Recovery

The week after Chicot is all about recovery: recovery from the stress of the long swim, and the recovery of the cessation of weight training. I have started both.

Monday I was supposed to meet John at the pool. He was a no-show. I swam an easy 1,500. Later, I shuffled 7.75 miles at a miserably slow 14-plus minutes per mile. That is so slow it is embarrassing. But at least I was out there trying.

Tuesday I was supposed to meet John at the pool. He was a no-show. I swam the little pool for a mere 1,200 yards. After Penny came home from work, I did my first lifting session in a week and a half. By the way, one thing I did differently this year was to carry the weight training to within one week of the swim. In the past, I have ceased the weights three weeks out. The new way certainly didn't hurt and may have even helped seeing that I swam well. I did rotator cuff work and bench presses. On the bench, I pressed

14 X 95
12 X 105
10 X 115
7 X 125

Then I did some speed work with the axle bar. Why the axle bar you ask? Good question. I have been reading about people benching with an axle bar and in my mind I could come up with no reason to do that. In case you are wondering, an axle bar is a 1.9 diameter hollow bar that machine shops use to make trailer axles with. Weight lifters have stops welded on them and use them to lift with. The larger diameter works the grip more than a standard Olympic bar. But benches? I tried it to see.

If there is any advantage or disadvantage to benching with an axle bar, I was unable to detect it. Concerning speed work, that is sub-maximal loads with the lifts done as explosively fast as possible. The idea is to stimulate the fast twitch muscle fibers. Since I learned of this technique, and since fast twitch muscle fibers is something I could use more of, I decided to implement it into my training. I pressed

3 X 50
5 X 50
3 X 50

That's the amount of weight on the bar. I don't know what my axle bar weights. I need to find that out. I also did some calf raised, two sets, before calling it a day. It was a good one. I have a year now to prepare for Chicot IX. That will constantly be on my mind until then. 

Thanks for reading. 

Praise Jesus Christ.