7/23 - 7/29

I almost felt like my old self during this training cycle. I started the week with a 3,500 meter straight swim Monday morning at Twin Rivers. My pace is still pretty slow. I averaged 2:14 per 100, but I swam with ease and enjoyed myself tremendously. Later in the day, I worked out at the newly refurbished Plate City Gym. On the bench, I pressed

15 X 70
10 X 95
6 X 115
3 X 120
2 X 125
1 X 130
2 X 125
3 X 120
12 X 95

In addition, I did a single set on the Swim Pull: 41 X 21.5.

I guess I was tired Tuesday morning from all the stuff I did Monday because all I got in the pool was 1,700. My new weight lifting split had me working upper back in the afternoon. I like the split because I can do more sets, hit the muscles harder, and finisher earlier. In addition to that, I hypothesize that recover should be better because fewer muscles are blasted and the body has less tissue to repair each day.

Wednesday morning, I swam with Tyron for the first time since we did the 700 and 1,000 together. I had done 500 when he showed up. I stopped and chatted with him. He was planning 4 X 500, so I swam with him to give me an additional 2,000. I was planning on doing a lot more, but a bus load of kids showed up so I stopped after an additional 300 for a total of 2,800. I worked biceps and traps in the afternoon. I also practiced on the speed bag that I recently installed. I can hit it fairly well, but look forward to improvement so I can exercise my upper body muscles in an aerobic fashion out of the water.

Thursday I was ready for something different. Last week I started the 100s @ 2:00 which is one of my old standbys. Since I am not fit enough to do that set in the long course pool, I decided to swim indoors and try to make an advancement on the set. Last week, I did six reps, then seven. For Thursday I hoped for eight or ten. I swam 

1,300 for a long warm up
6 X 25 build
10 X 100 @ 2:00 at about 85%, getting to the wall in about 1:34 to 1:36  
200 easy 
2 X 50 finger paddles
2 X 50 small paddles
6 X 50 medium paddles (first time since comeback)
200 easy
total: 4,000 yards = 3,656 meters.

Indoors for some interval training

After the big interval day, I wanted a longer, easier swim Friday. I swam 3,700 straight in 1:20:34 for an average of 2:10 per 100. This is my longest swim of the year. In the afternoon, I worked shoulders at Plate City.

Saturday I took a lot of naps. I also did some light stuff at Plate City: benches, speed bag, and cord work for the rotator cuffs.

For the week, I 

swam 15,356 meters,
ambulated 2.68 (huh?), and 
lifted weights five times.

Thank you, Jesus.