Rehab Review - Week 8 - Feb 19 to 25

Another week where I arrive on Monday morning ahead of my end of week targets. I may have been a bit light on the targets so far but trying to keep myself from abusing the limits set by the Orthopods. 

Monday I planned to go to Inverurie for an aquarium-jogging session and then the club swim session. The whole set was built around kicking and wasn't adaptable to suit my ankle so I had to change to a swim at bucksburn instead. That also cost me the chance to do a pre-swim aqua-jogging session as the pool timetables don't fit.

I settled on a set of 400m reps. The intention being to get a decent chunk of distance in so that I could focus on shorter (and potentially faster) sessions through the week depending on fitting them around aqua-jogging. I did 6 reps, and then an easy 100m of breast stroke to cool down. Pace was pretty variable, a couple in 7:11, 7:13 felt good, but even those are 15-20 seconds down on this time last year. 

Tuesday I managed to fit in my missed aqua-jogging session and then went for a steady swim as well. Neither were particularly good sessions but kept the numbers ticking over. 

Wednesday was just aqua-jogging, but my longest session so far, and done as a reps session. 1-minute on, 1-minute off for 50 minutes. That was a brutal reality check for my aerobic fitness. Over the last few weeks I have worked on my basic fitness, rebuilding some muscles in my leg, and a bit of swim technique. I have done nothing specific on aerobic fitness and every minute of effort was a huge struggle. 

When I arrived home I went in search of my powerbreathe. It has been in a drawer pretty much since I got it. I don't like it, mostly because it is hard work but partly because I am never convinced it works. In the absence of other aerobic options at the minute, it can't do any harm. I then realised it could potentially do some harm as it has been in a drawer for a few years and potentially has things growing on it that are unique to medical science. So first up it got dunked in a bath of disinfectant and boiling water for an hour.  

Thursday was a double session of aqua-jogging and then a steady swim. I took both of them fairly easy and still ran out of gas long before the end. Thursdays seem to be too deep into the week on my current programme. Doing 10 sessions in 6 days is probably pushing it. 

Friday I had most of a rest day, but with weights and core in the evening just to clear them out from the weekend. 

Saturday I did my early swim before spending a chunk of the day catching Pokemon during their Dratini event. In the afternoon I had a look at setting up the bike on the turbo. It is not in great shape but more importantly there was no space in the garage to set it up. I abandoned any attempt to climb around in the mess and dig it out and decided just to stick with aqua-jogging and went to do another set of reps in the pool. 

Saturday totalled out at 13,026 steps. Over my 12,000 steps target for the first time since my break. 

Sunday morning I went to the pool, purely out of habit and because it was written on my diary. I did another steady 1,000m in 20 mins. At some point in March I am going to need to try and do a serious, and rested, 20-min test to gauge my swim fitness properly. It is fine churning out several of these steady 20min / 1,000m efforts each week while I am tired but I need to convince myself that I can shift that back to a 17min time before I seriously commit to Denmark. Even if I am going to struggle once I get out on the run, I at least want to be in the midst of the race rather than just dawdling round at the back for the sake of it.

My aqua-jogging numbers are already up this week so I decided to skip another session but I did keep the visit to McDonalds on the way home. Not hard to justify this week. I have upped all my numbers from last week and done over a mile of aqua-jogging and plenty of reps within that.

Skipping that session also gave me a chance to watch the wrap-up of the Winter Olympics and a lot of the Closing Ceremony and then to go to "I, Tonya" in the afternoon.

In the evening I did weights and core just for the numbers. I am doing a much better job of completing these this year. Partly because I am missing so many other 

My swimming binge since I have been allowed to get in the pool means my cumulative swim miles are already ahead of every previous year except 2017. I am gradually closing in even on that number. I spend so much time at Bucksburn Pool now that some of the pool staff have now stopped checking my membership card when I arrive and they just wave me through. 7 more visits this week probably added another unnecessary layer to that familiarity. 

I cleared 60,000 steps this week. Up 10% on last week. Still plenty of scope before I reach the 100k that I consider normal during normal commuting and training blocks.


Targets - Swim 3.0 miles, Bike 0 miles, Run 0.2* miles.
Stretching session x0, Core session x2, Weights session x2.

Monday - Swim at bucksburn 2,500m in 55 mins. 

Tuesday - Aqua-jogging 40 mins ~460m.
Steady swim 1,000m in 20 mins.

Wednesday - Aqua-jogging 50 mins ~620m.

Thursday - Aqua-Jogging 30 mins ~300m.
Steady swim 550m in 12 mins.

Friday - Weights session.
Core session.

Saturday - Steady swim 1,000m in 20 mins. 
Aqua-jogging 50 mins ~640m.

Sunday - Steady swim 1,000m in 20 mins. 
Weights session.
Core session.


Actuals - Swim 3.8 miles (6,050 m). Bike 0 miles. Run 1.3* miles. 
2 short core, 2 short light weights and 0 stretching / rollering session. 0 mins of yoga.

Cumulative actual, (Cumulative target), [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 16.8, (11.2), [12.3], 
B 0.0, (0.0), [0.0],
R 3.0*, (0.4), [0.4].
Core      - 13, (10)
Weights - 13, (10)
Yoga      - 0, (0)

*Includes aqua-jogging.