Spoke too soon

Oops. About posting on the perfect week not too long ago. This week has been anything but. I've taken several days off and have been completely wiped. I have been going to bed at 10:30 only to turn off my alarm when it goes off in the morning and waking up at 8:30. Today, I was going to get up and go for a bike ride with the tri-club and ended up going back to bed instead. I have slept literally ALL day. I'm just starting to get up but I can't shake this overwhelming feeling of guilt. I hate when this happens. I like following my plan and having enough energy to do so. I feel like a failure when I can't follow through. What is wrong with me?

On a more positive note, I had a great day on Friday. Despite missing my morning workout (again), I brought my running clothes to work and snuck in an awesome 4-miler in the afternoon. I felt fast and light. My knee feels great. Still some pain in my hip (that's normal) and an achy foot that demanded ice and ibuprofen afterwards. (I'm seeing podiatrist #2 on Monday for a 2nd opinion. I'm going to be more assertive about getting a custom orthotic. Podiatrist #1 said, "Yup. Your high arches are the culprit," but then refused to give me an orthotic. What the f...?)

I then rushed over to the La Jolla Cove and met a group from the tri-club for an open water swim. Swimming in the ocean is still new to me. The cove is pretty protected, but still has a current and waves. The biggest issue for me is seasicknesses. Yup. Seasickness. I can't help it but it makes me feel like such a wimp. I'm fine when I'm moving but when I stop for a breather, it's all over. Especially when the swells start rocking. Which is a lot. When I used to scuba dive, I had to take non-drowsy Dramamine for the boat ride before and after, and bobbing up and down in the water before we went under. Since I had no problems then, I figured it would be releatively safe to take it for this. It definitely helped. I only took 1, however, and I still felt like I was fighting the dizziness and nasuea. I'll probably take 2 next time. I'd rather take it and have a nice swim than be puking my brains out (shark bait!).

A really nice girl I've seen a few times before offered to stick with me and be my swim buddy. We waded into the water and started swimming. I was expecting the water to be freezing but, with my wetsuit, I hardly noticed the chill. I think it was about 63. I focused on taking deep breaths, and we started swimming. The water was calm and amazingly clear. I could see seaweed growing up from the bottom, dancing back and forth with the water. Fish were everywhere! Mostly little to medium sized ones. Blue ones, shiny ones, silver ones, bright orange ones--I hardly wanted to take a breath; I was having so much fun staring at the fish. A sea lion drifted close to us and then dove underneath. We could hear sea lion noises under the water! I felt like I was snorkeling.

It was very nice having a buddy to swim with. I didn't feel scared at all. Actually, I was much more comfortable looking under the water then looking out of the water. Underneath, you can see how you are definitely not alone. But whenever I would look up, sometimes the open sea just looks vast and ominous. Plus, you can really see how big the swells are; whereas, if you just keep your head down and keep swimming, you just go through them, and they don't seem that bad. Sighting was probably the hardest simply because of the dizziness factor. I was fine looking down or to the side to breathe but lifting my head up to find the buoy was hard because I would get vertigo every time. Maybe I need to wear ear plugs? I've heard some other people have this problem sometimes. I'd be curious to hear what people do to conquer this. I never had this problem in a lake!

The buoys marked the way and were placed every 1/4 mile. We swam out to the 1/2 mile point and took a little breather while my buddy fixed her cap and goggles. We debated going all the way out to a mile, which would be a total round trip of 2. I felt all for it...until a swell came up underneath as we were resting, and then I started to feel naseous. It was my first time out afterall. I decided to be conservative. "Let's head back this time," I suggested. "Okay. Next time," she said. Plus, the current worked against us going back, and we didn't know how hard it would be to fight it. It wasn't too bad, but you never know. The swim back was great. The whole thing was verrry relaxing. Unfortunately, on the way back, I swam headfirst into a large dead bird, a cormorant, I think, big black bird the size of a pelican. It was really gross but I didn't want to stop and think about it for fear my seasickness would get the better of me. I focused on the sandy shores and kept on swimming. But, for real......ewwwwww. Afterwards, I had a feast from all the food people had brought for a potluck. Grilled burgers and chicken, salad, pasta, desserts...it was delicious. Plus, there were tons of people to meet and talk to. I had a blast.


So I'm pretty bummed today about being so exhausted and bailing on everything. But yesterday was great so the whole week hasn't been a waste at least.