Wow, it's been 4 weeks...

I remember my first swim on July 22nd. It was the kickoff to my half-ironman training for the Florida 70.3. It was a brutal swim. I had never experienced a swim like that in my life. Immediately, my arms felt like lead, and I was sore as I swam. It was the first realization that I was extremely out of shape, beyond what I thought.

It's now been 28 days and 4 weeks of training. From the start, I said it would take at least 4 weeks for me to struggle until I got in somewhat better shape. I don't know why I thought it would take 4 weeks, but it was intuitive. 

These four weeks have flown by, by the way. In fact, it's hard to believe I finished my first four weeks. I put in a decent number of hours, starting from zero to at least 6 hours of training that first week. Unfortunately, I didn't document the total time for that week; it might have been 7 hours. 

Things have changed over these last 28 days. My resting heart rate has gotten lower, and I'm not sweating, which seems like an eternity after I finish training. I know it was at least 45 minutes to 1 hour to stop sweating when I started. 

I'm still not training as per the heart rate zones from my training plan; I just can't. I'm not yet in good enough shape. On the bike, I carry so much weight that I can't keep my heart rate below 122 bpm. When Running, it's the same: lots of walking to keep it low. The run has been disappointing due to my calf injury. I like running, and there has not been one joyful run because of the calf injury. 

Today was a speed swim workout. I don't enjoy swimming, but I looked forward to this swim challenge after pushing myself out the door. I felt I got in good enough pool shape that I could go hard, and for the first time, I thought I might be able to put in the effort prescribed for this training session, and I knew it would hurt. 

I followed the session effort to the best of my ability, and my ranking in the workout was 60 out of 100. Using the Tri Dot training program gives you a score based on your effort and your heart rate. I've so far had a lot of 30s out of 100, and the highest one I got was a run off the bike, which was 86, and the next day, a long run of 93 out of 100. The only reason I got it was because I was able to walk most of the run to keep my heart rate down. 

After the swim session, I felt proud that I did it. I went my hardest when it asked for it on the plan. The maximum heart rate I got up to was 143 bpm in one session and 135 bpm in others. That still is low, but it's the highest I can do when I swim. I normally swim at 110 bpm. I don't know how people can get their heart rate up to the 150 bpm level. I can do it on the bike and run, but I just haven't ever done it on a swim. 

I often think I don't get my heart rate up on the swim because I don't have the arm strength or desire to go hard over a long distance. I always think that the swim is the least important part of a triathlon for time, and why get tired on the swim and use up too much energy that could be better spent on the bike and run? 

Before going swimming, I went for a walk with Alice. I wasn't sure if I should, as would it affect my injured calf or would it have a benefit. I was scheduled to do a run today and thought a walk might benefit me. The good news was that it didn't cause pain while walking, and I hope it would help my calf recover. I guess time will tell. A positive was my heart rate, which has decreased from an average of 90+ bpm to 83 bpm. 

I massaged my calf with a roller before the walk to be safe. I do 40 rolls on each calf, keeping it elevated about the heart and applying pressure when I pull towards my body. 

Diet-wise, I'm doing well, other than eating sunflower seeds as a snack a few times in the past week, some carbs like a banana or potato, and a protein shake after I do a training session. I know I've lost weight; I just don't know how much. I only want to weigh myself once a month. 

I'm nervous about what the weight loss will be. If it's too little, I'll be disappointed; whatever number that is, I will use it to measure what future months should be. Mentally, I think the loss will be between 8 lbs - and 12 lbs. My fantasy is it will be 15 lbs, and I'd be down to 225 lbs. What would make me happy is if I got under 230 lbs, something in the 220's. Even if it was 229 lbs, that would be a win mentally. 

During today's swim, I got to use my new flippers. That was one of the motivations for doing the swim today as well. I wanted to see how well they would work when I did my 200 kick with a flutter board. I liked it, although I took in a lot of water when I breathed. I have a ways to go regarding my kicking and breathing.
 

After swimming, I washed the car and headed to an outdoor car show. There was only an hour left, so we put our car in there and came across one of the old Corvettes. They are amazing looking. I'm not sure what year I posted the picture of this one, but I think it would be the late 50s or early 60s. 

Before the evening was over, around 8:30 p.m., I got off the couch after watching a couple of long documentaries and motivated myself to get downstairs to lift weights. I knew if I didn't, I couldn't get that time back, and it would delay the amount of time I had to get strong again. 

It was a good workout, I started using higher weights, and I could do squats and lunges with my body weight without my knees hurting. I definitely worked up a good sweat. 

Walk - 2.91 km - 33.47 minutes - 83 bpm average. 

Swim - 1:08:21 - 2,125 meters - 3:12/100 m pace

Weights - 32:46  

Weekly Total - 8 Sessions - 9 hours 39 minutes - 150.3 km