Wednesday, July 21, 2010

MCL update 8 weeks

I was told at 8 weeks I could start running again. naively I thought this would mean I can get up and go. I mean sure I would be a little sore. But for the most part i've been working out enough where any atrophie was mild.
Yesterday I had my appointment to see the Physical Therapist, After checking out the knee he had me hop on treadmill

First a walk : No problem here a fast walk at 3.5 MPH and my knee has no problem holding up

then a slow jog: 6mph and im feeling ok. Granted this is like a 12-13min mile it still feels good to be moving.

bring it up a little: not hesitant I bring it up to 8mph. Instantly my knee starts to hurt right under the knee cap on my medial side. THe pain only happens when I land and I would rate it a 4/10.

After .69 miles and being way too out of breath, the physical therapist stops me on the treadmill and informs me that he wants me to take a day off to recover in between running days and by the time he sees me next week to have worked up to 3 miles. At the time I took this as a small challenge.

When I woke up this morning I'm really not to sure. I can barely walk and my hamstring and dorsal side of my knee is pain reminiscent of 3 week post injury. I'm really not happy about this and it seems I hit my first real snag in my recovery. Im not sure if just that my Meniscus just takes longer to heal due to the constant use. Or if it did not heal properly. Whatever the case is I don't have a good feeling about it and I'm saddened by the thought that I'm going to take even longer to heal.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Freediving a random barge

A random barge. from derek broussard on Vimeo.

Another wreck needing to be free dived. Taking up the opportunity of the light winds The underwater explorers hit up the barge. I also forgot my weight belt so to neutralize the 5mm buoyancy of my wetsuit I exhaled the air out of my lungs to dive. hitting 75' is my deepest "empty lung" dive yet.



Keywords: freedive, free dive, underwater wreck, Exploration, Dive, diving, hawaii, oahu,

FRC dives to 75 feet.

Yesterday after much debating and compromising Paul and I agreed to dive The barges. These barges are a series of Artificial reefs spread a couple miles through out the area. Sometimes it can be hit or miss. The wildlife will bounce from wreck to wreck to z block ect. The winds and current can rip, So its always a gamble.
I jumped in the water first only to be pulled hard by a current. Struggling I tied up the pwc to the mooring and put on my fins. Did a couple of warm up pull downs and then realized I forgot my weight belt.
A 5mm wet suit is very buoyant. To balance out the buoyancy I decided to dive the day on exhales.
I've done most of my static training on exhales so I feel like I was trained enough to attempt it. The first couple dives I was greeted by the depth pressing against my chest. With little air in my lungs It was a challenge to equalize. Within a couple dives I learned that I needed to "grouper call" any remaining air in my lungs up to my mouth and then equalize that way. This is often referd to as reverse packing. My dive times seemed to be comparable to my full lung dives.
Midway through our day I noticed A boat slowly heading in our direction. I attempted to wave to Paul and get his attention but to no use as his attention was else where. I look up again and see the boat heading straight towards him. I decided I shouldnt risk the chance that he will look up and swim hard over to him. Seeing my swim hard and thinking I thought he Blacked out he flashes the ok sign. I start signing there is a boat behind him.
We both stuck our head out the water to see that the boat is still heading straight to us, and his Pwc. The boat was trolling at around 20mph and was easily dodge by Us since we knew it was there. The driver was too engaged with a conversation to pay attention to driving and had the boat on auto drive. When he was about 2 ft away from Paul ( side ways) I yelled out. Thats when the passenger and driver spotted us. Poor old man looked like he was going to pull towards land and sell his boat on the spot. I figured it was pointless trying to yell at him any further and I hope he learned his lesson.
Along with some monster mu, whitetip reef shark and eagle rays, we had four GIGANTO turtles come right up to us to check us out and play. When We dove they would circle us and dive. When we were breathing up they would nearly rub their shells on our backs.

Over all a great dive.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Free DIving the corsair




I got the go from the Doc to dive with a monofin. I wasn't going to question. After 6 weeks of sitting around playing the cello and holding my breath in the pool I was ready to get some depth in. The list of interesting places to hit depth is pretty short:

Seatiger: Lots of rain the previous night so vis probably wont reach the wreck. plus its prime spot for the scuba guys and I wanted to be out of the water before the winds picked up to the projected 20mph.

YO257/San Pedro: the Atlantis submarine is also fun. With all the hot tourist in there one day im bound to spot my future wife in there . But not this weekend. While this would probably be the most protected from the winds, I just feel that I've played out the san pedro and wanted something more suitable for depth.


The Mahi: Usually has poor vis. And the west side is pretty difficult to get Paul to drive that far. Especially now that he has wrecks in his back yard.

THe corsair: little protection from the winds... but with outstanding visibility every time ive gone there. A line that goes to a great depth of 105'-109' and something pretty interesting to film. The corsair comes out to be our dive of choice for yesterdays dive.

As we head out to the wreck my boat lightly bounces over wind chopped ocean, The sun rising above its blue vibrance. As we near the corsairs location we needlessly pull out the gps. At a 100+ feet below, The wreck is plainly visible from the surface even through the rough waters.
Suited up and boat tied to the mooring I jump into the warm summer waters of the Pacific. With no mask I let water Flow across my face. Eyes closed I breath in and out of my snorkle.
Slowly i e x h a l e ........... and then I am still
Baah bump........ baah bump . Two heart beats
then I Inhale
Baah bump ,..... Baah bump....
Slowly I e x h a l e .
After 4 minutes of this I feel I have relaxed into my "zone" and am first to start warming up with pull downs. I am usually last to start and a little twinge of hope bounces into my mind. Maybe the extra start will allow me to push the wreck a little harder.
I grab the rope and submerge myself in into the water. Slowly like a chameleon hiding from birds I pull down the rope. Exaggerating Every pull until finally after a minute and fifteen seconds I finally reach 30' . Then I wait.
My contractions come hard as expected being the first dive. But I hold on knowing that the more I suffer now the more Adapted my body will become. Making the days dives easier. The feeling is similar to being Punch and kicked in the gut. Soon I cant stand it anymore and I slowly try to rise to the surface.
I continue with 2 more pull downs. My second is to 60' and my third to 90'. The contractions are not getting any easier and my dive times are sub-par with normal. I decide to do one more warm up and barely pass the 2 minute mark. Paul has finished his warm ups and has already put the camera in place. Camera in posistion I figure its time to put the monofin on and start diving.
This is the first real time I've put any pressure on my knee, Nor have I worked it for any period of time. As I try to wiggle my feet into the foot pockets my knee stings in protest. I jump back in and the worm underwater. Im instantly propelled forward but not without protest from the knee. I head up current from the wreck and breath up. Once I am above the wreck I spit out my snorkel and fin down.
hard thrust as I worm down.
beep beep : my f10 goes off.. 30ft
worm, worm, worm.
beep beep beep. : 60'
light worm, wo... aaggh screw it my knee hurts.
I take a turn. I glide over the wreck starting with its tail on to its one wing... I wonder if its broken off or just buried in the sand. Then on to its propeller. At 20' above the wreck the resident eel is unidentifiable .

On our 9-10 dive we are greeted by the SEAFOX. When I first saw them I saw them floating over the second mooring to the west of the wing. I was happy that they didnt try to hassle us. Paul starts to ascend and I swim over to his location. Swimming over I look up and see WTF... the SEAFOX floating directly above pauls location... I sign a warning saying that a boat is above him.. Seeing the boat Paul is easily able to avoid bumping his head. Divers exfill the boat navy seal style all around him... and book it towards my boat?
For some reason they decided they needed my line to pull themselves down with. So for 6 minutes I have twelve bubble-makers all around my inflatable. In the past I've had scuba guys tie my anchor line in knots around mooring buoys while at the seatiger.. Trying to untie a knot at 75' really sucks. So at this point im getting a little nervous watching all these tankers around my boat. But they go on their way down to sight see and sharing the dive with Island Divers goes off without a hitch. Knowing about the past encounters we and other spearos have had with them I was really pleased by their behavior this time around.
We on the other don't let the chance to "impress" the divers go to waist. As they descend and ascend we dive down and wave... do circles and do a little bit of rabbit ears when they're looking in the wrong direction.
Overall A fun dive, even tho my contractions never do get any easier.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Back from the Physical Therapis

UPdate on the knee:

Doc says scarring is good. For the next 3 weeks or so the scar tissue will be woven and connected with the ligaments.

So Far now.

Can: enjoy life without a brace, dive with monofin. Bifins in a couple weeks, Start regaining muscles, Ride a bike.

CANNOt: Run , jump, trampoline.