Back in the pool!

Well last night I made my return back into the water and I never thought I would enjoy swimming so much. Most triathletes that didn't swim previous to getting into the sport usually don't enjoy swimming and probably would have not minded the four months away from the pool that I had. Although all four of the months I kept wanting to get back in the water and get back to being an aquatic mammal. Well that four month drought ended last night.

My PT told me that I can now use swimming as part of my PT and help to strengthen my shoulder muscles. He warned me not go more the 500 meters and not more then twice a week. Jumping in the water I was expecting to do maybe 100 meters and be down to my left arm only, but my arm felt good and I was only noticing a slightly stronger pull from my left arm. All in all I did about 500 meters and stopped once my right arm (injured shoulder) stopped making a good attempt at swimming. I was also surprised by my fitness in the pool. I was expecting to mimic a dog swimming with my legs dragging behind me, but I was able to stay afloat and have a good stroke. I was keeping the pace that I usually do when I swim. All in all I would say it was a successful return to the pool and within a few more weeks I plan on resuming my Ironman swim training. That goal of a 1:10 swim in Lake Monona at Ironman is still on target!

On a side note when I first registered for Ironman back in September I started this blog to follow myself along with my training. My goal was to keep all the thoughts than ran through my head, my ups and downs, and just generally what it is like to spend a year training for an Ironman. Now that I am back in full swing and in full traning right now for the Madison Marathon (1/2) while still training for Ironman I hope to check back more regularly. It was a little hard in the fall during the offseason to write about my training when there wasn't much going on.

Ben