calmed down a lot, and Jonathan and I decided to take our first dip. The water was like bath water, and such a nice change from Seattle's Lake Washington, where we did all our long swims.

I was feeling really nervous about the 2 mile swim I would be doing the following Sunday, so I had to build up to going out deep, and got a little more comfortable each day. We swam three times a day, so I had to watch that I didn't strain my good arm, and did a lot of icing at night.

On Wednesday, I woke up to horrible nerve pain in my bad (brachial plexus injury) arm, and later found out it was the first sign that category 3 Hurricane Omar was headed our way. I suddenly had visions of trying to swim 2 miles with overwhelming stabbing pain in my arm, and I also worried that the race would be cancelled altogether.

The Buccaneer, where we were staying, puts on the race and did a great job taking care of us during the Hurricane. Amazingly, when the eye of the hurricane passed, my nerve pain magically vanished!

There were a lot of trees down the next morning, and debris in the water, but there was a chance we'd still be able to swim. I went in the water that day, but didn't like swimming with all the gunk. Later I found out that you're not supposed to go in the water for 72 hours after a hurricane, because of run-off, oil spills & debris.

By Sunday the water was less cloudy and was much cleaner, so the race was on. Unfortunately, the race directors had to reroute the 5 mile swim because the boats that usually take the swimmers to Buck Island had been damaged in the storm.

That meant skipping the beautiful underwater coral reef park that Jonathan had looked forward to, and both the 5 & 2-mile course went along the coastline, finishing at The Buccaneer's Mermaid Beach.

On race day, the wind had picked up a bit in the morning, but I wasn't too nervous about it, since the water didn't look bad where we were. We got taxied out to the starting point, which for us 2-milers was an enclosed bay that looked very calm. The sun was shining and all looked good.

The water was still a bit cloudy, so there wasn't much to see, but I did hear that some people saw manta rays along the way. About halfway, I saw an amazing rainbow arching over the closest kayak. That seemed like a good omen and reminded me to enjoy the experience.

My pointzero3 swimskin felt great, and helped me slip through the water more smoothly. I was really glad that it wasn't chafing anywhere, and that my back wasn't getting sunburned.

The calm waters started getting rougher after we left the sheltered bay, and seemed to get worse as we went along. The swells that looked like they were pushing us in the right direction had a habit of pulling me back at the end, so it felt like I was taking two steps forward and one step back.

Soon there were waves hitting from the side as well, so the chop got bigger, and I had to laugh at the fact that I was swimming in this. If I had known it would be this rough, I might have dropped out, but here I was doing it--and it wasn't that bad!

The surging water did make it harder and more tiring, but I just remembered the marathons I've run, and how you have to break it down into parts and keep going. I kept focused on the next buoy, and making it to that, and didn't worry about what came next.

Finally, I spotted the yellow buoy that signified the last turn into Mermaid Beach. It seemed like getting around that buoy took forever, but eventually I was in the bay, and swimming my hardest to get to the finish.

Suddenly, a kayaker pulled up to me and asked if I was doing OK. It surprised me since I thought I was swimming pretty strong at the moment. Then I realized that it was the first time this kayaker had seen me, so he didn't realize that I always swim with one arm. He must have thought I had injured the other during the swim :)

It felt great to cross that finish line once my legs remembered how to stand, and I was elated to have made it. This was much harder than any of my 2-mile training swims and I surprised myself that I could do it under such tough conditions.

I think the organizers were surprised to see me make it too, because they gave me an award for most perseverance :)

What an amazing experience!

My First 2-Mile Swim

This week I did my first 2-mile training swim, and it was hard! 

As soon as I got in the water, I realized that there was a strong current against me that day. Lake Washington is big enough to have currents, especially on days with a lot of wind. I always thought currents had to do with tidal pull, but I'm not sure in the case of a big lake.

Anyway, I was doing an "out and back" swim parallel to the shore, so I knew I'd get some relief once I turned around. Problem was that I felt like I was barely moving at times, and the first mile already felt like 2. So I finally got to turn around, but I was already tired by then so it still felt hard.

I did get to have some moments in my tiredness, where my body relaxed so much that I felt like I was working totally with the water, never fighting it. That's the best feeling--when you feel one with the water!

Maybe that was just a hallucination though, because I was getting really cold and a little dizzy-brained. The water temperature had actually gone up this week, but the air temperature was below 60, and the parts of my body that weren't always in the water started getting REALLY cold (my face, hands & feet).

By the time I got out I was so happy to have dry clothes and a car to wait in while Jonathan finished his swim! He was doing 4 miles, but he's a lot faster than me and had a head-start, so I didn't have to wait too long.

After a hot bath, we made our way over to our favorite Pub in Fremont for a celebratory meal & pint. Not exactly a healthy recovery meal, but it sure was good :)

Dealing with Muscular Pain

Besides the nerve pain I've lived with since the accident, I have also had to deal with a lot of neck and shoulder pain. 

Since the muscles in my left arm don't work, the arm feels heavier than normal and just hangs there. My neck leans to the right to compensate for the weight, and my back goes WAY out of alignment. This meant that I started having migraines after the accident. I never had them before, and they always seem to come when one particular vertebrae gets especially out of whack.

I tried a number of things that helped, acupuncture, chiropractic, floating in a hot tub, and of course different pain & migraine drugs.

The thing that has helped the most though, is a massage every two weeks. If I go 3 weeks I start to hurt (as I was reminded after going to England and missing my usual appointment recently). If I stick to that schedule, my headaches never get worse than a couple of Advil's worth. I can deal with that.

It took me a while to find the right massage therapist, which is why I've included a link to Renee Lewis' site:

Renee Lewis Massage

It's important to find someone with experience doing injury work. She also works a lot with athletes, so can help with the aches & pains I get from training, too.

I have to mention that along with massage, exercise has been my biggest pain reliever. Even running, which I was afraid would hurt my neck when my arm bounced, has helped my pain level. I've often gone out with a mild headache, and had it disappear mid-run. Besides all the happy endorphins I'm getting, I think the activity helps keep everything loose and healthy.

Now I usually feel pretty good when I'm active--no wonder I'm a fitness addict :)

The English Channel

So we're back from visiting J's Grandmother and swimming in the English Channel.

Our first day in Folkestone we met a swimmer that was scheduled to swim across to France the next day. He was about to go for a warm-up swim and looked nervous about the rough weather/waters and how they would effect his chances the next day. We decided to rest, and hope that the weather got better the following day.

It was a good thing we waited, because the water was perfect and calm for us on Friday. We hoped that meant a good chance for our Channel Swimmer. I have to admit that I was still intimidated by the cold, milky-white water, and it was really unsettling not being able to see my hand after it entered the water.

After a while I got used to it and felt great for working through the fear. I really enjoyed the rest of the swim and felt totally exhilarated moving through the water. We went again the next day, and had an even better time. It was a bit sunny, so the optimistic locals all came out to enjoy the last of summer.

We were the only ones in the water, so I felt a bit like the entertainment as I struggled to get on my wetsuit. I swam out quite a bit further that day, and felt pretty secure in the super-salty buoyant sea. At one time J got worried and swam by to check on me. I just flashed him a smile and said I was having FUN!

We swam almost every day, and the waves started to build as the weather got rougher. I got some good experience swimming in heavier chop and swells than I'm used to, and it helped me feel more confident about the upcoming St Croix Coral Reef Swim.

Tomorrow I do my first 2-mile swim in Lake Washington (back on home turf) and get to see if swimming in the English Channel helped my training out. Of course I never attempted the crossing to France, but a man from Finland completed it on the day our friend was scheduled--I think he made it!

Swimming in England

We're gong to be visiting Jonathan's grandmother in England soon, so decided to stay in Folkestone so we can keep up with our swim training. We might head over to Dover as well, to train in the Harbor.

I did some online research trying to find local swimmers that could tell us the best spots & other info, and ended up reading a lot about the English Channel swimmers. These people swim the 21 mile crossing, and are usually lucky if they can do it in 10 hours.

That puts my 2-mile swim in October into perspective. If they can do 21 miles (and a few do double or triple crossings!!) in cold, rough water, then I can certainly do 2 miles in the warm Caribbean.

We definitely plan to bring our wetsuits with us to England, although the "true" Channel swimmers do it without. We might be considered wimps, but I get so cold in Lake Washington that I would probably turn blue without one :)

By my next post, I'll probably have swam in the Channel!! I'll let you know how it goes. 

First 1.5 mile swim

I did my first 1.5 mile this weekend and was really pleased with how it went. I'm training for a 2-mile swim to raise funds for UBPN in October in St Croix, and this was the first time I really knew I'd be able to do it. Up until now I was just going on faith :)

The water was much calmer than when I did the triathlon last weekend, and I felt like my breathing was smoother than ever. I felt strong in the water, even when I hit small currents, and it reminded me of why I love swimming. It can be so peaceful in open water when it's just you & the water.

At one point, I heard a sudden buzzing sound, and looked up to find the coast guard next to me. I was a bit shocked, but they moved on slowly once they saw that I was doing fine. I couldn't help wondering if it was a standard visit, or if someone had worried about me and called them. I did have to stop to adjust my goggles because they fogged up completely at one point. It might have looked like I was struggling while I battled with them :)

The water is getting colder though, so I was frozen by the end, even with my wetsuit on. I had time to change into dry clothes while I waited for my husband who was doing a longer swim. By the time he was done we were both famished and went straight to our favorite restaurant for lunch, messy hair & all. I had a blanket wrapped around me and a huge smile on my face as we sat in the booth--the waiter must have thought I'd gone insane.

Heart of the Sound (HOTS) Triathlon-2008

Well I finished my second ever triathlon this weekend, and it was tough! It was much harder than Danskin, partially because the distances were a little bit longer, but mostly because it was a much more challenging course.

The 1/2 mile swim took place in Puget Sound, with a strong current against us for the longest section. It took me twice as long as expected, and felt more like my last 1 mile swim! The current made it seem like I wasn't moving forward at all, and the time I spent trying to round the 2nd buoy took forever. 

I left the water feeling pretty good, but more wobbly than expected. The bike ride was super challenging with a difficult climb towards the beginning and another one later on the course. Both my calves cramped up on me on the second climb, which has never happened to me before. I rode the course 2 weeks before on a much longer ride with no problem. I'm amazed I didn't have to walk it, but I managed to keep going by flexing my feet until it passed--Ouch!

By the time I got running, my legs felt like toast, and I couldn't catch my breath. The course had 2 loops, and I wasn't sure I would make it to the second one. Luckily, my legs warmed up and breathing calmed down enough to enjoy the second loop, and I finally got into a groove.

I finished with a big smile, and was really proud to have finished after such a grueling swim:) A fellow triathlete with Brachial Plexus Injury said "sometimes the tougher the race, the sweeter the finish" and she was right!

Managing Nerve Pain

After our return to the U.S. I soon realized that managing the pain would be my biggest challenge.

The nerve pain felt like a knife being stabbed into my hand and twisted. I would flinch uncontrollably at each spasm.  It was really hard for my husband to watch--he hated seeing me in so much pain. Also, I often withdrew into myself to deal with the pain. At those times, it was like I wasn't even present.

The doctors tried a number of narcotics first, which didn't really help the nerve pain. Then they finally tried a drug that was used for depression (nortriptyline), but had been shown to work on the pain receptors in the brain. At first I didn't want to try it and was angry that the doctors were suggesting an anti-depressant when I was in pain, not depressed. They finally explained how it worked so I agreed to give it a try. 

This was my miracle drug, and it eventually reduced my pain level from unbearable to a constant buzz. Now I always feel this buzz (kind of like when you hit your funny bone), but I can ignore it most of the time. I am lucky because this drug doesn't work on everyone, and some people with BPI never find a way to successfully manage their pain.

I still have flair-ups that can hurt as bad as the original pain, but they usually only happen when I'm sick or have hurt the arm somehow. It's awful when it happens, but at least now I know it will end at some point. 

Being active definitely helps! If I go for a run when I'm in pain, I usually forget about it at some point. Even if it comes back after the run, the endorphins help me improve my outlook.

Maybe that's why I'm so obsessive about swimming, biking & running :)

Mexican Hospitals

There was both a good side and bad side to being in Mexico when the accident happened. As I mentioned earlier, the hospital in Merida that we were sent to was very good, and all the doctors were trained in Houston.

The whole stay, including numerous surgeries, 9 days in a private room, and countless tests cost us a little over $10,000. We didn't have health insurance at the time, so we would have been in BIG trouble if this happened in the US. The bone graft I had once we returned and I had health insurance would have been over $100,000 without the insurance.

On the down side, everything had to be paid for in advance, so my husband had to run to the ATM machine for every procedure. At one point, I needed a blood transfusion and Jonathan was my blood type. So he had to run to the bank to get the money to pay for them to take blood out of his arm, and put it into mine.

Besides dealing with the financial end of things and providing me with blood, J had to get letters from the embassy to allow us re-entry in the US because our passports had been stolen. I don't know how he had the strength to deal with it all; at least I was in and out of consciousness most of the time.

Hospital

My time in the hospital was full of so many emotions. I was in so much pain, and not responding to the drugs, that they thought I might be a drug addict--I'm not.

Even the blow up mattress they used on top of my hospital mattress to relieve my pain felt like knives cutting into my back.

Most of the time I was burning up from the heat of my body trying to heal, but occasionally I would wake up shaking from the cold and would have to call out for help to turn the AC down. 

My poor husband was happy they let him stay in the room with me all 9 nights (on a bench), but I don't think I let him get much rest.

One night I spent the entire night trying to get out of bed to use the bathroom (I had a catheter in, so I'm not sure why I thought I needed to do this). I think the fact that I couldn't get up on my own really upset me. Both my arms were in casts, since I'd broken fingers on my good hand as well, so I was incapable of using my arms at all and I felt so helpless.

One night I had a dream that it was our anniversary (it was pretty close) and that we were staying in an exotic hotel in the dessert. Because I was hurt, my hospital bed was in the hotel lobby, and I was so upset that our anniversary was ruined.

Another night I dreamt I was running down a dock near where we had rented a house in Mexico. I was almost skipping or dancing as I waved my arms in the air. When I woke I was so sad to lose that free feeling I had in my dream.

The therapist there was like an angel to me. She would check in on me regularly, and made sure the nurses were gentle with me. She even helped wash my hair to make me feel better. I'll never forget her kindness.

Merida

After I was released from the hospital, there were a few days before we could get on a flight home.

One day Jonathan thought we should take a bus into the main city (a distance I would normally have walked) and spend some time looking around. I barely had the strength to make it up the steep bus stairs, so I new it would be an interesting day.

We spent most of the day walking half a block, and then resting on a bench until I had the strength to move again. I knew my husband was a real angel to have the patience to deal with that. 

The street vendors were so different with us that day! We weren't conquests any more, just normal people with not so normal problems. People kept stopping us to talk, and ask what happened. They gave advice on the best hospitals and only wanted to help us. It would have been a truly beautiful experience if I wasn't in such pain.

When we finally realized that I was needing a serious rest and a brake from the heat, J noticed a movie theater nearby. We immediately bought tickets and walked in without checking what was playing. We got there at the end of the movie, but decided to see the end, then stay to see the whole thing from the beginning to get a good rest.

The movie was "Volcano". One of the first scenes we watched was of a car accident where Pierce Brosnan's arm was broken, and hanging off in the wrong direction--just how mine had looked. I cried my eyes out, and I think my husband did too. It was the first time we didn't feel like we had to be brave to make it through this thing. It was so nice to cry in the dark where I finally felt safe enough to let go.

The movie soon ended, and then we got to see it all over again! I think that was a "God" moment, where we saw exactly what we needed right then. I would have never chosen to see that movie if I realized that's what was playing, but in a strange way I'm glad I did.

My Story

The car accident actually happened in Mexico, in the middle of nowhere. Somehow I managed to roll the car three times in a freak car accident.

My husband got me to the nearest town in an "ambulance" that was really the back of a pick-up. He then had to go out and buy bandages because the tiny clinic didn't have any. They got me cleaned up and bandaged for the trip to Merida, where they had a good hospital with doctors that were trained in Houston.

I stayed there 9 days and had numerous surgeries to reattach my collar bone and piece together both bones in my forearm. I also had broken ribs, a big gash on my head, a hole in my neck (from the door lock?) and no skin on the part of my chest that had been bashed in. I must have been a sight!

The doctors there treated me very well, and gave me honest answers about the lack of movement or feeling in my arm. They couldn't be sure the extent of the damage since there was too much trauma to be able to see my brachial plexus clearly on an MRI, but were honest about the different things that could happen--including permanent paralysis.

I was very lucky to have an amazing husband by my side. As scared as I was by the possibilities, I felt so incredibly lucky to be alive, and to get to continue to be with him. It was almost an ethereal feeling for me--I have never been so at peace. The worst had happened, so it felt like nothing could hurt me after that!