Well, bad news today. After Tuesday's five-mile swim (almost) I woke up the next day with the worst shoulder pain ever. Which would have been tolerable if it were just the one. But now, my other shoulder has joined in on the act. I've never had a single problem with it until now, and I'm certain it's tendinitis just like the other. Exact same kind of pain.
It's left me with some serious thinking to do. I have to consider the long-term consequences my body might suffer if I continue marathon swimming. Nothing I've tried over the past year has really worked, and icing constantly has kept it manageable, but I can't do it forever. I think Bear Lake might have to be the final "long" open water swim for me. I refuse to give up swimming and I'm pretty sure I can keep at it, training for pool events where the focus is more on intensity rather than volume. So here's the game plan ... for now.
1. No more swimming until Bear Lake. My shoulders are in such bad shape that I can't risk injuring them further before my big swim. I feel my cardio level is ready for the event, so I'm not too concerned about finishing in that regard. I just hope my shoulders can hold up to get across that sucker.
2. See a doctor, and actually get the work done to properly diagnose and treat my problem (MRI and possibly ultrasound).
3. After Bear Lake, take 2-5 weeks off (or whatever the doctor suggests) from swimming. I know I'll be in considerable pain after Bear Lake is all said and done, so I will need to take some time to heal. In reality, if I want to fully heal, I need to take months, rather than weeks off, but I don't know if I can do that again. I really need to work on my kicking if I want to improve pool times, so I'll probably do regular work with a kickboard while I rest my shoulders.
4. Swim in the SDRC Masters meet in mid-November. I hope six or so weeks of solid, intense training will get me ready. I might set daily yardage limits on myself, though, to keep from furthering the destruction on my shoulders. I have a few goals I'd like to meet, beating some times from last year and perhaps trying some new events.
As far as after that goes, I just don't know. I will probably swim in the open water races the following year, but they will have to be the shorter 1-mile events. Anything more probably won't be possible or even good for me.
Anyway, Kelly and I went to the gym this morning and got some leg work in. I rode the bike for 30 minutes, followed by squats, leg presses, lunges, mountain climbers and some ab work.
Total distance: 7.35 miles cycling
Darn it. Stupid shoulders. Sometimes my shoulders ache after a long swim and I worry about that happening to me. It would be devastating.
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