Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Early pool progress

One of the more satisfying effects of a return to training is the rapid improvement one gets in the early weeks from a return to swim training. Aftger IMAZ, I swam just one day (1000 yards) over the next 8 weeks. This is a little longer of a hiatus than is desireable or I normally take. This was a combination of a number of factors: a busy holiday season, a desire to let my elbow inflammation cool down, and the 2 week healing period post my Honu tattoo.

My first week back I did an initial 10X100 on 2:00 interval test and averaged 1:38/100. Last Monday, the same test yeilded an average of 1:32/100. Yesterday I averaged 1:28/100. When I'm really fit I can hit 1:18/100 going on 1:45 so I still have a ways to go. That said, it is really satisfying to get this early progress--it happens every year. I aslo know I'll begin to plateau a bit come the middle of March and will probably stay level until the onset of my IM specific training in July. Early on, I'm right on plan.

The elbow is definitely better but still something I need to monitor. Hopefully I can keep it under control with rest days here and there and ice from time to time. for the time being, I'm foregoing PT. Had my last knee injection and the knee feels awesome. I'm running well (although not that fast). I'd like to up the volume a bit as well as the intensity but am mindful of my tendency to get injured when I move higher than the 150-160 mile/month level I'm currently at....

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