High Plains Diver:
Last January, I started an excercise program, so I would be in better shape for my first dive of the season. My program consists of walking 4 to 5 miles a day at least 4 days a week.
My walking trail has very long and steep hills, so I know my body is getting a decent workout. When I went diving this weekend, my ankles and lower leg muscles got sore very fast.
I cut my second dive short due to the pain of swimming, and some ear clearing problems. I thought my walking program would make me much stronger in the water but has seems to done the opposite. My age is 45, I just had a medical examination that found no problems. Any suggestions ?
I run 7-8 miles a day (20 on Sundays, Mondays off) and lift whenever I can...
Every time I go diving, my calves cramp up and my ankles hurt like crazy. The reason that I, and some fellow divers who have the same problem, have come up with is "overcompensation." So here is how I rationalized how to fix the problem, and it worked for me...
Diving uses a lot of muscles. Running/walking/lifting uses a lot of the same muscles (and some others that aren't used for diving), only differently.
First, your workouts have made you stronger - there can be no doubt about that. But... the tendons and muscles are trained for a specific motion (in your case the motion of walking). Your cardio has also improved.
So now, when you dive, the stronger muscles are not trained for the diving motions, but are still strong and exert an enhanced force on your joints and tendons. The way to fix it is to relax and stretch more... By relaxing, you will find that you can now do a lot more work with less effort.
Second, if you use the same effort you used to exert (and your brain remembers how hard you USED to have to work underwater so you will initially start off too hard for your new and improved strength), you will start to hurt. You won't notice that you are exerting more because your cardio improved so you won't be breathing as hard...
However, after a couple of weeks of diving, you will likely find that the soreness will go away and you can exert yourself more, with less effort/air consumption.
So, the moral of the story - dive more, and work less than you did before...and keep up the walking.
The ear clear problem doesn't sound related to me and I have the same problem my first dive every year, too... I just chalk it up to seasonal plumbing acclimation.
