July 20 to 26

 

A nice week overall. Some new experiences for me with the swimming to post about first.

Went to a public swim with people who obviously train. It was an outdoor pool, which was cool. It was a public pool run by the city, which made it flat and slope-y and all kinds of kids around, which was nice compared to my usual private club's pool. And the three levels of swimming - I went in for the slow, slow lane and was not overwhelmed. 

I even had kids try to walk through the lane I was in and the guard yelled at them for me, which is also a nice switch from the private pool I usually swim in. 

Anyway, swimming workouts got a little longer this week, the last workout was 30 minutes of constant movement and trying not to drown. Same workout as years ago, just with me trying to get back to it:

100 m breast stroke

250 m arms only freestyle

50 m breaststroke

350 m freestyle

125 m breast stroke

Not a bad workout- the second set of free got my heart rate up into Zone 2 for about five minutes, which is good. I'm happy that I can get and keep myself at that pace. Do the work first, the pretty comes later.

Earlier on in the week, I did an outdoor sprint session, just to see what would happen. Did a short 15 minute walk and like a set of 6 sprints of about 20 m, Nothing, really. Just wanted to see what would happen. Got my HR up to about 135, which is ok. Nothing special. Total time was 15 minutes.

Even earlier in the week I got out on a 5k bike ride around my neighbourhood. That was pretty cool. Nice and mellow, just to see about legs and rear end afterwards. My rear end was sore, but my legs were asking for more. 

Morning sessions continued every day. Mostly bright and early before coffee. Tried the BJJ long bands around my hips, but I don't have it quite right yet. Will keep trying. 

May 18 to July 19

Saw this stuff this morning, going to have to try it

 Whoa. I must apologize to my loyal reader(s) for the break in updates to this blog. It is going to be the recurring issue of freak out busy. Of course there is also a lot of "Oh yeah, I forgot" as well.

There is a lot of news to share. I did get out in the RV twice more since I last updated this blog. Each time the training conditions were a challenge but I overcame them and had good yoga, swim, bike and hike sessions during this time. Up until recently, my hip precluded kayak sessions, so none of those yet. 

I got tired of paying for a swim pass and not using, so I went back to using it. I got tired of having a garage gym and not using it, so I'm back using it. I got tired of having a park pass and not using, so I went back to using it. 

When I invest money in something I want to make sure I am using it. Not surprisingly, the more active I've become in this time the less chromic pain I've been feeling from various spots.

Almost as if "movement is medicine" is a thing.... 

Anyway ... starting back to closing my circles on my Apple Watch/iPhone, getting back to mobility in the morning and various fun workouts in the evenings. 

Did this HIIT the other day:

Not a bad workout, especially since I've been trying to not injure myself and just get back to limitless cardio. 

The hip, legs, shoulders, back ...neck...ears ...eyes... stopping hurting is just an added bonus. 

This workout was as many rounds needed until I got to 30+ minutes of:

Airbike 3 minutes

12 kilo Kettlebell movement - 2 minutes

Nothing to fancy: swings, snatches, cleans and presses. 

I had the new Superman movie playing while I got this done, and so I had some "inspiration" or something along those lines. All good, all good.

The morning sessions have been done everyday, just not always at the same time. Here is the morning session these days:

10 minutes hip opening 90/90s, baby pose, frog pose, downward dog to one legged downward dog to world's greatest stretch. Push ups.

10 minutes abs - bjj pummelling, hip raises, clamshells, dead bugs, push ups and swimming kicks. 

Because of the swimming, I've been avoiding shoulder and arms in the mornings, as that tends to be a bit much when I'm just getting back into swimming. I'll get back to that morning banded shoulder stuff everyday a little bit later in the summer.