Cleared for ........ biking

Updates, I got ‘em. I did get a call from Galter about the swim lessons, but it was from the desk person who just called to let me know she had passed along the lesson request and told the person I was interested in signing up ASAP.  That’s great, but the person scheduling the lessons hasn’t called me yet. Tick tock………

Went to the doctor yesterday so I could get my prescription/referral for physical therapy.  He confirmed the strain of my gastrocnemius muscle and told me to stay off of it for a few weeks.  But, he did clear me for swimming, pilates, some yoga, my weights class (but careful with squats and lunges), and biking so in addition to the other options I’m going to give biking a try and if it doesn’t hurt at least I can hit some spin classes at Galter and Ryder classes at CorePower. He asked me in I am interested in a kind of Physical Therapy that uses electric stimulation to speed muscle recovery and I basically told him that if he told me that putting giant hairy spiders on my calf would speed recovery I would sign up for Spider Therapy, so yes, I am interested. I called the PT place this morning and have an appointment scheduled for next Wednesday morning.  My husband was surprised that I didn’t press them to get in sooner, but conflicts, conflicts and that’s the first time I can get in to fit with my schedule. Then apparently the therapy will be 2-3 times per week for a couple of weeks.  I still have this horrible feeling in the back of my mind that in 3-4 weeks I’ll get cleared to run, go out for an easy 3-miler and crap my calf up again halfway through.  On the up side from my doctor visit he thinks I only need to lose about 5 pounds (I’d rather lose 15).

Tonight I get back in the pool – I’m going to try to go a mile again.  The first time out I went by time (20 minutes) and then the second time I went for distance (1 mile) but didn't keep track of time. So this time I’m going to see how long it takes me to swim a mile – I’m betting close to an hour.  Keep in mind it’s a small pool (25 meters) so I spend some time pausing at the ends – it’s not like I’m swimming the mile straight with fancy kick turns.  Plus when I start to think I’m going to die I grab a kickboard and just frog kick for a few lengths. To keep me interested in swimming and also because I’m all about the gear, I ordered a new swimsuit and anti-fog goggles from a discount swim shop. The suit is a Nike competition suit and I hope it at least looks semi-flattering. My current suit is a Sugoi – who even knew they made swimsuits? – that I got from the REI outlet and it looks pretty OK.  I try to never spend more than $25 on suits because I tend to forget to rinse them out and then they disintegrate from the chlorine.  I’ll never forget the horror of looking down at my chest and realizing that my suit was in such bad shape that it was almost see-through. #freeshow #oops

On the running front, even though I can’t run the El Paso half this weekend I’m still going.  My brother lives down there and that was mainly the reason for visiting anyway – the race was just a bonus and a way to feel better about all the delicious Tex-Mex I’ll be eating. I guess I’ll go to the Expo to get my shirt although I refer to shirts from races that go unrun as Shirts of Shame.  This instance is slightly less shameful than just rolling over and turning off the alarm clock and deciding I’m too lazy to run, but to me it will still be a Shirt of Shame. And yes I checked – no deferrals to next year, even with a doctor’s note.  So, I’ll recap the race next week – just from the perspective of my nephew-in-law who is also coming down and running the race.