Sunday, January 10, 2010

January 10, 2010

01 - 10 -10 Kinda cool

I swam today. 1500m in 45 minutes. Tried the SwiMP3 for the first time and it was pretty good! I seem to hum when I am blowing bubbles so I had to stop doing that so I could hear better though. LOL... Also, I had about 20 songs on there for starters and not all of them played. Turns out they do indeed have to be mp3's. I assumed if I was able to drag them onto the icon, they would play. Apparently not. So.... I deleted the non-mp3's and converted the songs I wanted into mp3's using an option in itunes. (Email me if you need more info).

I have a Mac and the SwiMP3 doesn't seem to like me dragging and dropping more than about 5-6 songs at a time so that is a bit of a pain. However, I had a bit of time today so I set up three folders to use next time I swim. I included one folder for podcasts because I am curious to see how they work. I read somewhere that the SwIMP3 doesn't work that effectively for the spoken word. Not a big deal to me, but might be for others so I will report on that later.

As far as comfort etc - they clipped onto the goggles easy enough and the cable that hangs between them, rested on the back of my head/neck without any discomfort. I was aware it was there but it didn't bother me. I could not really feel the "headphones" themselves once they were on. I barely noticed them, very little pressure etc. At first,I had them too far forward and they interfered with the section of my goggles. I moved them back a little, closer to my ears and they were fine then.

As far as volume is concerned, they seemed loud enough. I *think* I had them at full volume but I'm not really sure. I'll do a bit more testing next time I swim. I didn't have a lot of time to play around with them today. They weren't super loud but I could definitely hear the music. The volume changed a little as you turned your head to breathe but that didn't seem to be much of an issue either.

So far, so good. I'd give them an 8/10 for my first try. Definitely made my swim time more pleasurable.

Running Nose / Sneezing/ Burning Eyes

After my swim last Monday, and today, I felt like I was coming down with a cold. This happened to me once in awhile after swimming last year. I believe it is a reaction to the chemicals - either to much or not enough. I googled the topic and found it is a common problem among swimmers. Some find relief with steroidal sprays such as Nasonex, some with antihistamines, others with the use of a Neti Pot. Others couldn't find a solution. I am going to talk to the people at the pool and ask about their schedule for putting chemicals in etc. See if I can find anything out. I am really hoping it's not going to be a regular occurance now. It didn't bother me last spring.

My fave quote from the Slowtwitch forums was: "If your nose runs after swimming, does that count as a brick? "

Legs

Right ITB is sore today. Mostly at the hip. I'm sure that's what caused my run pain yesterday. It's from the squats I did yesterday for sure. That's one thing I don't like about the doing the 'test' for the challenges. Doing strength stuff to exhaustion never works out well for me. I need to remember that.

I did some googling and found some info on how to support the ITB with KT Tape. I think I'm going to see if I can track some down.

Found this interesting link on taping the ITB on Youtube.



PS If you are clever, you may have noticed I didn't bike today like I had planned. I felt so crappy from the burning eyes/nose, and have had a braces headache since Friday morning, that I decided to do it tomorrow instead. It's a smart move I think.

PPS Shins felt great today. W00t!

Kelownagurl Tris Podcast

I don't usually talk about my podcast on this blog, but I'm plastering this everywhere this week. If you are a listener, you have probably already heard me mention that next week is my 50th episode! If you are so inclined, I am urging you to help me celebrate one year of podcasting, and my 50th show, by sending an email, an mp3, or calling my voicemail line ~ 1-206-426-1200 ~ (you can call 24/7 - it goes to my email). You can call in with your best tri tips, your own triathlon story, your 2009 accomplishments, your 2010 goals, or even just to say hello!

I will be recording/editing next Saturday, January 16th so I hope to have all submissions in by Friday night if possible.

Thanks for helping to make this an awesome year!

Next week

M - bike
T - run
W - swim
T - run
F - off
S - bike
S - run / swim

5 comments:

Tori said...

Ever had Swimmer's Ear? The year I did my Tri I caught it. Twice. It's the most painful ear infection you could imagine. I use Burosol ear drops to prevent - every time. Trust me on this one! As for the runny nose, it could be the chlorine, etc. and flushing with saline (i.e. neti pot-I have a nasal lavage thingy) may help, I use it for sinusitis on a short-term basis.

Kelownagurl said...

One of my kids had swimmer's ear - I remember that well! I hate getting water in my ear too - yikes!

Someone else suggested flushing with saline immediately after as well. Might look into getting a neti-pot...

Thanks!

Kelownagurl said...

One of my kids had swimmer's ear - I remember that well! I hate getting water in my ear too - yikes!

Someone else suggested flushing with saline immediately after as well. Might look into getting a neti-pot...

Thanks!

galloping gilli said...

I regularly get the sneezes after swimming, I thought it was the chlorine, apparently though it can be caused by the chlorine in the pool combining with the human waste, sweat etc etc( hmm nice eh!!) which can become an irrritant(chloramine) to the eyes and nose.

Anonymous said...

I get Swimmer's Ear just by taking showers, lol. I wear ear plugs in the shower and will probably have to start wearing them when I swim too. I may try the Burosol ear drops though :)

The Swimp3 thing sounds pretty cool. I may use that as a reward for doing my first tri this spring!