Training

Not much to report over here. The pool is back down to being its normal temperature. I’m now wondering if it was for a diving competition. Not that it matters. It’s just that I can’t imagine it reaching that temperature accidentally. Lap swimmers are going to mention/complain that the pool is warm well before the temperature got to where it was on Monday. I can’t imagine that they could change the temp of an 8 lane pool like that overnight, there is a bunch of water in there.

My swimming feels like it’s all over the place. Short distances on long rest, I think I could fool myself into thinking I’m doing alright. My workouts have had 300s&500s in there tho’ and they have been giving me a good dose of reality.

I’ve had two things I’ve been focusing on in the pool. My left arm pull: my nasty ole S pull returned on that side and it’s not a good S pull. My left elbow will actually hurt for days after a hard effort when I’m pulling that way. It is also a big part of why I don’t swim straight in open water.

The second thing is my breathing, which is actually two things. The first is my head position as I go for my breath. On my left I’m very consistent in terms of keeping good position. On my right, which I consider my preferred side, I get sloppy and will often catch myself lifting my head out of alignment. I have a feeling that pull with my left arm is tied into this problem. I’m working it out.

The other thing is my exhalation and inhalation. If I’m doing short distance, I have a tendency to hold my breath and then exhale in very strong bursts and then very large gasps inhaling. So I’m spending time focusing on keeping my breathing rhythm very calm and consistent.

Of course there are many other things as well but it’s hard to fix more than one or two things at a time. I’ve got to get these things in place so that I don’t have to think about them anymore.

On the bike I’ve had my first really bad trainer ride this week. Bad in the sense that with an hour left to go I was already thinking, “Am I done yet?” It was the first time in quite a long time where I was just not that into the workout. It had better just be a fluke, we aren’t going to see the sun on a weekday for quite some time.

Running: I’m still running very slowly. I’ve been watching running videos to put ideas into my head about what I need to be thinking about in terms of technique. It was just too easy to zone out and jog through the workout. I’m feeling more focused there now. Also, I’m now finishing my runs wishing that I could do some speed work. One month ago I was glad to be finished with the jog and was wondering what was wrong with my hamstring, hip and back. I definitely had concerns that I was never going to be the same again. So wishing for some speed work is a big step in the right direction.

Diet: The scale is moving the right direction. It’s been a really good week for me in terms of eating. It might be because I’ve changed my fat/protein/carb balance. I gave up the high carb diet (15/25/60) and moved them to protein mostly. My balance has been more like. 20/40/40 and it seems to be easier to maintain the calorie deficit. Hopefully that continues to be the case.

Lastly here is a link to a blog post that I really enjoyed. It's about being fit vs being healthy. It's a good read.