Beware the injured golfer ! Three days in Leeds.

Beware the injured Golfer, a term used at golf clubs around the country, especially applied to players who get their excuses in early. I guess it can be applied to all sports and certainly swimming. I really was not confident about any sort of performance at the recent British Masters Championships due to lack of training consistently since Nov last year and the reappearance of shoulder problems despite the surgery at that time.
I was getting by taking far too many ibuprofen for training and I planned (and did) do the same for the competition.
I don't believe I was taking too many chances and if the shoulder had really reacted and was too painful I would have stopped. I told my team buddies that I would swim the relay in which we were hopefully going for records and after that my individual events if the shoulder was OK.
The good news (and best) was a world record in the 4 x 100 free (200 -239 years). I managed to swim a seasons best by 3 seconds to help the fast boys take 5 seconds or so from the existing record (subject to rratification of course). The shoulder was OK ish but a little sore so on I went.
Over all in my events I swam seasons bests in all events (Total surprise) if not any PB's. I even managed a silver in the 50 free so the weekend was a personal success and the Gloucester team even more so with another relay European record and lots of medals of various colours.
So now I am waiting for the surgery date to identify exactly the issues with the shoulder. Hopefully sooner rather than later so I can get 12 months unhindered training completed and perhaps swim to some sort of potential and surprise every on next year. I shall try and train without pain killers this week and swap to land training if swimming is not possible.

Pain Killers working well, Looking forward to Leeds.

Well nothing it seems is as bad as it sometimes appears. The shoulder is however worse than last year prior to surgery. I tried Ibuprofen prior to a training session 10 days ago and it worked well. I have managed to get through 4-5 sessions since with no ill effects or making the shoulder worse. So after 3 weeks and swimming a total of 6-7000 Mts I have managed closer to 10K in the last week. I have changed my stroke length slightly which helps so am sort of ready to swim at Leeds.
This is the first year that I have been fit (sort of) to swim at the LC event. have entered the last two years and failed to swim. No expectations for any off my swims and based on entry times I won't be close to any top three finishes except for the relay where my fellow team members should pull us through. No more training before Friday and first day at Leeds. Perhaps an easy swim in the middle of the week with a few sprints, starts and turns.
Have managed to hold the weight down during a period of less swimming (and less working). So a much happier Tewson this week. See you all at Leeds on Friday. If you are swimming.

Shoulder Problem back again ! Low Heart Rate issue! Can't Swim !

An interesting 10 days or so since my last Blog. After a 3 night stint of manual work my shoulder was unusually sore when I trained last week. It felt very similar to my pre surgery shoulder but I was sure it was due to the 3 shifts of manual work. I called my consultant on Friday and he suggested I make an appointment with him. I rested for 48 hrs and swam at the Lido on Saturday. Well I swam approx 400 metres before the pain in the shoulder stopped me continuing. This was definitely worse than pre - op. Oh well have rested since and just got back from consultant appointment. Now on list for more key-hole surgery. The man thinks either frayed tendon catching or a new issue with the rotator cuff.
Hoping with careful rest periods I may still be able to compete at Leeds in June. (The relay at least). Perhaps not then!
The next issue came from two sources. I had my annual cardiac check up this week. All Ok except that my pulse rate was down to 40 ish BPM. During the pre-op checks today the same issue was raised both by the nurse and the anesthetist. I think I may need to adjust one of the many drugs I take these days. I did try and argue that it was caused by my super fitness but they didn't buy that explanation but I am sure I'm right.

So unless I have an amazing recovery I won't be at Leeds or Sheffield this year. (Another entry fee down the drain. Approx 12-16 weeks from now would put surgery towards the end of Aug or early Sept. Three or Four months to re-start training and another 3 months before I can compete. 2012 here we come then. At least I can train all winter and get fit for once. My biggest concern is screwing my diet and not being out of competing again for 6 months.
Really hoping the surgery will sort the shoulder out and I can have a couple of years swimming with no issues.

Work, the odd swim and becoming a diet bore!

I shouldn't really complain, I seem to be managing 4 swims a week which I guess is about average for the master Swimmer. I would really like to make it 5 or 6 but unfortunately I need to do some work to pay for the afore mentioned Masters Swimming. I chose to do a manual job (and boy it has been this week) as it would help with core fitness and weight loss. The weight loss it does help still not sure about the core fitness.
I think I have always been an impatient person. I guess I will need to wait a little longer to see results.
I tend to work 3 days in a row and for this period I am always too knackered to train (Swim). Apologies to all sports people who have the same issues and don't whinge all the time.
Well I managed a couple of minutes without mentioning the 'D' word. The diet is going well, another couple of pounds. Looking forward to getting under 16 stone soon I hope. I really can't remember the last time my scales read 15 stone something. I would guess pre 1985.
The next land mark is the British Masters (LC. 50M) at Leeds. I am glad they have a new pool as I do not have good memories of the old one. 1972 and the only time I remember my Mum telling me off for swimming performance. I guess expectations were quite high but at 16 nearly 17 I had other things on my mind which may had affected swimming performance. It was also my last Nationals as a 'proper swimmer'. Anyway more detail and expectation for these nationals in the coming weeks.

My aims difficult to judge at the moment.

Another week and another 2 lbs lost. 16.05. Nothing more to say now. I am more than happy with the weight loss and am determined to look like a swimmer before the end of the year. The weight loss is the easiest of my aims to measure for obvious reasons (Its measurable). I think I am up to 28lbs lost in total since restarting my aims after my post operative 'rest' (Lazy bas---d period). My problem is that I feel I need to lose lots more to have a required effect on my fitness and speed.
I havn't had enough training this past winter and spring, only really started again mid Feb and finally felt I was getting somewhere. Until this weekend. Two meets and 7 swims with some slow performances and not 'feeling fitter'. I died for the last 20 metres of a 100FS. and my 50's were just slower than expected. I am hoping its a matter of time and that I need at least another couple of months. Training feels better but this 'feeling' is not transferring to being faster.
Time will tell, next meet is June (British LC Masters at Leeds) so I need to work hard for the next 5 weeks and continue going forward. Speed comparisons I have changed. Any PB's from the 'Suit' period 2008/2009 I have ignored on my personal records. I will count PB's on non suit swims only this year. I am still hoping to beat the suit swims at some stage going forward but maybe not this year. 

Forgive me swimmers and friends for I have not blogged for 3 weeks.

I kept logging on and composing a blog in my head, then thinking the content was repetitive and boring, then thinking Would I want to read this drivel ? Then I came to my senses and thought, what the hell, as this is my only record of my quest I need to keep it going even if no one else reads it but me and Mrs Tewson (And thats not a given)
Anyway to get back to repetitive and boring. The diet. After 9 weeks of continuous weight loss I did put a lb on at some stage although this has been lost plus an additional 2 lbs since. Weight at last weigh day (23/04) was 16 s 7 lbs. So in summary, losses are slowing and I have been struggling a little but hopefully the losses will fight back over the coming weeks. If I make under 16 st it will be the first time since approx 1982.
Training has been hard work. the last 3 weeks totals up until 23/04 have been 6.8 K 9.7K and 8.8 K. Not great in meterage but some good quality and faster sets. I ended up working over Easter (A long story) so have not swam since 21/04. I will be back tonight at Gloucester Masters (Tues 26th), Public lane tomorrow but another night off Thursday as I am off to see Paul Rodgers at the NIA (Mentioned before I think.)
The weekend I have a trip to Dover to see my Son Matt. Looks like a low meterage week again.
The big problem is only another week or so and I have the Welsh Capital masters at Cardiff and the last day of the Midlands masters at Leamington, all over two days. I was hoping to see some good improvements but time will tell.
I keep suggesting to Mrs Tewson that I really should not be working to enable 5-6 swims a week with land work too. I won't repeat the answers but are along the lines of F*** O** you can pay for your own F***ing swimming you lazy B*****d.
Onwards and upwards

Tewson was a pig this week. Training Ok. Gloucester Masters Open meet, still contemplating the results.

Well, I have managed 8 consecutive weeks of weight loss. Only a single pound this week which really is not surprising as I managed to award myself lots of food treats. If I had weighed two days later I am sure I would have shown an increase. This coming week will have to be a good diet week, Monday was good, now to keep to the plan until weigh day Saturday. This week I might be forced to weigh on Friday as we are away to the North East for the weekend.
Training !!!!  Well My excuse is that I worked Nights Sun to Tues so didn't train until Wed with a poor excuse for a training session in public lanes. Not even a Tesco session! Real Trash Yardage. Club session on Thurs Good and an OK pre meet session on Friday with Saturday a rest day. 6K ish compared to 14K the week before. I need to sort out sessions to work around the 3 shifts I do each week.
I swam in my Clubs Open Masters event on Sunday. Not really sure what I expected and was initially disappointed in times but after thinking about what little training i have managed this year my view has improved. I also swam a 200 Free for the first time since I was 16 (40 tears ago). I overdid the easy first 100 a bit and almost came back at the same speed but was happy to post a PB as a target for future efforts. Five events in Total over 2 sessions which is also a first for me.
Next competition in 5 weeks so hope to be trim and faster. Time will tell.