A cool two thousand...

My urgent priority for the next three weeks, other than meeting my obligations to my students and colleagues and doing a couple of extra work things I made commitments on a long time ago, is to get myself back into better health. I need to calm down, and I need to rest!

Training is part of that, but I must be very careful not to plunge into it in some way that will set me back on health...

With great regret, I've canceled the California trip that was coming up the week after next--there was no best-case scenario on health, it was quite simply going to be too much stress on the body. My lungs are still just, oh, it is too much information really--full of junk...

But I had a very lovely swim this afternoon...

I do not think I am someone who takes the ability to exercise for granted--I think I am always very grateful and appreciative that I am able to do it, I really enjoy all the stuff I do and I believe in sort of squeezing as much appreciation and enjoyment as possible out of even a fairly workaday workout. But there is no doubt that a week of workout deprivation will prime one for the most ardent and heartfelt gratitude!

I took it very easy because of the ongoing lung situation. (But I'm significantly better today, it's definitely the first day where it seemed at all sensible to try and exercise.) I decided in advance that I would swim only very easy and get out after an hour rather than trying to do an hour and a half. But it was wonderfully enjoyable--arms and legs felt very strong (well, that's because this enforced rest is like an evil week-long taper!), and it was a good chance to focus on technique. I did some flip turns, and in fact it was well-tailored for working on alternate-side breathing...

Warmup: 200 free, 200 IM kick-drill, 200 free, 200 IM kick-drill

Main set: 4 x 250 pull as 100 free (breathe every 3), 50 back, 100 free (breathe every 5)

And a cooldown of 200 mix free and back because I felt that would bring me to a very respectable total...