Yanti and Lynn, Mentors of the Manatee Melee: FULL (Page 33)

Dropped by Grainne's logs to see how she went during the race--hope all was well!

Thanks to everyone who chimed in with great advice for her.

Wow, how'd you know that's what it was? SMART LADY!

It's going to be a channel crossing of the Lombok Strait, which runs between Bali (my island) and Lombok (next major island to the east).

What makes it a little complicated is that it's one of the major channels by which the Pacific Ocean dumps into the Indian Ocean. So the currents can get a little hairy and channel flux is such that it actually generates its own waves. That's in addition to the normal waves ... put those together and you get additional currents, too. FUN TIMES ...

The point of crossing we've picked is 40K wide. We have alternate landing sites all down the coast, since if we misjudge the currents, it may turn into a 100K or more trip. At some point we'll have to ditch since at the south end, the currents can get up to 3.5m/s (you could break the world freestyle record by FAR by just floating ... ) and I don't really need to get spit out into the Indian Ocean.

Chances are it'll take several tries. It's generally thought to be unswimmable. We'll start some 'dry runs' with small craft this November (the swim attempts will take place NEXT year, between Nov 2012-Jan 2013). Generally those are the most favorable months.

Buildin' a website, looking for sponsorship (to cover some of the costs of crossing as well as we want to raise lots of dough for Bali and Lombok charities, probably to teach orphans how to swim and about ocean conservation). So far, preliminarily, Powerade Isotonik (already one of my sponsors), Heineken, and Speedo are on board.

I've already gotten in the local papers for the 10K swim and have commitments for publicity once we formally make the Lombok Strait swim announcement.

My sister is pulling her hair out and yelling at me on a daily basis, but secretly, I'm sure she's very proud.

yes, I read that! Okay, see ... North Channel is crazy.

Speaking of pulling hair out and yelling ... 8-9 miles the WEEK before the half?!? AAAAAAAH ... and needing NSAIDs to get further than 1/2 mile ... oy vey.

What do you SAY to someone who's as nuts as you are? Manatees, help me out ....

Anyhow, John, I hope you took it easier and you're gonna take it easy this week. You SAID your goal was to toe the line, now make sure you actually GET to the line!

Oh My God..... I did it. I cant believe it. But thanks you to all of you for believing I could do it. I did the swim too. I completed it in 2 hours 4.08 min.

I am sorry I didn't post yesterday but my neighbors had a fantastic pool party for me and which we picked up again today at breakfast. Just got back home.

I will post a race log as soon as I figure out how to do it but in the meantime my friend emailed me and asked how it felt so this is what I emailed her

As you know I am not totally comfortable in the water so what got me
through that was the 1,2,3,4, breathe I'm not sure how many times I counted but
I did it for 28 minutes until I got to the end.

I have convinced my neighborhood to do a 5k with me next. So... I think
that is progress.

Thank you for all your support, I can't tell you how much of a factor all
that was in my total mental well being, it kept me going because I felt I can't
let everyone down now. What would I post on facebook the next day if I didn't
finish

CONGRATULATIONS GRAINNE!!!!

You are a triathlete.  

John.... so sorry to hear about your injuries and not being able to do the 70.3.   But you have to do what your body tells you ... and know there will be other races.  Enjoy the time with your girl, and take care of yourself.  I know how frustrating injuries can be and have had to pull out of several races this year myself - but your body and health are so much more important.  Be well my friend.

Grainne Wynne - 2011-08-01 8:15 AM

Oh My God..... I did it. I cant believe it. But thanks you to all of you for believing I could do it. I did the swim too. I completed it in 2 hours 4.08 min.

I am sorry I didn't post yesterday but my neighbors had a fantastic pool party for me and which we picked up again today at breakfast. Just got back home.

I will post a race log as soon as I figure out how to do it but in the meantime my friend emailed me and asked how it felt so this is what I emailed her

I cannot tell you what an amazing feeling it was. I started crying as soon
as I started up the car to go to the event. I wasn't really nervous on the day
because I felt I can do this.  It was what I had worked for and was kind of
thinking about it as just another work out only a little longer. If that makes
any sense. But as we lined up on the water I had that "what the heck did I do
feeling." 

As you know I am not totally comfortable in the water so what got me
through that was the 1,2,3,4, breathe I'm not sure how many times I counted but
I did it for 28 minutes until I got to the end.

 

I cannot tell you how happy I was to get out of the water, put my bike
shoes on and ride. First five miles were up-hill (both ways if you know what I
mean) At mile 7 I started crying again because I felt OMG I am really going to
do this. Got back to base again after 50 minutes or so and put my running shoes
on and walked/ran the last part 40 min's or so. It was totally unbelievable.
Fiona (my daughter) met me about 50 yards out and ran in with me to the end.

 

Total time in suspended animation was 2 hours 4 minutes. Still cant believe
it's all done. I can see the addiction it was the best feeling getting to the
end of each section.

I have convinced my neighborhood to do a 5k with me next. So... I think
that is progress.

Thank you for all your support, I can't tell you how much of a factor all
that was in my total mental well being, it kept me going because I felt I can't
let everyone down now. What would I post on facebook the next day if I didn't
finish

Wow, that brought tears to my eyes, too!!! YOU ARE AMAZING and you made it an incredibly memorable first race. And you got a PARTY, that's great!

The bike chain congrats is great but I wanted to celebrate your swimming most of all

(CONGRATS.jpg)

Oh John {{MELON PRESS}} that sucks, but there will also be better races when you are in better structural form to do them. UGH ... pinched nerves YUUUUUUUUUCH no matter what, though!

Do you have a slipped/ruptured disc at that site?

Thank you so much. I was certainly not as graceful as that pretty little mermaid but I did IT. WHHooo Hoooo!!

I dont know how to do the race report so any suggestions on that greatly appreciated, and also how to post pictures. Again not pretty ones but it was not a pagent but an endurance goal.

John so sorry about your injuries. It is very common that you get another injury while trying to protect the first one. I would keep taking the meds though because some if you dont bring the swelling down it could cause even more damage. Been there. Not Fun. I am a firm believer of keeping ahead of the pain so it makes it easier to heal.

TRUTH. And aside from knowing this from lots of stupidly repeated experience, there's actually decent evidence for 'keeping ahead of the pain,' so to speak.

Grainne, click on the Race Log (NOT Races) icon up top. at the bottom right, click on Add Race. That should walk you through putting one together. I suggest Save as Draft (if you click Save it makes it public, although you get a do-you-really-want-to-do-this question pop up). There's room there for three pictures. If you want to add more than that, let me know

Wow! You are so caaaaaa-rrraaaaaaa-zzzzzzzy!!! But awesome! I am looking forward to seeing how this all pans out and watching the progress! Glad you have Heineken on board : ) Keep us updated!!!

I was diagnosed with a degenerating disk in the early 90's (may have ruptured or out of place initially, but I waited 3 weeks to go to the Dr).  I was told I would never play racquetball again and since then I’ve been nationally ranked top 10 in my age/skill bracket.  It may not be a nerve as much as a pinched muscle and resulting spasm (I talked to my massage therapist about it today).

Like most of my aches and pains I knew as soon as I did it what happened and I also know I have to immediately lie down and get ice on it (that helps it pass within 2 days) and stretch it out.  This time I was in a hurry to get to work so I just stuck the ice pack down the back of my pants and drove 45 minutes to work - apparently that is not the same.  Walked crooked all day and was horrible Saturday.

I’m on the road to recovery - suspect I’ll be 90% by Wednesday and almost 100% by Sunday; however, I know I’ll be minus 1 girlfriend if I try the race this weekend.  Sometimes it is nice to have someone who really cares about ya and although I’ll beat myself up, I’m not going to make her worry more than she already is.

BTW: What do you SAY to someone who's as nuts as you are? ...  From what I've read of your logs and blogs, what I would say to someone who's as nuts as I am is "Hi Yanti - what's up with you?"

Finally - crazy go on the swim.  I was telling someone at work about that and they asked "why would someone want to do that?".  I responded with "why does anyone climb mountains or do an Ironman - it's about drive, desire, and pushing yourself to your limits doing something you love".  Thoughts?

John - I loved this post!  I'm so sorry you are injured, but glad you have someone looking out for you!

Yanti- You are crazy, and I love it!

Grainne - You are awesome.  Way to do it and have such a wonderful experience with it all.  So proud of you!

YES! ADD ANOTHER ADDICT TO THE CLUB!! CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU ARE A TRIATHLETE!!! I'm super happy for you

So sorry to hear this. I hope you recover soon. I didn't know you were I racquetball pro!! I used to play that.  Never at your level, though.  But I really like it. I haven't played since I started tri training 'cause of time.  And I'm afraid of spraining my ankle (2x) or dislocating my patella (1x.)  In fact, when I play I have to wear 4 braces--both ankles and both knees LOL

Because after reading all the "I have found my new love" posts you made throught the board after your 10k, I figured 10k is just peanuts now and you need something much, much challenging (read: crazier--LOL!!)   

THAT IS AWESOME!!! I specially love the charitable aspect of it.  I will be one of your first donors!! 

First, yes, Mamma Yanti and Mamma Lynn, I do have 'homework' to upload for the last 2 weeks. LOL It's just been crazy and I haven't had the chance. 

Well, this manatee spent close to 4.5 hours of prodding, testing, poking, pulling, bending, rolling yada, yada, yada on Monday and Tuesday with a sports medicine ortho surgeon and a vascular one to find out what's wrong with my left calf (weakness/knot that won't go away/heaviness and tightness) and to determine the source of the hip/lower back/glutes/"legs are 42 years old" pain I've been experiencing.

Findings:

1. orthotics given by chiro a huge no-no.  They were making things worse . In fact, the sports med doct said the lift was not even correct 'cause I'm not a heel striker.  If I needed orthos the lift should have covered the entire shoe. But he looked at my shoes from last year and it's clear the heel is hardly worn.  He said using these inserts for the last 2.5 months has really messed things up .  I wonder if that explains the 6-8 advil/day I was sometimes taking for the pain of "breaking" them in.

2. I have problems with asymmetry, rotation and stability in my gait.  Plus weakness in the left leg and very limited range of motion in right leg where the hip pain resides ("Doctor, are you telling me I won't be able to do Kona sometime in the next 38 yrs?...No....If just means, right now, you can't run efficiently.)  When that analysis was done (Monday,) he couldn't determine if the pelvis/hips/lower back problem was causing the left calf to be overstressed or if problems with the calf caused the asymmetry.  RX:  PT starting tomorrow for 4-6 weeks, 2x week.  But he cleared me for the HIMs, run/walk only and keep the mpw on the low side.  And no hills training. In spite of all these setbacks, specially dealing with the pain, I have begun to see 10s and 11s in my Garmin, which of course it's miraculous!! So, I have hope someday after all these issues are resolved I can sustain 10s and even go under LOL

3. The next day I had an ultrasound done on the calf. This was the most hilarious medical appt. I've ever had.  I had to give a problem/ahtletic background so I listed all my endurance events.  I go in, the doct does a quick assessment and confirms the calf's weakness and that I have a circulation problem.  I look at him and I ask: "can I do my races?"  Silence. He grins.  "Well, we have to do the ultrasound and determine what's going on."  'Doctor, with all do respect, let's cut the BS.  You know very well the only thing I want to know right now is whether I can do my races.'  "Yes, you can. Just run/walk them and be aware what happened last year (at Steelhead last year when I got off the bike, my calf felt like a brick and was swollen so I had to walk all of it except last 1.5 miles--God forbid I missed being DFL LOL) can happen again.  If it does, I have to stop running altogether.  Da' Doc is an IM!!!! He had not realized I had read his bio before coming in. So he was trying to give me a 'conservative medical answer' and I wanted a 'crazy triathlete to crazy triathlete one' LOL. He finished IMFL with a stress fracture.  He walked it.  Thanks to the Graston and electrical stimulation I've been getting in that calf for the last 5 weeks, the knot is small and the calf is more 'pliable' than last year's at this time.  So I'm going into Steelhead with a 'healthier' calf than last year.

The ultrasound revealed I have a secondary vein with a leaky valve. This causes blood to pool in the calf region. This accumulation is compressing the muscle fibers and affecting their ability to contract.  I'm scheduled for vascular surgery after R3.  It will take me out of commission for running/biking for 4-5 weeks.  .  He said we'll have to wait until after the surgery to see if closing off this vein and removing the smaller ones 'embedded' in the calf will remove the knot altogether. So whereas he said I can r/w a hmary, training for a full is out of the question right now. So, my TNT running event won't happen until next year.

As I've said before....why didn't I start this sport in my 20's?!! LOL

Wow. Well ... shyte. But not really. At least now you KNOW, can certainly be doing EFFECTIVE therapies, and, best of all ... the HIM is still in, AND you're going into it better than you did last time.

Eeeeeeeeks guys, lots of injury stuff! I hope everything gets resolved and you guys are as good as new very very soon!

Yeap! I am happy that finally we're on the right track.  Just got back from first PT.  The stretches alone were worth whatever my insurance company is going to pay. LOL  But, she gave me a gazillion things to do at home.  Luckily none of them involved cleaning toilets LOL

That is great to hear.  I went to a PT for my shoulder (racquetball issue) and pain I had been playing with for 6 months went away with the first visit and some real deep massage coupled with intense stretching.   The exersizes and follow-on activities over the next 60 days was successful in eliminating the problems - have not had an issue since (~8 years).

Problem is that everyone talking about their issues and racing throug them makes me want to take my bike, shoes, wetsuit with me this weekend "just in case".  I can always walk the run - right?  If I do, I'm glad I got the TYR convoy transition pack since I may need it to ride home after Jan takes the car to drive herself from Boulder.