Wednesday

I was supposed to meet John at Twin Rivers at 1:30. In four years, if he has ever been on time, I don't remember. He is usually anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour late. Lately, he has been outdoing himself. He has failed to even show up the last two times. I worked extra late one day last week with the promise of getting some office hours off and then scheduled the time off to swim with him. I could have and should have used that time off to spend time with my wife. She will be off work in a couple of weeks, and I could have taken the time then. He not only failed to show, but he failed to call. Recently, he cut ties with someone who cancelled something on him and that person gave advance notice. And he does it to me two times in one week without notice. Such is the blindness of the human heart.

No, I am not cutting ties. If I demanded perfection from my friends, I wouldn't have any. But I am going back to swimming when it best suits me, and I am not making a schedule for the benefit of someone else ahead of time. I am tired of making commitments with other people when I am the only one who honors those commitments even when it is inconvenient for me to do so. Work and other obligations have me following a schedule almost all the time. When I am off work, the last thing in the world I need and want is a schedule.

I had the pool to myself, which is always a delight. Right now it is a necessity. Did I tell you about the time last week when someone got in and started swimming when I was in the pool? I know it did not matter if someone passed me. In fact I kept telling myself that over and over as I saw him getting closer and closer on each lap. What did I do? I sped up even though the shoulder did not like it. Pride I guess.

The water was warm, but I did not take a reading. I guess it was 85 or more, and I was glad no one was there to tempt me to go too fast. I swam

1,000
8 X 50
2 X 100
500
total: 2,100 meters.

On paper, it looks like a real practice. In the pool, it almost felt that way. The 1,000 warm up was swum at a 2:09 pace. Dreadful again. But at least this time I felt like warming up and then moving to something else. That's a first on the comeback trail. Then on the 50s, I didn't do then on a set interval and I didn't push hard, but I did push a little bit. I averaged a 1:52 pace. The 100s were done like the 50s and averaged 1:56. I then cooled down with 500 easy at a 2:08 pace.

I went home, mowed the lawn, and then did a lower body workout at Plate City. the leg press workout went like this:

14 X   80
13 X 100
12 X 120
11 X 135
  8 X 145

I did some other stuff, but the leg press is the heart of what I am doing now for the legs. They need all I will give them. I can tell a difference in how they feel just walking around since I picked up the machine and began using it only a few weeks ago. The legs feel stronger, more solid, and just sound. Now if I can lose this weight, maybe the running can start coming back.

I slept well. 

Now I am eager to get back to the pool today. I have swum three days in a row, something I have not done since the Chicot buildup. The shoulder is maybe 70%. Two weeks ago I would have said it is 30%. I'm still a little disturbed, however, that i am over nine weeks in and still nowhere near 100%.

Praise the Lord for the healing I have experienced.