The List

I made a list Monday night. You know, one of those 3 X 5 index cards to remind me of what I hoped to accomplish Tuesday. The list looked like this:

                       - run
                       - study
                       - blog
                       - cash check
                       - buy stall mats
                       - purchase blocks
                       - make improvements to Plate City
                       - work out at Plate City
                       - mow the back yard
                       - get a pond temperature reading
                       - swim

I set my alarm to get me up early with the hopes of getting all of this done. When I got up to use the bathroom at 4:30 am, I knew running at 5:30 was out of the question. I am not a morning person. What the heck? I was off work and had the whole day anyway.

I got up about 6:30 and started the day with Bible study. Then I wrote a blog post, and by then I was awake enough to think about running. I went out Wade Road from the house and did 5.21 miles. It was pretty warm, my first real exposure to exercising in heat this year.

It was getting close to lunch, but I had enough time to go to Tractor Supply to purchase a couple of stall mats. I wanted to make some improvements to the best backyard gym in the country. I got the mats and went home for eat.

Next on the list was to buy blocks. I needed to add another row so I could set up the row machine I purchased last Saturday. I bought the blocks from Home Front then went home to get them over the fence. Remember it was fooling with blocks that hurt my shoulder a couple of years ago. I carefully dropped the blocks and the mats over the fence after first backing the truck up to it. Then I used a dolly to move them to where I would lay them.

For the next couple of hours I worked like a bee. I lay blocks, moved equipment around and put down the mats, mowed grass, and lifted weights. I'll shoot a video and show you what I did. All I did on the weights, besides rotator cuff work and using the new row machine, was to bench press.

  11 X 100
    8 X 115
    6 X 140
    3 X 145
    3 X 145

This is the first time I have taken the weightlifting inside the three week window before the big swim. Part of me says, You know what works so don't change anything. But I lifted the week of the Senior Olympics and if it hurt my performance, I couldn't tell it. Like Mark Bell says, "Strength is never a weakness." I plan to lift again this week and next week also. I have scaled back on sets and reps and weight, but I  am attempting to carry as much strength into the swim as possible.

Now there were only two things left on the list: swim and call David about the pond temperatures. I took some nutrition, rested, and then went to the indoor pool where I swam

  3,200 1:00:30 (1:53)
  150 for time 2:22
  400 small paddles 7:15
  300 medium paddles 5:17
  200 large paddles 3:29
  300 medium paddles 5:18
  400 small paddles 7:30
  100 easy
  total: 5,050 yards = 4,615 meters

I never made the call, the easiest thing on the list. But I did everything else. It was a full and productive day, a three-workout day, the kind that raises my fitness level. Thank you, Jesus.