Swimmer's Shoulder - coming race strategy
333
Member
662 days
chekmarks posted 23 weeks ago.
i was in the same boat this past weekend and my advice is to take it easy at the start. instead of hammering when the gun goes off, take it nice and easy, let your shoulder warm up and then see how you feel. if it feels fine after a few minutes then go as you please, if not, take it easy and just get to your bike! also, once on the bike, take a minute every hour to stretch, the aero position makes my shoulder awfully stiff after a while. good luck!
333
Member
662 days
chekmarks posted 23 weeks ago.
i was in the same boat this past weekend and my advice is to take it easy at the start. instead of hammering when the gun goes off, take it nice and easy, let your shoulder warm up and then see how you feel. if it feels fine after a few minutes then go as you please, if not, take it easy and just get to your bike! also, once on the bike, take a minute every hour to stretch, the aero position makes my shoulder awfully stiff after a while. good luck!
34
Member
166 days
TriAu posted 23 weeks ago.
-C
I spent the better part of my life in your position. I come from a 100% swimming background, and we swimmers ALWAYS seem to have shoulder problems. A few things which may provide an easy fix, keep in mind I am not a doctor. First, if you stop by any orthopedic office they should be able to provide you with the Thera-bands, with it check out these exercises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWxcl9SMH4c&feature=related
If your are making changes in your stroke chances are you are working a small group of muscles which previously have not been worked, possibly causing your discomfort, and it is kind of amazing how these simple exercises with strengthen your shoulders (make sure to do both shoulders, not just your sore one).
Good Luck
ET
WAR EAGLE!
1117
Member
1087 days
Ironmom posted 23 weeks ago.
If you really feel like you need to do this race, take it easy on the swim. Let the wetsuit carry your arm forward and don't put a lot of intensity into the pull on that side.
Moving forwards, I'd say to lose the paddles. Unless your stroke is really really damn close to perfect, their potential for harm vastly outweighs their potential for good. Unless you're swimming an average sub-1:20 per 100 yards, arm strength is not your limiter anyways and using paddles will not be buying you anything but potential pain.
2nd bit of advice, don't increase intensity until you feel that your form is top-notch. Improvements in swimming generally come 90% from technique and 10% from actual conditioning. Your pool time is better spent on technique than in busting intervals.
3rd thing, a lot of shoulder injuries in swimming are completely avoidable. Many are caused by pulling too wide, or using an S-stroke pull, or dropping your elbow on the catch. Your shoulder muscles should have very little to do with your pull. With a strong reach into the glide and a high elbow in the catch, you should be able to feel your lat muscles engage as you start your pull. These are the big strong muscles you want to be using to move water during the swim stroke. Shoulder muscles are the supporting actors and should not really be engaged in the major work.
Blue Skies, -Robin-
http://ironmom.blogspot.com/
531
Member
810 days
cjhoffmn posted 23 weeks ago.
Many thanks for the feedback. I'll take it easy through this race and start the exercises ET suggests as i begin my 70.3 ramp up.
Ironmom: thank you - you confirmed some self diagnosis. I had just started using the paddles, as a way to really feel which muscles i was working, in an effort to get my lats more engaged. I didn't think that all the way through. I feel the folly of that strategy now... I've overworked the wrong muscles.. Duh.
Sometimes i manage to feel as if i'm swimming with my lats and abs/core, wih my arms more as the firm but passive oars being pulled by the bigger muscles. I strongly suspect that when i get tired, i go back to using arms and shoulders and that i'm dropping my elbow.
So my strategy will be to swim easy, pull easy with right side, stay out of the fray and get to the bike so its not upset before i sit in the aerobars for a while.
Thanks!
58
Member
1392 days
firegirl posted 23 weeks ago.
+1 to TriAu
you can get bands at most sporting goods stores as well. i would recommend you don't wait until after the race, but start rotator cuff therapy now. you can also check out http://www.ejbjs.org/cgi/reprint/74/6/890.pdf
when you do these exercises, you should feel resistance, but NOT pain. if you feel like you are working hard, lay off the weight (this may mean a lighter band or even no resistance at all) these exercises are great therapy and you can start doing them anytime your shoulder starts to act up and they will usually provide relief for rotator cuff pathology. they should be done daily if possible, but a few times a week will work for maintenance.
good luck.
fg
531
Member
810 days
cjhoffmn posted 23 weeks ago.
All this makes sense. It is feeling much better today, I've been icing it at night and stretching it and doing some of these exercises. So far, I still predict it will feel better by race day. I'm still going to take it easy on the swim though.
Amongst other challenges I've faced this season (lower back, priformus, and IT Band) I've now noticed that I've got some inflammation and impingement in my right (strong side) shoulder from swimming. I'm fairly certain I know the cause - I've been working very hard to correct some form problems, and I've been increasing intensity at the same time - including the use of hand paddles as relatively new tool for me.
Clearly I overdid it a few weeks back. Although there was no defining moment of injury, I do remember one workout where I noticed it happening, and I shut down my workout early.
I went to do a long easy swim on Saturday as the kick off to my taper into my B race for this year - an olympic on this coming Saturday. I had given it a few days rest and it felt ok prior to the swim. During the swim, I noticed some tweaking, but I was really concentrating on form, which when I stroked well, it didn't seem to hurt.
Now - two days later, and its clearly upset with me. It's not too bad - in fact, I predict that by Friday it will feel ok.
My query: Any suggestions/tips /tricks for how to protect the shoulder when I swim on Sat? I'm ok with a slow swim time overall. I was working harder and running speed this season so far. I'm sure in the hectic-ness of the race I'll overdo it a little, although I'm going to try to take it easy, but would love to hear any ideas as to how to limit any further irritation to the shoulder.
I plan on taking about a week off after this race then beginning a ramp up to my A race this year, a 70.3 on Sept 13, so I don't want to make it so much worse that I can't recover and get onto to my training for my A race for the year. But of course, I won't cancel this race or drop the swim - it doesn't seem that bad... and I don't want to get too many HTFU posts ;)
-C