Robertus wrote: »

Did a very slow 1.6 miles. Elbow started to get a little uncomfortable so I stopped short of 2 miles. Next time I will do 1 mile. If everything feels fine, I might try another half-mile, but even if I feel fine after 1.5 miles, I will not push it beyond that. Determined not to let this become a chronic injury. Probably won't be able to do the 3-mile open water swim on July 12th, but we'll see how it goes.

Today during my swim, I was thinking abit about elbow pain (not because it was bad - just thinking through possible causes), and wondered whether in my case, it could possibly be caused or aggravated, not so much by what I do during the swim, but more by my actions on reaching the end of each length.

You see, when I'm not doing flip turns, I've developed a bad habit of swimming into the wall with my hand stretched out but my palms flat and perpendicular so they absorb an impact as I "ram" into the wall! I think my elbow absorbs some of this as my hand is straight and not bent as I glide into and hit the wall.

Done repeatedly (up to 100 times per 2.5 km swim) I imagine this could be a problem. So I made the conscious effort today not to do that! Will see if that helps at all over time!

stephenrhinton wrote: »

~50 minutes backstroke pull buoy ...dinner didn't agree with me and cut my swim short ...tommorrow is a dry lander day ...going to try a zumba class

it's been a few weeks/ months since I did any dryland so good reminder!

mpeters1965 wrote: »

Great job guys! Especially Kida. No wetsuit?! Wow!

1900 yards. 51 minutes. All freestyle, 500 swim, 200 kick, 250 pull, 200 kick, 250 pull, 500 swim. I tried to really concentrate on stroke quality today but I found it going all to hell in the last 500 so I just relaxed a bit and worked on executing a better flip turn. I think it is time to add some yardage, too. Maybe another 200 on Friday.

More yardage! Yay!

gentlygently wrote: »

Apologies if this post becomes a repeat (I've had a few 'post' a few hours late recently..odd)

Anyway 1k ish, 25 mins .

I'm getting right shoukder / arm pain - started off in shoukder/bicep but yesterday spread to all under arm and lower shoukder and quite a lot of the muscle is sore... So today's swimming will be pretty much kicking only..... Bother as it is my hour in the pool day.

I have been thinking back over what my swim teacher had been saying and I suspect I have not been getting enough right side body roll. So pulling too much from the arm and not enough from the muscles across the back. I never could feel the difference as I swim (tho can correct the roll) - any suggestions for what it 'feels like' if you have properly got the back muscles involved in the pull / correct angles?

For me the rotator cuff exercises were a great help!
Your decision to rest it was good too! A few years ago, I made the mistake of repeatedly battling through numerous IM sets even as my shoulders were killing me thinking that battling through the pain would toughen me up! Boy was I wrong!
It wasn't until I got to the point where I couldn't lift up my hands straight while standing that I realised my approach wasn't working. That kept me out for many months!

Kida_Adeylne wrote: »

2.5k open water in 75 minutes. I don't know how you early morning swimmers do it regularly - when I go swimming in the morning, I spend the whole day tired and hungry.

Well I don't swim open water but I generally eat twice in the morning on the days I do swim. When I get up at 5:20, I'll have 2 eggs, scrambled. This is the only breakfast I can swim on but I run out of steam without any breakfast at all. Then usually about an hour or so after I finish, I'll have a banana or an apple or something like that to help me get to lunch.

I don't spend the day tired because I find that swimming early gives me energy during the day but I will tell you that I am definitely ready for bed when bedtime comes around!

Wearing my elbow brace, I did a slow two miles with a couple of laps of kickboarding thrown into the mix to convince myself that I was giving my elbow a rest. After the first mile, I was ready to stop at any point if there was any elbow pain but I was OK, just not very fast. Maybe I will be able to do the 3.1-mile (5k) open-water swim on the 12th,but I also asked about the possibility of switching to the 1.5-mile event.

2000 yards. About 48 minutes. All freestyle, 500 swim, 250 kick, 250 pull, 250 kick, 250 pull, 500 swim. I got up a bit later this morning as was going to be booted out by the kids swim team so I picked up the pace from Wednesday so I could get it all in.

Kida_Adeylne wrote: »

2.5k open water in 75 minutes. I don't know how you early morning swimmers do it regularly - when I go swimming in the morning, I spend the whole day tired and hungry.

I guess after a short while the body gets used to it. It helps to eat something after the swim (breakfast in my case) without overdoing it!

stephenrhinton wrote: »

I haven't done as many early swims of late ...but i'm tired and hungry all day every day regardless ...its what happens when you are trying to lose half your body weight ...

It's only for a season - hang in there! Once you reach maintenance, things ease off!

No swimming for 3 days. We took our daughters with us camping and we climbed Mt. St. Helens in Washington state. Thank goodness for all of my swimming! It was a huge challenge, but so rewarding. It took us 7.5 hours to summit and 5.5 to come down. Still sore, but good sore

gently, I put my daughter in the summer swim league. It's called "pre-competitive," in that they have meets, but it's really low key. I'm not sure what to do when summer ends. I could put her in the last lessons to work on stroke work (more focussed work on butterfly, breast, etc), or I could keep her in the Teen Lessons where she started out. That would mean she would work on whatever the instructor felt was most important/next step, or if she wanted to focus on something, they would do that. I'm really hopeful that she's caught the swimming bug. It has done her little body so much good (she's short but strong). And I LOVE having a buddy!

~20 minutes kickboard breast stroke, ~23 minutes pull buoy front crawl, ~21 minutes closed fist back stroke, 6 sprint laps interspersed

Great news, Bruce!

Thanks to all, I love the smell of chlorine in the morning, it smells like Victory. So far so good, no pain, I might push a little bit more (longer time), still easy stroke and multiple strokes. I had not swam since April.

Good news, Bruce - welcome back!!!!

~50 minutes breast stroke, ~15 minutes pull buoy front crawl

Robertus wrote: »

I figure it was about 200 calories burned swimming and another 1,000 or so resisting hypothermia.

Giggle...

Welcome back, Bruce. Good luck!

I swam 2000 yds in 54 minutes. Mixed freestyle sets with 6 - 50yd sprints in the middle. I have got to work on keeping a consistent fast pace. Those 50's were all over the place in times.

Thanks to all on the comments. I am to take it very easy, I do have "free bodies" in my shoulder joint.
Doc said it up to me maybe 3 months or maybe 3 years, just take it easy.
I agree with you gentlygently slow and easy. Today 1/2 mile @ 31 min.

20 minutes today at the lake. I was planning on more, but my 6.5 hour hike yesterday tired me out more than I thought.