Today was the first day I combined cycling and swimming. My ride was my standard 5.3 miles quasi-loop. After this week I will bump it to six miles. The ride went well, though my thighs continue to burn (a good thing, overall). I expect the burning to subside and the speed to increase after this week.
I used my daughter's pool to get back to swimming. Gosh, I cannot remember the last time I got in the water to attempt a "lap"; it has to be at least 10 years. All I wanted to accomplish was waking up my muscles to the notion of swimming. Swimming has never been "fluid" for me (really, no pun intended). I have always felt my form was bad and my stamina poor. I was hoping to be in constant motion in the water for 30 minutes, but I only made 22 minutes.
Thanks to my recent surgery, I was able to exhale my full lung capacity through my nose and underwater. I had not been able to do this before, meaning that my breathing rhythm has been quite poor since forever. I am sure the breathing problems contributed to my lack of stamina. I did drills for swimming using only my legs and discovered that, except for the breast-stroke kick, I need a lot of work on getting my legs to aid the effort. This is where coaching will come into play. As to waking up my muscles for swimming, it did not take long before my shoulders and arms were providing rather concerned (TIC) feedback. Overall, adding swimming on cycling days seems to be a good fit, so I will keep it.
If 91L does not prevent me from doing so, I will be back to running tomorrow. Keep moving forward.
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