Heavy Lifting
This morning I got up at 6AM so I could get to the pool and try to get home around the same time that Elizabeth got back from Utah. I went to bed fairly early last night, so getting up wasn’t a problem. Getting out of the house took me a little longer than I’d hoped it would, but I was still in the poll around 6:50. My goal for today was to swim a few long sets and do some kicking drills. I warmed up with 750, then did 250 of kicking, then did 800, 200 of a kick drill that John showed me where I kick the opposite leg each time each hand enters the water. It’s tough to implement when I’m swimming at a normal pace, but I was able to get into a nice groove when working more slowly. I then swam 750 and finished with 350. I took short breaks between each set. All in all, a nice, easy 3,100 yards.
I went back to the gym a few hours later for a strength training session – my “heavy” day of the week. I have seven exercises – squat, pull-down, bench press, deadlift, leg press, seated row and hamstring curl. Today I did four sets of six reps for each exercises at 70, 75, 80 and 85% of the one-rep max that John calculated based on my testing. I rested two minutes between sets, which seemed like forever. I haven’t lifted like that in years! It felt pretty good, except some of the top-end weights (particulary in the squat and deadlift) were a little too heavy. I did my best and figure that I’ll try again at my next heavy day (next week, I assume) and then adjust if needed.
The tightness in my lower legs is pretty much gone, which is a good thing obviously. I’ve got another low-intensity run tomorrow night – hopefully I’ll be able to do that run without too much concern about my legs. It’s supposed to get really cold and windy and potentially snowy tomorrow night, so that will be enough to worry about!
Swim – January 24
Time: 1:00
Distance: 3,100
Strength Training – January 24
Time: 1:10