Elise's Fitness Fun

Nope. No typo in the title. I really mean 2013. Got in good shape for 2010 SCY Nationals and thought I would take a 6 month break from any kind of consistent training. Six months turned into nearly two years. I wasn't too bad of a couch potato during this time. I bowled, hiked, rode my bike at moderate paces, and jogged with my dog. During the last two years, I have done some extensive remodeling on the house and have been working on my masters degree in history. I will be graduating in December provided I pass my oral comprehensive exams.

In any case, when I saw that SCY Nats was going to be held in Indianapolis next year, I decided I'd better start getting back in shape. I really like the pool at Indy and miss seeing my friends. I'd like to go and make a decent showing which for me means maybe getting lucky and getting a tenth place finish.

I'm going to try something which some might consider to be somewhat unorthodox.
I am going to focus on weightlifting before I get back into heavy swimming. In fact, for the first few weeks back, I am going to just use my swimming as a cool-down from my weights. While I am building my strength this summer and early fall, I'll probably stick to drills, easy swimming, and maybe a few sprints at the end. Only after I have built up my strength, will I ease down on the weights and focus more on swimming. My strategy is to build strength and minimize the chance of injury. Also, I hate getting back in the pool and doing regular workouts before I have started doing weights. I always feel pathetically weak!

I'll probably do a little bit of cross-training, but will keep it to a minimum. I'm more interested in getting strong and swimming well.

Anyway, here is the workout I did today:

Warm-up: 5 minutes on the gauntlet

Bench press: bar x 10, 65 x 8, 85 x 6, 65 x 8, bar x 10

Lat hi row: 90 x 10, 100 x 8, 110 x 6, 100 x 8, 90 x 10

Hammer curls: 3 sets of 12 x 10

Leg Press: 130 x 10, 150 x 8, 170 x 6, 150 x 8, 130 x 10

Hip adduction: 110 x 10, 120 x 8, 130 x 6, 120 x 8, 110 x 10

Hip abduction: 110 x 10, 115 x 8, 120 x 6, 115 x 8, 110 x 10

Seated ankle-flexion machine: 3 sets of 45 x 10

Captains chair: 3 sets of 20

1.25 mile walk with 4 x 100 yard sprints