Got my mojo back!

My swim mojo, that is. It came back, right in the middle of my swim today. Then the pool was over run with resolutionistas.

I wasn't sure how it would go today. My arm has been getting better, feeling stronger, little by little. There's still some range of motion issues, strength problems at the ends of the range of motion, and some rotation issues. Today I wanted to do some intervals, and push my arm a little. I figured go till my arm fell off, or I couldn't maintain the pace. Remember that the last time I did these, I got 5 done before I had to rest. My massage therapist is coming a little later today, so I figured if I over do it, she can help me out.

250 m warmup. At the end of this my arm was feeling a bit weak and hollow. Not a good sign. But I did it in exactly 5 min, which is the fastest I've done that for a while.
50 m kick
30 x 50 m, on 1:15 starts, most of them done in 55 seconds. (!!!!!) More on this in a minute.
50 m kick
100 m cool down

At the end of the warm up I was having serious doubts about how the intervals would go, but I decided to do them anyway and see how far I got. The first few weren't bad, then I started slowing down a little. Getting up to number 10 was a struggle, and I was getting close to a minute for the 50 m.

Now I need to tell you who I was sharing the lane with. Don't know his name, but he's an 11 time Ironman. IMC 4 times, Florida, Arizona, Wisconsin, Placid (I think). And he looked it. Brought some serious pool toys. I was prepared to be humble. I don't know if this was his easy day or what, but he didn't swim that much faster than me. And with the toys slowing him down we were well matched.

I got 10 done, and wondered if I should stop. My arm was hurting and my time was just on 59 seconds. Then my inner shark showed up as he pushed off a bit ahead of me. I caught him at the other end, then tried to push hard to pass. He picked up his pace. Yes, boys will be boys, and I know this infuriates some of you. But I was loving it! I went to do another that fast, and did. Me and my shark didn't want to look like weenies. I wasn't breathing as hard as I had been. My arm felt better. My stroke felt better. My turns were better, though I'm still doing open turns. I figured woohoo! The decision to keep on going was a no brainer.

All the rest of the intervals were 55 or 56 seconds, so I was getting 20 seconds of rest. My heart rate went down. My breathing relaxed. I relaxed. I cruised along. A 50 m lap was easy. My arms felt strong, and my kick was just right. My inner shark approved. This is the pace I want to swim at, and used to be able to do. Well, not for quite as long as I'd like to but that's the idea. Progress has happened. Nothing dramatic, no clicks or pops in my arm, just something kicked in. (Now to do it without the rest in between laps.)

As I ended the intervals the pool had been filling up with slow swimmers. At lap 30 my arm was starting to tire, but I was still maintaining the pace and could have gone on. There was a guy standing at the end of the pool looking like he wanted to join in. Told him if didn't mind waiting a few minutes for me to do a kick lap and 2 cooldown, the lane was his. So he piled his stuff next to mine, and started a bit of stretching. I realized just now if I'd done another lap, I'd have done 2 K total, such a nice round number.

I got out of the pool, and hit the dive tank for some core work. It was filling up too. The hot tub was full. Showered and got my number - a slightly heavy 230.

I call it a solid hour swim today, and I AM TOTALLY FRICKING THRILLED!!!!!!! It felt great. This was a HUGE step change! I feel great. I don't really need a coffee, but I'm drinking one anyway. I think I'll rampage around the house today. I'm in a tidying mood. Look out clutter. One of the things to do is shovel out my garage. There is so much glop on the bottom of the car, and it falls off when you park inside. The driveway is a mess. I have some photos I'll put up later.

Oh, and Linda and I went out for our mumblty anniversary dinner last night. The actual date was the 5th. We just had a really nice dinner, a nice chat about stuff, and went to Indigo to do book shopping. I got a polar bear calendar, Rick Mercer's book, and a book on Leonardo da Vinci. I'm still behind on my reading, but I'm trying to make time for it. So many books, so little time.

Lastly, I'm signed up for the Police Half! What was I thinking? I've never run a whole half marathon ever, and this one has people with guns enforcing the 2.5 hr cut off time. Eep! I was encouraged to call my coach, and have a meltdown over the phone, but I resisted. That's twice now. Hope you appreciate it IG....