Carry that weight -260 Days to Go

When I started training, three years ago, I was swimming 850 meters (1/2 mile) five days a week.

That was good enough for a race of 1,500 meters.

But not for a race of 4,000 meters.

(2.4 miles of swimming)

When I did the Half Ironman, I felt great, but days afterwards my arms were sore. I was taxing my latts, traps, delts and tricepts.

(I actually thought I re-tore my rotator cuff until my PT tried to push down on it and I had the strength to hold the arm up)

First thing I did was sign up for physical therapy.

(Again?)

Yes, again.

It was a good thing I did. I did not have enough strength in my arms to lift a 3 pound barbell.

(You couldn't curl 3 pounds?)

No, we are not talking curls. We are talking about the connective tissue that holds the big muscles in place. For that I had to start from scratch and build up.

So it was back to the THEREBANDS (Orthopedic bands).

From there it was barbells. The more I lifted, the better I felt...until I did too much.

Swim, lift, swim, lift...sore!

Things needed to change. I could stop lifting, but I wasn't going to risk injury with the race at stake.

RESULT: Swim on Monday, Rest Tuesday, Lift Wednesday, Rest Thursday, Swim Friday.

I thought that I would need to swim every day. Nope, this is endurance training.