When Mr. Tea & I walk into the ER, hospital be like...
We spent Wed afternoon at the emergency room.
The day kinda went like this:
I have a 2 hour brick. I finished my ride and hear Mr. Tea on the phone. I don't think much of it and head out to run. Halfway through my run, I get a text message saying, "I need to go to the emergency room."
So, I ran as hard as my little legs would carry me after doing 30 minutes at 100-110% on the bike.
Since this was my cooldown, MB decided this was my Resting Beast Face.
The trip was due to a number of symptoms that pointed to internal bleeding. When you're on blood thinners, you're told "no contact sports or anything where you could fall, no lifting weights, avoid cutting yourself."
In other words, don't do anything stupid. It's precisely when you are told not to do anything stupid, that you will, indeed, do something stupid.
In this case, he banged his head and started throwing up blood.
Just a little disconcerting, eh?
The end result is that he's ok. That's all that matters.
We left the ER with a message from the doctor, "Don't bang your head."
I have decided to take Ti's advice. She told me to write as much as I needed to in order to process everything that is going on.
After yesterday, I woke up feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. We know there will be many more rough days ahead, but the end result is that he is getting better.
I feel like there's been a lot of doom and gloom in my blog lately.
It is a serious subject. There are days that are tough, but there are really good days too.
This week, I had an amazing breakthrough swim.
I finally hit a 1:25 pace for 10 x 100's. What could make this more incredible? It was a hypoxic workout.
That's right 10 x 100's....no equipment...just a swim....while feeling like I'm drowning.
I was so excited that I jumped out of the pool and hugged my coach.
So, if you think you've had a bad day.....imagine what my coach went through.
When I started triathlon, I swam 2:45 per 100. I joined my first master's team and over the coming years, my pace dropped to 1:55. Then, I stalled, for awhile.
I started looking around for a new masters. I found Andrew.
I learned what masters should be like. His program is extremely organized. He is the only level 4 swim coach in the state of Colorado. When I told Liz about him and I told her about the program: the types of workouts, etc. (Liz is a level 3 masters swim coach). She told me to do whatever he said to do. I simply tell her what days I can swim masters, and she schedules those days.
The rest is history. There have been days where he pulls me out to my own lane and works with me directly. This means on a day that I should swim 3400-4000, I'll swim maybe 2000. But I have a dedicated coach, working on my own issues.
At the end of this year, I will be with this masters team for 2 years.
In the beginning, we worked on the big things: my pull, body rotation.
Over time, we've moved to smaller nuances: head position, hand position, arm turnover & changing my kick to a 6 beat kick.
He's pushed me too. He sets my paces and won't take NO for an answer. "Tea: 25 in :16....if you do +:18 or more GET OUT OF MY POOL."
"Tea: I want these 100's at 1:30."
My lanemate would say, "She raced this weekend."
Coach "Tea: I want these at 1:32."
There were days he tested me by moving me to a faster lane AND making me lead the lane.
There were days he would video tape my stroke to show me what I was doing wrong.
My paces started dropping. I saw 1:45. Then 1:35.
I stayed at 1:35 for awhile. He started making some adjustments. BOOM! I went from 1:35 to 1:30 after making a few simple changes.
I was at 1:30 for a number of weeks.....not months....when he started really working on my kick and explained why the 6 beat kick was so important.
I know triathletes think they don't need to worry about their kick, but they do. A 6 beat kick was tough for me to learn, and it required a new level of leg strength. Once I got it, my pace fell to 1:25.
All of a sudden, I felt like a missile through the water.
It wasn't always easy. I have had more than my fair share of "bad" swims. It would be a swim where nothing goes right. Nothing is easy. Everything is a struggle. The days where I get lapped by new swimmers; air ball my flip turns repeatedly or hit the lane lines so much that I look more like I attended a martial arts class than masters swim.
I've learned that when you deconstruct a part of your stroke, only to reconstruct it, there are going to be those days where old habits and new lessons intersect and get in the way of each other.
What do you do on those days? You just go with it. You don't quit the workout. You keep swimming. I've found that when I have those complete disaster swims that the next time I get in the water, I have a breakthrough day.
I'm not a gifted athlete in any way. Whenever, I post a swim on Strava, I always get the "You're so fast" comments. I respond with "Thanks." But inside, I know how hard I've worked to get here.