SBR Utopia - OPEN (Page 97)

So I have been fairly dehydrated this last two weeks.  I did the best I could but hard to drink on safari.  I have been getting huge calf cramps.  You know, the standard dehydration ones that wake you from a deep sleep with horrible pain.  Had another last night, they have been getting progressively worse.  I think last night in part was due to swelling of the legs from all that flying.  I really should have had compression pants on or something. Next time I fly for 24 hours for sure...

Anyways, other then working on rehydrating myself anyone got any tips?  I can't take another night of it I don't think.  I don't think lack of potassium is at play at all, lots of banana's on this trip.  I am thinking just foam roll to deal with the current pain from last nights cramp but open to ideas there as well

Welcome back Kim!  Sounds like you had a great trip.  

I have no advice on the cramps, it sounds like you are doing the right things to me.

I had a nice 5500 meters in the pool this morning.  I will also be testing out my hamstring with a run this afternoon.  I was supposed to do that yesterday but I had a ridiculously busy day at work and after work that it just didn't happen.

I hope everyone has a good day.

Welcome home Kim!

Compression socks, electrolytes and gentle rolling with the foam roller or stick. If you can get in for some deep tissue massage as well, that will help you recover from the travelling!

Kim, welcome back and ditto on the above. The cramps can be caused by electrolyte imbalances other than just potassium due to dehydration so bananas alone may not do it. Some salt in the diet over the next few days is not a bad idea. Quinine sulfate used to be a common OTC treatment but is no longer available. You can get essentially the same thing, lower dose, via a glass or two of regular tonic water. Plantarflexion of the feet can also aggravate things. (That's why standing helps when you get those middle of the night cramps.) Try loosening the covers at the foot of your bed. For my overly cautious comment....if pain expands to daytime or becomes severe see your doc. Dehydration and long flights can cause DVTs. Really unlikely but good to tuck away jic.

We got your weather last night/this morning.  That's the heaviest snow I've had to shovel in a long time.

Very nice, still around 80 here in Florida ;0)  this weekend it's suppose to be in the 60's cold front moving in, I'll have to break out the parka!

Kim welcome back, sounds like trip of a life time! 

Yesterday I did 55 mins in pool after doing a modified crossfit worikout. Main part of swim workout is 200s medium followed by sprints of varying lengths (50,100,150,100, 50) .  I felt good was  strong foot was fine. 

It's been 3 weeks with no running (okay, 8min on the treadmill on the weekend), and I'm ready to try out the achilles.  I've been icing it daily, taking the anti-inflammatories, and wearing a heel lift in my right shoe.

I plan to try it out on the treadmill and keep the heel lift for the next couple of weeks.  Thoughts on duration, amount of rest between runs, etc.?  I'm so nervous about being disappointed if there is any pain.

Gawd, I hate the stress of those first coming back from injury runs.....   For me?  I'd say run no more than five minutes.  Perhaps do a 5 walk/5 run/5 walk/5 run type of workout....   Be careful and good luck

So, I tried a swim skin last night in the pool.  I am a fairly strong swimmer but OH MY GOD that makes swimming so much easier.

We had a set of 2X (8 x 100) on descending intervals.  My coach was wearing his skin for the first 8, I was working hard and coming in a 1:XX.  He asked if I wanted to use the skin for the 2d round, so I tried it.  Just cruising easy, I was coming in a 1:XX-2 or 3 seconds.   Working hard I was coming in a good 5 seconds faster. 

Of course, it's a banned swim skin.  I can see why 

I'm so glad you added that last line, I didn't want to have to buy something else!  Mind you almost every race I do is wetsuit legal so it doesn't really matter...

I've done less than that coming back from calf injuries. Like walk 2-3 min, "run" 1-2 min. Alternating back & forth for a bit. Know a walk pace that's easy to do. Run speed depends on how I'm feeling, but have gone as low as 4.5-5 mph (treadmill), so 12+ min/mile.Somehow treadmill running seemed to work better for this. I could be faster outside right away, but improvement was very flat. Treadmill improved every time.

Made sure calf felt little to nothing and was not tired later. Always focused on filling in more time, not adding more speed. Speed just kind of came after several runs, and only added it later in the run. Would suggest flat at first, but I also added in more incline than speed once I could run more consistently. Seemed to help increase my range of motion better and toughened it up without having to deal with the faster force changes with running faster.

Neil you prolly dont wanna hear this but your stroke looks really good.

What kinna dry land w/o do you do ?

...ever use paddles ?

...... How far is the distance for your race swim?

If you dont mind i could show this to the swim team and let them tear into you. LOL

200's are mostly what i am swimming this season. I would go even longer but i still have lingering shoulder issue from dirt biking. I find it more tiring if i am sighting. 

Dehydration Dont eat much and drink a ton. Shouldnt take more than a couple days to straighten out. Sorry they must have a drinking water prob in Africa. What do you Florida people think about that answer? 

Speaking of hydration...i am thinking i want to wear a small camelbak during my race. I dont think i could get used to the bottle on the bars with a straw in my face. maybe i will steal the holder off sons bike and try it tho. I drank my way all thru my bike race last it. it was lovely ! I wore a camelbak. it was so humid that day we all had cottonmouth before the swim even started.

Had a nice cross country run yesterday with the dog. 

oops

True, here in Calif there is no such thing as a non wetsuit race.  However, I might be doing a warm water race this seasn or next, so it's nice to know you can get some wetsuit-like benefit.

What's a wetsuit?  LOL.

Here in Hawaii, basically once in a blue moon the water is cold enough (like 77.8) for it to be wetsuit legal, and it's usually announced during race morning since nobody will ever know for sure if it will be or not.

Once, one of the local race directors made the announcement something like this...

"Today, the water is just under 78 degrees, so you can wear your wetsuit, and everyone can laugh at you"

He said it jokingly...but it's sort of the truth.  I mean...I would wear one if it was legal, but almost nobody owns one unless you've raced outside Hawaii...and most people don't even bother bringing it on race morning.

if it was that close to not legal you'd never see me in one.  Did that once, biggest regret in a tri ever.  I about died and it was only 1000 yards

I did a 4K swim here one July in 64 degree water and halfway through regretted it, I was dying I was so hot.

I think a wetsuit in 77 degree water is potentially unsafe personally

Most locals have a different perception of "cold."  I have a little more meat on the bone than some, so I'm perfectly fine, and actually prefer the water to be about 78, but some people here will "freeze" in those water temps.  I know guys that wear a neoprene vest almost year round when they swim because they get cold.

Remember now...this is the area where people start to wear jeans and a jacket when it's 68 outside, and we bundle up under 3 blankets anytime it's under 65.  LOL.

I'm not sure I could even dip my foot in 64 degree water...HAH!

I asked a similar question about a month ago, and most people gave advice very similar to this....walk a few minutes, run a minute and see how it feels....repeat as long as it's feeling good.  I hope that it goes well and your achilles issues are in the past.

My surgery was not a "success" in that it did not take care of the issues/pain I've been feeling since my accident.  My surgeon said that my knee looks "surprisingly normal" (given my running....and competitive gymnastics background) so he has no idea why I'm still having issues.  I've been doing a decent amount of strength training, a lot of stretching and foam rolling, and have started up with ART again.  The ART does give me a decent amount of relief, but doesn't seem to "fix it". 

Anyways, I think I'm also going to try a bit of running this weekend as well.  My plan is a 4:1 walk/run ratio -- and as long as it feels good, I'll go for 30-45 minutes.  My HIM training plan technically started this week, but I'm currently doing walks in place of all the runs.  Hoping I"ll be able to start adding in some actual running soon!