Drained by Swimming

No birdie pictures today. The weather has been too dull and wet. In keeping with that, I've felt like a soggy lettuce for most of this week! It basically took me a good 7 days to recover from the swimming.

Tuesday, I attempted some DIY (replacing a broken bath tap). I was 99% successful but needed someone who didn't have a frozen left shoulder, and wimpy left arm muscles, to come and maneuver themselves under the bath to tighten up the nut attaching the cold tap to the water pipe (only reachable with the left arm). Thankfully, an old work colleague came to the rescue and that's now sorted out. However, it did nearly finish me off.

Wednesday, I didn't have it me to get up early and head to my normal pool, 17 miles down the motorway. However, I remembered I had "3 free swims" from British Gas which could be used at participating health clubs. I printed off the vouchers, had a large breakfast (in the hope it might reduce the post-exercise crash) and headed to a local health club, late morning. I was very pleased to find that the water in the children's pool was well over 34 degs C. It was like being in a hot bath! I did as much of the hydro exercises as possible and then warmed up with some swimming before trying out the 'big pool'. The main pool was cooler but surprisingly nice to swim in. I didn't push myself too much - I was still feeling very headachy and exhausted. But, I enjoyed the experience.

Thursday, I was completely wiped out, as usual. Slept for an hour in the afternoon. Didn't do anything except watch telly, rest and eat. Friday, I was still tired and a bit headachy but coped ok with pottery, and yesterday managed a short walk.

Muscularly, I think the swimming is doing me a lot of good. I'm still getting the LHS lower back tightness/pain and left glute/hip ache but I can feel my joint stability improving. My core strength and range of motion in my shoulders is also improving gradually. Speaking of shoulders, the left has been quite painful and twingey this week but the DIY antics contributed to that.

Overall, the swimming obviously wipes me out but, for the moment, the benefits outweigh the costs. That might be short lived but we'll see.