Next Up...Hamilton Half Marathon

Hopefully Sunday's race won't be like today...blah rainy, cold and miserable.  My calf seems to be ok and skipping a couple of runs seemed to do the trick.  I ran yesterday morning for about 11 km and it seemed ok as I ran at a slower pace.  My older brother Don is battling an achilles injury but should be ok to run and Tammy all of a sudden has pain in her right knee.  One trip to Kevin confirms that she has bursitis of the knee (yes I had to look up how to spell bursitis).  What is bursitis?

The knee joint is surrounded by three major bursae. At the tip of the knee, over the kneecap bone, is the prepatellar bursa. This bursa can become inflamed (prepatellar bursitis) from direct trauma to the front of the knee. This commonly occurs when maintaining a prolonged kneeling position. It has been referred to as "housemaid's knee," "roofer's knee," and "carpet layer's knee," based on the patient's associated occupational histories. It can lead to varying degrees of swelling, warmth, tenderness, and redness in the overlying area of the knee. As compared with knee joint inflammation (arthritis), it is usually only mildly painful. It is usually associated with significant pain when kneeling and can cause stiffness and pain with walking. Also, in contrast to problems within the knee joint, the range of motion of the knee is frequently preserved

Both Kevin and coach said stay off her feet but should be ok to run.  It might be painful but the run shouldn't cause any damage. 

Earlier this week I discovered a swim workout schedule that a swim coach had posted on Slowtwitch.  I've only been going to lane swimming and haven't decided to rejoin the Masters Swim Club.  There are several things I liked about the swim club.  One was that there were other people to talk to also a coach to provide some drills and guidance.  I've found with lane swimming, like running for two hours, it gets very boring when you're just pounding out the laps with no variance or structure.  So I decided to try the drills that this swim coach posted on Slowtwitch.  Tuesday's swim went like this:

WARM UP

2x450 10 sec rest
#1 swim, #2 (25kick/25swim)

MAIN
6x100 pull on 1:40
4x150 (100 strong/50 smooth) on 2:30
4x100 (25 back/25 swim) on 1:45

COOL DOWN
100 choice

(2,600SCM)

I got most of it complete but ran out of time as I need to be back home by 7:15 am to so Tammy can walk Rebecca to the bus stop.
 
Today's workout was like this:
 
WARM-UP

400 choice
4x50 (25 kick/25drill) 10" rest
6x50 swim (descend 1-3 & 4-6) on 50/55

MAIN
2x200 (150free/50 not free) on 3:25
2x200 pull (strong) on 3:20
200 negative split

COOL DOWN
100 choice

Again, I got most of it completed although not at the splits recommended.  Today's workout was a little bit shorter which is ok as I swim up in Stouffivlle which is a 15 minute drive back home.
 
Overall, I like having some structure rather than just swim blindly.  I'll continue for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.  Hopefully the coach will post some more drills just to mix it up.
 
Oh yea, that new bike I've been talking about...all of a sudden, it may not happen.  We just got a nasty letter from CRA.......doh!!  This could be a problem.