Alright…so we’ve all done it.  You know- that little thing you didn’t listen to while training.  That little “ow”.  That little “ow” that becomes a “tweek”…..

That’s what I did on Tuesday at Masters Swimming.  I was running late and didn’t get there in time to warm up (packing my food for the day).  I started right off with the one arm drills the coach was prescribing.  Almost immediately my right shoulder started “popping” a bit…but I continued on with the 25 meters of drill…and then for fun- did it one more time. 

Nothing hurt  much during the workout but then later I could feel I had done something to my shoulder.  And this happens to be the same shoulder I had surgery on to cut the upper bicep tendon three years ago….

Now here’s where the tweekin comes in….Not only did I “tweek” my shoulder- but I full on start tweekin in my head!  I start thinking, “Oh no!  I’m going to need surgery!  I’m not going to be able to swim again!  I’m not going to be able to do my Ironman”.  Blah, blah, blah, blah.  The list goes on and on!

The first thing I did do though was to call Dr Ken at Active Care  and make an appointment to see him that day.  Dr Ken first put my shoulder back in the correct spot, then had me come back a few days later for some more care.  His prognosis- I pinched my rotator cuff and should keep using my shoulder, but warm up good! 

Today I went back to Masters and took my time with a few hundreds to warm up.  Our workout today was longer sets 125s and such.  I could feel my shoulder a bit during the workout, but nothing that felt like a “tweek”.  Afterwards I was a bit sore- iced it for awhile- and called Dr Ken to confirm that all would be ok  (he said my shoulder was going to be fine).

Tweekin is no fun.  It’s no fun to do and no fun to let run wild in my mind.  One thing I did learn from this is to always properly warm up!  I know this is important for everyone- but now that I’ll officially be over 50 in a few days, I really need to pay attention to my warm ups!  It’s just not worth loosing energy and training time over….So here’s to those darn warm ups and making  the extra time they take.

I'm goin in!

Yahoo- today Coach Carol put me in the next faster lane at Masters!!! I’ve moved up a lane in the Green Mountain Dawgs Masters! I can’t believe it! I am actually two lanes up from the slowest lane now…….
I remember last Feb when I went to Masters for the first time and started off with Dawn and Louise and a few others in the slowest lane. They were so kind and helped me understand swim etiquitte (something I’ve found handy since there can be some pretty cranky people first thing in the morning!).
I definatly had my butt kicked today. We were on the long course and I was the last one in our line of swimmers. The moderate laps were ok- but when we had to crank out those fast laps, I was struggling to keep up!
I love feeling like I might puke by the side of the pool! (no puking in the water :0
So here’s to swimmin with the Bigger Dawgs…..Mornings were never as fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!