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After taking 3 weeks off, this week has been utterly exhausting with what I would consider short workouts. The combination of weights, dryland and an hour in the pool each day has left me sore and tired. I've only been swimming 3,000-4,000 yard workouts and it's wiped me out. Interesting how quickly I lost my endurance. My weight has stayed stable at 175, today I hit what might be my first 176 day. My weight doesn't alarm me, I think I'm probably still a healthy BMI (Body Mass Index). I still don't eat enough but I'm making progress.

I've had a few really good days of training this week, Tuesday was 4,200 yards, Wednesday was 3,000 yards and dryland. Today was 3,000 yards and lots of butterfly. This weekend I have a meet at EMU on Sunday morning. I knew when I committed to swim it a month ago that it wouldn't be a great performance due to the holiday and less swimming. I think meets like this are important to keep my focus on improving. Chances are, I will swim some slower times than usual due to 3 full weeks off. It disappoints me that I let my training slip, but everybody needs a little break here and there.

The University was still shut down when I returned on Saturday, Sunday they were closed as well. Monday I was back in the weight room, dryland and 3200 yards in the pool. Absolutely wiped out by the end of the 2.5 hour workout. It was great to be back in a world class pool after that much time off. While the pool was shut down they replaced the pump system which will decrease the facilities downtime and allow for more consistent temperature control. As well as making my good friend Tim's (the pool guy) job much easier!

I did everything I could to work in some dryland drills during the week to keep the edge off. I wish I could have done more, but I assumed I wouldn't get much training in during my vacation. Back to Michigan soon. It's going to be tough to leave the beautiful Florida weather. I got one more practice in this morning in a 15 meter pool at the campground. I did quite a bit of butterfly, as all swimmers know, it's almost impossible to swim butterfly slowly. It was a challenging, yet brief workout.

Today I enjoyed a beautiful sunrise in Marathon Key in the exact spot I had done some ocean swimming last year. As I was taking some nice ocean pictures I noticed something in the water. Sure enough, it was a shark swimming along the shoreline just 10 yards out.

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