Week 6: 7/21-7/25

Monday
15 laps. About 30 minutes.
I was concerned about swimming today because on my rest day (yesterday) my shoulder and my right ankle were very sore. I think the shoulder was because I was stroking really hard with my right hand to get my face out of the water to breath when I was swimming. The ankle had me a bit baffled. However, swimming went fine. I had a few minutes of bliss even... once again, if I keep my kick inside my "shadow" and keep my head down I can sometimes find a spot where swimming feels effortless. It almost makes me sleepy actually. I think I managed to do 4 laps in a row.

On another note, I'm finding that I can do my training, but I can't do much more. Saturday I went to open swim with Mr. M and just did a little bit of crawl, but after the swim and bike earlier in the week, just that little bit more wiped me out.

Tuesday
41 minute bike ride. I thought it was supposed to be 40 minutes and we went a little over... this morning I saw I was looking at the wrong training week. I don't think there is any way to make my obsession with getting my training minutes correct cute, so let's just move on... arg the missing four minutes make me crazy...

Wednesday
25 minute beach run. Wow, 25 minutes seems shorter when running with a partner.

Thursday
17 laps, about 30 min
As I started swimming I was feeling quite claustrophobic. Finally realized that a previously unnoticed post-nasal drip was making breathing difficult. *Fair warning this is gross* As I swam my mouth was filling up with phlegm... which I couldn't figure out how to get rid of so I could breathe. Ultimately ended up swimming no more than two laps at a time, mostly single laps, and several times had to stop and stand up in the middle of the pool to catch my breath.

That problem aside, I also found that I felt fastest and most smooth when I - kept my head down, kicked "small" but hard and fast, and used core body rotation. This resulted in a body position where I felt buoyed by my lungs, my hips felt light and I was no longer pulling so much with my arms. I also felt taller. I need to be careful because my right shoulder continues to be not quite right. It is not painful, but repeated stress is going to damage something. So, note to self, it's not the stroke that moves one, it's the rotation...

Friday
61 minute bike
Feels long and tires me, but not painful.

Saturday
25 min run
Ended up running as the tide was coming in which meant I got quite a workout. Between the water and the whole day of horse riders tearing up the beach there was basically no hard pack to run on. But I finished my week. Yeah!