Truncated Pond

I had to attend Awards Day on the Moorhead campus, so you know what that means. After the ceremony, I ate my lunch while driving to my favorite swimming hole. Once more, the water was surprisingly cool, but my shorty came to the rescue. Again.

I missed the dogs as I once more struggled with the ubiquitous chop. While I swam I did some arithmetic in my brain and realized that I could possibly do a 10K or even farther. I stay with Mom on Wednesdays so that put a limit on how long I could stay.

As my watch buzzed for mile one, mile two, and then mile three, I became aware that this was a day I could go as long as I had the time. I got stronger and stronger and stronger and had that yearning to swim for hours. Then I started feeling a sensation in my left pectoral muscle. I have never had a problem with that muscle in my entire. A few years back, I did have a pull in my right pec, and it was problematic for weeks.

Therefore, although everything else felt fine, and I didn't know if the twinge I felt was something real or a phantom pain (things come and go in marathon swimming), I decided against pressing the issue and tapped out at 4.21 miles. It is too late, too close to the Chicot to get injured and that is what often happens when we get greedy and push the envelope. I did some dumbbell work after I got out of the water: 62 X 10 on the curls and 23 X 8 on the triceps kickback. It all felt good.

Wednesday's swim took me to just over 20,000 meters for the week. If I can have a big Friday, I will hit a new distance record for the year. Consequently, I am taking Thursday off to rest and gear up for my hallowed end of the week training session.

I don't know, however, how I will deal with the cold. May the 4th started off at 58 degrees with cloudy skies here in the Mississippi Delta. That follows a night of rain that always pushes the water temps down. The air temperature is supposed to drop throughout the day. Lovely. Praise God anyway. Thank you Jesus for some restraint and helping me to get in some good training.