Taking a Dip...

...to go for a run.

*First, a little back story.  

In August I was put on a combo of Levaquin and Prednisone for swelling in my ear.  This is supposed to be a fun blog so I'm not going to have a whole diatribe on this but, listen up:  If you are an athlete, especially a runner, READ UP on Levaquin before you take it.  Its' side effects include tendon damage.  The occurrence is rare but increased when paired with Prednisone, and I am a rare breed so I hit the jackpot on this.

Phew.  Now that we're done with that, let's get on with the funny!

Since I got the red light on running from my doctor, I needed some safe form of exercise.  So I texted my physiotherapist.

She was quick to come back with a great idea:

Say what now?

If any of you are thinking of little old ladies splashing around with floatie belts in the deep end, let me just stop you right there.  Because you'd be exactly right.  (If you follow SUAR you will be familiar with her special term for that class. And if you're not following her, why not??)

I wanted to be a good patient, but I had just started my visit in the Great White North, so did not have access to my lovely pool.  What's a girl to do? Improvise, of course!

I had a beautiful lake at my disposal, so I threw on a life jacket (for buoyancy purposes) and jumped gingerly walked into the water. (Lake water is cold and I'm a super-sissy.)

Turns out the life jacket wasn't quite my size.

The next day I found a smaller one.

Midriff-baring vests, the new trend in aquatic safety!

Once again, I braved the elements and did the jog.  It took about half an hour to go maybe 30 feet.  Total.  (In my defense, there was a current...both ways. )

I got lots of support from my family, both on the dock,

and in the water.

That's TriGuy and SwimmerNephew.  They really do love me.

Once I got back to the U.S. of A, it was time to head back to the pool.  I picked out an aqua belt from the shelf, and because I have the body of an eight year old girl boy it promptly fell to the floor.

I then found a slightly smaller belt, yanked the rope as tight as it would go, and wrapped it around myself twice.

I swam in circles in the deep end for 10 minutes straight!  (I'm starting to think my physiotherapist just wants to see good blog content).

I wish I could say:

But I would be lying.

Hey guys, it looks like I'm almost at 200 followers, which means a GIVEAWAY is coming up!


UPCOMING POSTS:  RACE RECAPS, PHYSIOTHERAPY, AND I'M DOING A COUPLE OF GUEST POSTS SO I'LL KEEP YOU 'POSTED' (hehe).

Canadian Cycle Class: It's American-like but with different-coloured bikes.

When I was back in Canada last month, my sister, known to all just you guys as GymSis, could not wait to take me to her gym.  And since I had inspired her with the posts here, here, here and here, she felt compelled to drag her younger sister to her spin class. Oh joy.

People say we look like twins, but I don't see it.

She was kind enough to bring me a water bottle (courtesy of ChatterNephew). Oh hey, can we talk about this water bottle for a minute?  I struggle with these in general.  I avoid wide-mouth bottles when I can because I end up looking like I have a drinking problem.

No, like a physical problem.

I tend to do best with the adult sippy cup, a.k.a. the CamelBak water bottle.  You just bite... and sip! (Anyone else hearing the "Bend and Snap"?)  

I think we could all agree that I would be Paulette in this scenario.

Don't get me wrong, the *bite and sip* is awesome.  But it did not prepare me for the fancy Contigo bottle.  You have to push a button under the lip of the bottle that retracts the top so you can drink.  There is a timing issue that GymSis had to explain to me after I may or may not have spilled everywhere:  you let go of the button before you take it away from your mouth.

Well when you explain it that way...

Ok, back to the class. We chose our bikes and hopped on; GymSis found one with a fancy, sparkly red seat.

The bikes were on the older side, so the tension knobs were a little off.  I would turn and turn and turn, spinning tension-free.  Then suddenly I would just jerk to a halt.

Once the class started, the teacher (her name was Natalie) always had lovely motivational phrases, such as:

And:

Start??  Really, Natalie?  I think that happened when I sat on the bike.  I was definitely a level beyond 'slightly breathless'.

I got to try something new in this class:  jumps.  Natalie was once again very um, uh, motivating.

Side note:  While talking about this later with my mom, she couldn't understand how we performed that maneuvre without hurting ourselves.

After surviving the ride, GymSis took me downstairs to meet our mom for a nice, relaxing BodyFlow class.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the instructor.

(That white scarf did not fool me.)

The class involved some tai chi,

some pilates,

and some yoga.

GymSis' bendiness is so impressive!

Hmm? What's that?  Where's *my* yoga pose, you ask?

Ta-da!


NEXT POST: A NEW WAY TO RUN


DON'T FORGET, you can go to my Zazzle store to buy your favourite TRI-ING TO BE ATHLETIC picture on a shirt, tote, mug, bumper sticker, or tech decal! There are lots of shirt styles and colours so look around.  Let me know if you have any questions or requests :D

I Brought My "Eh" Game

Every year TriGuy and I make the cross-continent trek back to east-coast Canada to see our families.  (We have to fly both ways and boy do my arms get tired...nyuk, nyuk, nyuk)

While we were there, TriGuy convinced me to try some new things.  (Vapid Vixen get your mind out of the gutter...)

Thing 1:  We went golfing with his sister and brother-in-law.  I actually connected with the ball a lot more often than I expected; however, as the game wore on, there were a lot more of these:

A swing and a miss!  (For the record, I'm fully aware that that is a baseball metaphor.)

By the time we got to the 4th hole, I was feeling ready to conclude my first golfing experience.  I assumed we were only doing 9 holes.  You know what they say about assuming:

Just a quick 18 holes later, it was time to go.  I picked up the golf bag that I had borrowed to take it to the car.

Then I let TriGuy take it to the car.  Golfing was actually pretty fun, despite nearly getting beaned without so much as a forewarning (see what I did there?)  I might even do it again someday.

Thing 2:  We went go-karting.

I came in last.  After an 8-year-old girl.  But, I was at least a courteous driver whereas she kept causing traffic jams.  Oh, and just as I started going really fast, wouldn'tcha know it, my go-kart broke.  So I missed the last 2 laps. Otherwise I totally would have beaten still lost to that girl.

We left there still vibrating, and a little deafer than before.

We also spent some time at the cottage.  The first day was cold and windy.  There were white caps on the lake.  TriGuy and his mom were dedicated to swim anyway.  I  was a little chilly sitting on the dock.  But I was bullied encouraged to get in the water:

I gingerly walked down the stairs and immediately started gasping from the cold water.  I tried to swim to warm up and got slapped with a wave.

I was done.  (I may or may not have spewed some words that are inappropriate to say in the presence of your mother-in-law). Oh. And, there just happened to be a tornado watch and a thunderstorm that night.

There were fun times in the water, like canoeing with my nephews when the family came up for the day.

The 'rents came up to hang out as well!

They all enjoyed a much calmer day at the lake.

While in Canada, I partook in more adventures, such as Body Pump, Body Flow and spin.  And aqua jogging.  But those are for another post.

NEXT POST:  TAGGING ALONG WITH MOM AND GYMSIS (There will be spinning involved.)