Wasting away

More progression today.

The swim this morning was another slight improvement over the swim yesterday. I am still figuring out what I can and can't do in the pool and this morning it was a case of putting into practice my lessons from yesterday's swim. This meant a lot less work on my injured arm. I didn't rest it completely, but the times I used my right arm were much more controlled. It wasn't a complete session of kick though. Just half of it. In the end I came up with a 1000m set that involved three different kinds of kick, some drills and some one armed swimming. Three times though that and I was done. Surprisingly effective.

Not all great news today though. Over the last few days I have begun to suspect that I have been losing muscle mass. I have obviously been doing it for a while, but this week it got to the point where I noticed it. It is always hard to tell this sort of thing on yourself so today I checked with my Physio and he confirmed that muscle mass loss is almost unavoidable. The injury simply won't withstand the strength work necessary to maintain muscle mass. Very frustrating. Fitness is one thing, you gain and lose fitness a couple of times in a year. But muscle is something else. I worked very hard for the muscle I have, it is a bit hard to watch it go. I know the muscle that I need will build again as I start to train again, but it is just another thing that needs to be regained. I keep telling myself how well the training is going and that I have been able to maintain some fitness. Realisations like today's makes convincing myself of these things just a little bit harder. Frustrating that I can't do anything about it either.

On the bright side, it may make me a better triathlete in the long run. I have always suspected that years of swimming, kayaking and muscle head gym work have resulted in more upper body muscle than a triathlete should typically have. This might be a chance to shed a bit of that unnecessary muscle. After all, the weight loss that Lance Armstrong experienced through his cancer transformed his cycling. Well the drugs probably helped too, but I am sure the weight loss was a factor. Okay so the link is just a little tenuous, but this is my silver lining and I am sticking too it.

The big news for tomorrow is that I am thinking of heading out on the road. That is the plan anyway.

Watch this space.