Swim

Swim today. Only about 30 minutes focusing mainly on drills, but with a few freestyle laps thrown in.

Today was really the first day that I allowed myself to do meaningful freestyle laps in the pool after a little more than a month. I felt like a prisoner let out of jail. It was like I had been thrown out of solitary confinement and placed back in the general population with the rest of the sharks. I felt pretty smooth and fast.

I didn't do more than 110yds at a time, but the time difference was pretty dramatic. I lost about 15 seconds in a less-than-all-out 100 yard attempt. 15 seconds!!! I was pretty pumped but I know that there's still plenty of work left to be done. I'm still like a baby deer learning to walk, so I need more practice with everything. I'm going to continue to work on drills more and more, again limiting myself to swim sets of no more than 100 yds at a time. I think this will keep me from implanting those bad habits permanently, particularly when I begin to fatigue.

The calf is still an issue today. I played with the idea of riding my bike today instead of running, but in the end decided it would be better to lay off the lower body stuff entirely before I wreck myself completely. The only action my lower body saw today was in the pool, and that doesnt' bother the calf at all. Besides, I could use more work in the water.

I'll try to run again Friday, but if it's anything less than 100%, I'm gonna pull the plug. I'll still ride semi-long this Sunday, but I really want to give it a chance to really heal before then. Worse case scenario, I don't wind up running until next week. Even if this is the case, I'll still be able to ride and will have plenty more time to work on my swim. I'll have to take this positive approach as running is my first and absolute love. I really feel like I've had the wind taken out of my sails by missing only 2 runs! Kinda depressing.