Swim Baseline

My muscles were so sore today from yesterdays extremely tough Powerhouse class.  I thought an easy swim would help soothe them.  I didn't feel like doing a structured swim workout so I decided to just swim for an hour.  I was curious to know how far I could go.  The last time I did a straight hour swim in a 25 yard pool was in January 2010 which was part of the USMS Postal hour swim.  That time I swam 2100 yards. Don't get me wrong, I have done plenty of hour swims since then but with the exception of open water swims, they are all part of a workout including drills, kicks, pull buoy,etc and not straight swimming.

Thanks to my pool mate I didn't have to count all those dreadful laps and honestly, even after 100 yards I can loose track of how many laps I really have done. 

My plan was to do 3 sets of 20 minutes to see how consistently I could swim each set.  I did a quick stop at the end of 100 yards to re-seat my goggles & to make sure my watch was counting. 

20:30 min = 30 laps or 750 yards - stopped for 15 seconds to readjust my swim cap & for some water
41:10 min = 60 laps or 1500 - stopped for 15 seconds for some water
61:00 min = 88 laps or 2200

I was pleased to see I was pretty much spot on for the first 2 sets.  I had the most trouble in the last set.  During this time I had 2 different lane mates so that was a bit distracting.  The first one was a 25 yard sprinter & a long break taker.  At one point he was doing this weird squat like walk which threw me off for some reason.  After about 10 minutes he was out of my lane.  Not sure if he got out or moved to another free lane.  With about 5 minutes left I had another lane mate who was super speedy.  Before I was done she was also out of my lane.  Not sure if I was difficult to swim with or it was just a coincidence that another lane quickly freed up.

Overall, it was a good baseline swim.  I swam about 50 yards further than the 2010 postal swim.  Improvement no matter how small is still improvement.  I tried to focus on long & strong to keep my swim technique in check.   I wasn't too tired at the end of the set & had no shoulder pain...this is probably because of my right hip/groin/butt issue.  Only one part of my body seems to hurt at one time.  I am sure as soon as that heals up my shoulders will be problematic again. 

One more week of doctor directed no running/cycling.  After 2 weeks of no running/cycling I am supposed to test it out with a speed walk.  If I feel any pain then it is 1 more week of no running/cycling.  If I still have pain after 3 weeks then I am supposed to start PT. 

Don't forgot to enter my Snake Oil giveaway HERE.  I love the stuff & used some today after my swim to help my sore muscles. 

Thanks for reading!