Oct 052009

Hi there, what another BEAUTIFUL day to be outside, but despite the sunshine and falling leaves, Pierre made me swim again. I swam in the lane next to my old swim coach, Alan Melvin (he rocks!), so I was very self-conscious of my faulty stroke! Coach Melissa’s last words to me as I ran out of my office in my lunch break was “keep the back of your head down when breathing” (you know, the occiput!). As I was swimming, I had to go under water and watch Alan smoothly glide through the water with such fluid motion. Will I ever get there? After doing a bunch of drills, Pierre and I hammered out 6 hard 50’s, and on the last one we were clearly racing each other. My stroke fell completely apart and I was snorting water up my nose because I was laughing so hard but I STILL WON! Made it back to work 5 minutes before my first afternoon patient so I could get some food in my tummy, and off I went treating awesome patients again all afternoon. I made it to pick up my darling Madison just in time at 5:30, home to make dinner, showered 2 little girls, read books, counted to 10 (yes, my youngest will be the brain!), and cuddled until 8:45, and now I am typing to you at 10:18pm. I’ll be asleep in 20 minutes! SLEEP WELL, that’s when you heal and your body prepares for it’s NEXT WORK OUT!!!!!

Posted by Dr. Kathy Tagged with: ,
Sep 282009

What a GREAT DAY to swim!  This, by the way, is me being highly sarcastic.  SWIMMING and GREAT don’t often go in the same sentence for me.  BUT, after I adjusted my last patient before lunch, I grabbed my goggles, cap and suit and off I went for a darn good workout with Pierre.  Melissa Dalio, Posi Chiro’s exercise physiologist and endurance coach, joined me for the swim and afterwards told me 2 things:  1)  I don’t rotate through the center of my body, rather I swivel when turning from side to side, creating a whole lot of water resistance.  2)  I “lead” the stroke with my hand, not my elbow, which throws my entire balance off making me have to work even harder to move in a straight line.  So I tried to adopt these 2 things in my next 100 meter set and swam it faster than all my previous sets preceding it, a 1:35  100!  So perhaps there is hope for me in the water?  Felt great afterward, grabbed a bite and back to treating my wonderful patients smelling a little like chlorine!  I hope you don’t mind if you are one of them…

Tip of the day:  Swimming is a terrific cross trainer for running and cycling, and pretty much any other sport for that matter.  It stretches out your spine and shoulders without the loading you get from land-based training.  We should all try to get in one swim a week, and there are plenty of places to swim in your area.  I go to Wakefield recreation center, but you can check out the Fairfax County Recreation Centers for a more convenient place.  There is a right way however, and there is definitely a not-so-right way to swim.  Avoid injuries in the water by getting a swim lesson to learn about stroke efficiency and body position in the water.  It can save you your shoulders and much frustration!  I, of course, refer my patient’s to Melissa for swim coaching!
Go swim friends of Posichiro!
Dr. Kathy
Posted by Dr. Kathy Tagged with: