Breaking 30 and My Foam Roller

A Milestone in Swimming!

I dropped the kids off at school and went right to the pool. I was really tired this morning and having a hard time being excited about swimming, even though I knew it would be awesome, like always, and that I would feel better afterwards.

I started out with my normal 800 warmup as follows:

200 x kick board w/flippers

200 x swim

200 x pull

200 x swim

Then I did 1500 straight to see how fast I could do it. In the back of my mind I was really hoping to do it in under 30 minutes, but I don't know if I really thought that would happen.

When I got to the halfway mark, I was trailing about 30 seconds behind that goal - partly because I had to stop and talk to the guy getting into my lane for a few seconds, but I was probably also dragging a little. Then I noticed a guy in the next lane swimming at a pretty good pace and I decided to try and stay with him. It was so much fun, and just what I needed! Not only was I able to keep up with him, but I found myself pulling ahead sometimes and I'd think, "come on, don't let me lose you." It was just so much easier to pull hard when someone was doing it with me, and we stayed together pretty good. I need someone fast to start swimming with me regularly! Any volunteers?

I don't know if he knew about our little race, but every once and a while we'd look at each other as we turned around at the same time so maybe he did. He stopped when I had about 5 laps to go, but I just kept pretending I was racing someone and pushed really hard at the end. When I got down to one lap, I knew I was going to make it in way under 30:00 and I couldn't help but smile even as I sped through the water. Pretty amazing that I didn't drown myself in the process!

I finished 1500 in 29:42! Wahoo, not even just a little bit under 30! I was so happy, and I wanted to thank the guy in the next lane, but by the time I stopped he was going again and I didn't want to bother him.

I did 150 to cool down before getting out.

Total Distance: 2450

Total Time: about an hour

What a great swimming day! I can't think of a time I've regretted going to the pool. I always love it, and I especially love it when I can see my speed improving!

So, How Are My Legs Feeling?

Last night I was getting really grouchy and irritated because my legs were hurting so bad. It wasn't so much just my hip anymore, it went all the way down to my knee so I thought I'd give my foam roller a try. I worked on my legs for about half an hour (well, actually for 2 episodes of 30 Rock so a little longer) before bed. This was my first time really doing this. I just bought the foam roller when I bought my shoes because the sales lady said I was going to need it. I mostly thought she meant for my calves so it took me way too long to realize I needed to use it on my quads. It also took me way too long to realize that it was just muscle pain, and not some kind of hip joint injury.

This is the fancy foam roller I got. It's made by Triggerpoint.

What you do with this is slowly roll it up your leg (or, more accurately, roll your leg down it so that all your weight is on your leg) then when you find a really sore spot you just stop and hang out there for a while. Then you flush it out by rolling it the rest of the way up the muscle.

I can't even tell you how much this hurts! I'm sure I was complaining about it very loudly and annoying Pete since we were trying to watch his favorite episode of 30 Rock. I was even thinking, "This can't be working, it just hurts too much." But after I'd done it for a while, all over my sore quads, I suddenly realized that my leg didn't hurt any more. At all. It was so weird, and I went to bed feeling so happy and relived!

My legs are a little sore again today, but not nearly as bad as they were. It actually hit me that my legs feel like they do when I walk around a lot in high heels. Ah, why did I not think of this sooner? :) That makes sense right? Then today I got a message from a friend that said:

"Colleen I was just reading that you have a hurt hip. I get it every now and again. Especially when I run a lot. It's probably a trigger point. The worst one I had made my hip totally give out while I was running. All u need to do is rub it out or go to a trigger point specialist to get it worked out. It cures it real quick. No running time lost."

I was so happy to reply that she was exactly right! I'm going to go do some more foam roller right now. So excited! (Note: Pete says he wishes his legs were sore so he could try it out.)