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.