Wednesday and Thriday

I'm sagging. It happens every now and then. In weight training, many programmers build in de-load weeks. These are weeks when the volume and maybe even the intensity is reduced to allow for recovery. I do that sometimes with the weights, and I have learned through hard-won experience to do it with running as well. The body will get its de-load one way or the other. Sometimes it gets it through sickness, sometimes through injury, but you can't just keep pushing and pushing. Something breaks when you do.

The only times I de-loaded swimming, however, is a taper before a big event like The Chicot Challenge or the Mississippi State Senior Olympics. Other than a taper once or twice a year I do not de-load the swim other than a cut back a little after Chicot. De-loading is actually a lifting term, and strength athlete concept. Endurance athletes usually speak in terms of cycles.

What I am getting at is I have finally realized that my body does its own de-load in swimming. I go through phases every now and then when I just don't have much zest to swim. This week is one of those. I hit it pretty hard Monday morning. But Tuesday morning, I was lazy and lethargic. Wednesday morning when the alarm went off at 4:00 a.m., I did not hesitate to turn over and go back to sleep. I did the same thing Thriday morning. Tuesday, which I have already written about, I did a straight swim because I had not the unction to do sets. Wednesday, I swam with Brad during our session at 5:00 p.m. When he left, I did only a few hundred more and quit. 

It is not that my muscles feel bad. They feel fine, and I am strong in the water. I just do not have the fire in the belly to push it. So, my body gets it's de-load, it takes it against my will. Maybe I should start programming one every three of four weeks. 

Wednesday I also shuffled 3.17 miles, and did leg work at Plate City. Thursday, I slept in, ran in the afternoon, then did my light bench day. Since we had a Carmont Ministers and Wives Banquet that night, I did not swim at all. 

So there. I have not swum much this week. Oh, by the way, last week I hit a run PR for the year in terms of volume. This week? I am dropping back, cycling back, de-loading, whatever you want to call it. I'm trying to learn from experience and stay healthy. Praise God that I sometimes am able to say no to myself.