Sad calf is Sad

So Monday I went to swim with the Cal Tri Team for the first time while I try and decide if it is a good idea for me to actually join the team. There are a couple of reasons why I am still on the fence about joining- even though it is a great team and would be an awesome way for me to push myself- the least of which is the fact that all the Cal-Hoorah kinda scares me a bit. (What can I say I went to NYU for god sake... college spirit just isn't in my nature! I'm trying to reform and be happy/ spunky about it... also, not in my nature!)

I was also worried that I was going to be the "old" person on the team with a bunch of über- spunky freshman and they were going to shame me... which actually sorta happened- just not in the way I was imagining.

After amping myself up for the whole evening (the practice is at 8pm) and telling myself that I was a highschool swimmer and "God damn it can TOTALLY do this", I get there and the practice starts. First of all let me preface this by the face that in highschool our swim coach was an ex-navy seal, and while he was an amazing coach and great guy he was a yeller. Actually I have NEVER had a swim coach that was not a yeller (now that I ponder on this fact it could be due to the fact that when you swim your head is in the water and you are actually unable to hear your coach talking to you so by the time you DO get to the wall they are irate from trying to talk to you the whole way and there for are ready to yell at you. Just things to ponder...) And by yeller I mean: point at you in the pool "Why have you stopped swimming?! Did you completely misunderstand the concept of sets with only a 5 second rest? You are not fast enough for this lane today" and suddenly you have been demoted a lane IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE TEAM. So... going on THAT experience I really thought that it would be more along those lines.

In actuality I don't know if the swim coaches really cared if anyone new was there or not. Not because they don't care- they do- it was just that there was only two of them and a WHOLE lot of us with seriously varying skill levels. They could not keep track of what everyone was doing. It would have been much more helpful if they had a board to write the sets down on so that they didn't have to recite them to us each time we finished one... but oh well you live and you learn I guess.

Once there you kinda just hop in a lane that you *think* you might swim at the same level as everyone else and you just start down the lane in a crazy free for all and hope you are able to make due. It was actually kinda crazy/ fun in a way - I have never been to a swim practice that was that disorganized, but it was a great way to sorta just melt in with the rest of the team without sticking out like a newbie-sore-thumb! I must say tho, not all the lanes had lane lines and in the frenzy that was the swim I got smacked, kicked and even scratched while swimming! A bit too reminiscent of water polo practices, HAHAHA.

The sets were great, but not too challenging. I got to be the leader in my lane- which was bad because I was in a lane too slow so I didn't really get a great workout. I should have bumped up a lane, but it was just too crazy so I stuck with it. And here is where the most embarrassing thing that can happen at a swim practice happened: mid butterfly, in the deep end of the pool I get a majorly intense calf cramp. So intense I actually started to sink to the bottom of the pool because I could not concentrate on anything but the pain. Of course this holds up the whole lane that I am heading- and I have to struggle to the surface and pathetically doggie paddle over to the wall where the coach is standing and staring at me. Let me reiterate: I doggie paddled at a freaking swim practice! Needless to say I am glad that they really didn't know me at this practice.

Any who, after a few minutes of waiting to see if this cramp would go away I sheepishly crawled out of the pool and left the practice hobbling down to my car. Unfortunately by the time I drove home (Thank GOD it was my left leg or else I would have been stranded there) the cramp had become so intense that I couldn't put any pressure on it and therefore was stranded in the garage. Of course it was also the day that Andrew had left his phone in the car so there was no possible way of calling for help. Finally I got up stairs to my bottle of ibuprofen and a heat pack- it took over an hour for the cramp to die down enough so that my foot was not forced into a relevé.

Of course Erica, the-soon-to-be-great-doctor, diagnosed it over the phone: evidently the leading cause of cramps are dehydration and imbalance of electrolytes. I.e. me: not eating pre-practice and drinking coffee the day of were my downfalls. The succubus that is coffee strikes again! Now, I am once again going cold turkey with the no-coffee plan, thankfully I have ol' reliable green tea to get me through the day!

Now we are on day two and it is still super sore and hard to walk. I feel like such an old person right now. I asked Laryssa if this is a sign that I am officially old and she said that I wasn't officially old until I was sore and hurt, but couldn't remember why... So I guess I'm not old. I'm just young and embarrassed instead... Great!