Friday 24 June 2016

Day 14 - 2 weeks in, unilateral breathing and more aching shoulders

Week 1 was about getting into a groove, getting that niggling rib injury to settle and trying not to get carried away. Week 2 has been about managing the increasingly achy shoulders and fatiguing body. I made what I thought was a sensible decision to do as much bilateral breathing as possible in the first week. Partly because I have always been nagged by various swim coaches that my one-sided breathing was the cause of various right shoulder issues, and partly because I was starting this 30 days of marathon swimming with an existing rib and back injury on my right side. So one week in I was pleased that the rib and back were settling but I was struggling big time with an increasingly painful left shoulder. The only thing I was doing differently was the bilateral breathing so I ditched it and went back to just breathing to the left side. Can't say the left shoulder is fixed but it has stopped getting worse so hopefully it will stay at this level for the next 2 weeks. On the plus side I'm starting to sleep better, I think that is the increasing fatigue catching up with me. Halfway tomorrow.


Day 14 update - Woke up to a bit of a shock this morning but still managed to swim another marathon - day 14 done, 140km swum in the last 2 weeks. That's most of the way from England to Brussels! Great support from Lisa Jones who swam another 10km with me. Tomorrow is half way - number 15. I'm dedicating number 15 to Rob Sheldon, Mike Beecham, Finn Fraser and Hugo Hedley. These great guys have supported me across the English Channel, along Windermere and across Torbay. Great support is vital to any successful swim, and I'm very grateful to all these guys.

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