Like A Ragdoll

Brrrr! The cold front came in and north winds are blowing and all local people (including me) who require 80 degrees to sustain life have shut their windows and put on socks.

It wasn't raining this morning so for some reason even though cold wind was blowing, I decided that an ocean swim would be fine. I'll tell you what though as soon as I saw the way the ocean was moving I knew it wasn't going to be (at all!) like the last few days. Our friend Hudson showed up, which shocked me, because while he's a good/strong swimmer, he doesn't have a super hard core attitude when it comes to challenging conditions, and he's been around long enough to know what north winds means for windward ocean... but there he was ready to swim!

So we started off and right away I felt like we were just flying. Not just moving fast but also working quite hard, which I blamed on Hudson. It was choppy, but the chop was going in the same direction we were swimming so while it wasn't smooth, it wasn't a battle. Just an effort. If that makes sense. We swam 1.3 miles to the boat ramp and my garmin said 1:19 pace and I was thinking oh we are screwed going back. Hudson bailed at that point and decided to walk back along the beach (!)... Mark and I continued on around Lanikai Point, where things got ugly, as they often do around points. We turned around earlier than we did yesterday (my choice) because I was dreading so much the uphill swim all the way back.

Indeed, yikes going back was ridiculous. I couldn't shed the thought that these conditions were unswimmable... but then I'd tell myself that was stupid this water was swimmable because we were swimming it! But yikes it was a battle every stroke. It was a day better suited for kite surfing, as evidenced by the 20+ kite surfers we nervously maneuvered around. On the way back it was so crowded with those giants kites launching and landing that we got out and walked ~200 meters to make sure we didn't get hit.

It looks so pretty I know, but it's deceiving! 

I only needed my garmin to say 3.1 miles to get full credit for the 5k swim today, and I considered getting out when it said 3.1 and walking the rest of the way... but we weren't far from our finish point so I kept swimming and got to ~3.4 miles and when I exited the ocean, I was simply over it. Garmin said avg pace was 1:33 for the whole swim which means that going back we were moving along at something like 1:47 pace (yards!). So that tells you something about the current!

I am PMSing so that didn't help but I tell you those were some of the most challenging ocean conditions I have faced and I will look forward to being at the pool tomorrow. Half way though the swim challenge I'd say I feel less tired than I did the previous few days (am adapting!). I've got just over 39k. The record for the 14 days is 75k (Gordo).

My hip feels better today than it did yesterday but not good enough to run at all. I caved and took ibuprofen, which I never (ok not never but very rarely) do, but since I knew I wasn't going to run today regardless of how it felt, I figured it would be okay. Inflammation must have been a big contributor to the pain b/c the ibuprofen really helped. I don't believe at all though in taking that stuff to mask pain so I can run... I'd prefer to actually fix the problem from the root and not just cover it up. My understanding is that the MOA of ibuprofen actually delays healing so I really hesitated to take it, but I think it was a good call b/c I had a lot less pain today.

On the news just now the weatherman said, and I quote, "Tomorrow is going to be a gorgeous day but you'll need a jacket. Highs only 75-80 degrees." Yup.