Since I posted the picture, I will start with the Open Water Swim portion of my blog. Because continuity of thought pattern is incredibly important in my blogs?!?!
Anyway, I was at the lake in Winter Haven. I had to get a new tire for the truck because I got a nail in the old one. This place in Winter Haven often does free repairs, so I took it over there, but alas they told me it was not repairable. But, they offered me a significant rebate on a new one because the old one was fairly new. Long story short... it only cost me $79 total for a new tire. So, I figured that was worth the drive to Winter Haven. I could not find a similar offer anywhere around here, so I figure it saved me almost $200. Anyway, the boys and I dropped off the truck when they opened at 8:00am and we walked over to this BBQ restaurant for breakfast. I know it sounds weird, but it is a very popular venue in Winter Haven for breakfast on a Saturday. When we walked in, I thought for sure that I had ventured in to Mayberry during old home week. EVERYBODY knew EVERYBODY... BY NAME. They did not wait to be seated, they just walked in and waved and found someone to sit down with. The waitress brought their favorite drink without asking what they wanted... they simply KNEW. During their meal, they would get up and go sit with someone else and chat with them as if they were at a family reunion. Everybody knew everything about everybody, yet they asked each other questions that they already knew the answers to.... "How's Erma doin'?"... "Yeah, I heard that."... "Hey there George. Lookin' good after your knee replacement."... then they would continue eating and telling each other stories that they have all likely heard several times before. The food was really good. I simply had eggs, bacon, grits, and a biscuit. The boys had pancakes and biscuits and gravy. All good. I don't remember how much it cost. I did not really care, it was good enough. After breakfast, we walked back to the tire store and the truck was ready and we went back to the house. I realized that I had eaten more than I should have, so I decided to go for a run, but I also decided to wait for a coupe hours to digest my food.
Finally, I went for a run. I ran to Legoland. It is a hair over 3 miles. I have, in times past run to Legoland and around the back of the park and the parking lot until I reached 3.5 miles, so much return would also be 3.5 miles and give me a decent run. I got a little weak minded today and just turned around at 3.0 miles. Oh well. Then I got a little more weak minded in there and walked for a minute at mile 4 or so. Then, I found myself plotting my next stopping point. My mind was filled with when would be the best place for me to stop and walk. Just weak. Then, when I got to my lake, I could see my house at the far end of the lake. I knew it was almost two miles around the lake to the house at this point. Needless to say, I was tired of running and looking for excuses. So... I decided to swim. What the heck was I thinking? I have no idea how far it is from Cypress Gardens BLVD across the lake to the house, but without regard, I decided to swim. I flipped off my running shoes and socks, stripped off my shirt and shorts, leaving me with only my compression shorts. Stepped into the water and began to swim.
I probably made 50 strokes before I realized that this was going to take longer than I anticipated and was going to be more difficult than I had hoped. There were several problems. I will list just a few. 1. There were four boats on the lake at the time. Three more came along during my trip.
2. I did not have any goggles, so I could not see where I was going. Lake water is not always what you want to look through. Even if you could see anything of value, it would not give you any indication that you were headed in the right direction.
3. There were lake weeds and various other things floating in the water that, at times resembled living creatures that might make my swim more interesting.
4. I am, apparently, not a great swimmer any more. I swam free-style, breast struck, flutter kick, upside down flutter kick, upside down breast stroke (if that is even possible).
5. I was not wearing any sunscreen. Why would I? I was only going for a short 7 mile run. I certainly was not planning on a 40-60 min. swim.
6. My Garmin was acting a little funny. To be fair, it may have been me. It started beeping and buzzing at me somewhere along the way as if it was going to shut off to save power. So, I told it to resume and it looked like it started over... but then when I got home (yes, I made it home) it only registered a swim part way into the lake. Surely I did not swim to the center of the lake and stop there. I did not even get "credit" for the entire swim. Oh well.
--- I could continue... but I won't.
I really have no idea how long it took me or how far it was. I suppose it does not matter, but it would be interesting for me to know the distance I traveled and how long it took me. Either way, I am betting that I worked off part of my breakfast.
Why was I swimming in the first place? I am not training for a triathlon. I have ridden the stationary bike. I have now swum. Obviously I have been running. I decided to swim because I am a bit nervous about the race next weekend in Big Sky, MT. Which brings me to the Altitude portion of the blog.
The race next Sunday starts at 9000 ft elevation. I have been reading a lot about running at altitude. It is apparently a fairly difficult thing to go from sea level to relatively high altitude without acclimation. I do not have time for acclimation. I will not arrive in MT until the evening before the race as I will be in Seattle the entire week before. So, I will show up, climb to 9000 ft and run. This is precisely what "they" suggest that one should NOT do. I have read about oxygen masks... that is, wearing a mask that will deliver oxygen as "they" say that the oxygen is less at altitude -- I would argue this point. Actually, I WILL argue this point. Here in FL the oxygen in the air is 21% O2. (roughly). In the mountains, the air is 21% O2. This is important. We need nearly 20% to survive. The difference is the air pressure. Since the air pressure is decreased at altitude, it is more difficult for the O2 molecules to enter into the blood stream and be delivered to the brain and the muscles, organs, etc. So, in order to get the required amount of O2 molecules in the blood stream, we need to increase our respiration rate. Hence the reason that we get more winded during strenuous activity while at altitude. We can get acclimated to this decrease in pressure, but it takes time... time that I do not have. So, back to my point about oxygen masks. As I understand it, the pressure will remain the same whether or not one is wearing a mask. It CAN deliver more O2, but the atmospheric pressure is still the same, so we would still have difficulty perfusing that O2 into the blood stream. I have also read bout medications. There is one medication that is used for altitude sickness. Basically, it increases one's respiration rate to allow for more O2. This can certainly help deliver the O2 to the blood stream, but may not help with strenuous activity in altitude and may even hinder performance - although it is a stimulant and banned from competitive sports. Also, there is much written about corticosteroids -- anti-inflammatories. Also, potentially a benefit for recovery from altitude sickness. It also shows potential benefit for performance, but carries some side effects and risk. Risk that I am not really interested in taking.
So, I can really find nothing that --- oh yeah, there is the whole blood doping thing. Simply explained, as I understand it, one COULD draw their own whole blood and store it. After a period of 5-6 weeks or so, one will regenerate more red blood cells back to normal/baseline. Then prior to the event, that whole blood (containing the red blood cells) can be added back into the body. This will effectively give the athlete more red blood cells and more opportunity to carry more O2. From what I read, it is possible and beneficial to aid in performance. After all, the reason for fatigue is the depletion of the oxygen... so more oxygen would delay the fatigue.
Suffice it to say, I am not going to do that... or any of the other things I just discussed. Even if I wanted to, I do not have the time to regenerate the RBC's before race time, so it would be worthless to subtract and then add back the same amount. Even I can do the math on that one. Net gain 0.
So, I have biked and now swum in an effort to do something, anything to increase my cardio. My mind is weak, so I am having difficulty solo training. I have little incentive to train longer and harder and I talk myself into stopping or slowing. So I figure if I add another activity, at least my body is active and I am forced to utilize and improve my cardiac output. I am hoping that this will assist me WHEN I get fatigued up the mountain.
I have no idea if I will survive the race. I have a VERY tight time frame, so if I want to make my flight back with my daughter, then I NEED to finish in a respectable time and rush to the airport. I bet I will survive, but it is quite possible that I miss my return flight if I struggle through the race. I have no idea if any of this swimming, etc. will help me in MT, but I figured it is worth a shot.
Wish me luck. Prayers are welcomed. I'll update you... maybe while I am stranded in MT after I miss my flight.
I'm not liking this negativity. You can do this!
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