Alex's swim journal

I've just entered into the FLOG my penultimate swim of the month and my bio-data from this morning. I decided to look at my monthly totals, since it is the 30th, to see how it was looking going into tomorrow's postal 5K (what a way to end the month btw!) and do some comparisons with previous months this year.

MILEAGE: I'm at 48.8 miles for August, which means the 5K postal will put me over 50 miles for the first time since January. I've been averaging 45 miles/month since January, mostly 47-48, but some 43-mile "recovery" months in there too.

WEIGHT: Average weight this month: 169 lbs. Last month: 175.xx. Before that, I was almost invariably in the 177-178 range for the whole year. For the last couple of weeks my average weight has been closer to 167-168, which means that September's average promises to be even lower. Thing is, I'm not even trying to lose weight. After more than 6 weeks on a purely vegan diet, and avoiding processed, packaged foods wherever possible, I can eat till I'm full at every meal, snack healthfully, and still see the scale flashing numbers I haven't seen this consistently since my first couple of years in college. Bonus: fruits taste way sweeter; the higher calorie refined sugars are way too sweet for me now, so when I do put sugar in the vegan pancake recipe, or have more than 2-3 vegan chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, it tastes too sweet in the moment, and, more importantly, makes me feel rotten a little while later... so I read my body better, it's not numbed by sugar/high-fructose corn syrup addiction, i.e., in constant need of the next high.

RESTING HEART RATE: average for August was 43.9. Every month before that was averaging 47-48. A difference of 3-4 beats might not seem significant on a daily basis, but for a month-long average I think this is an important indicator. I think it means that my heart is having to work less hard when I'm at rest and that I'm going to recover better as result. I hope it means that my arteries are regaining elasticity and that my blood cholesterol is on the decline.

I've done 3600 yards over the last two days in the lake; 1800 each day. A little bit of recovery from the hard swimming earlier this week. Yesterday I did 500 fr, 500 bk and then a mix of all 4 strokes for the final 800. Today I did 200 fr relaxed followed by 100 bk and 100 br, and repeated that 2+1+1 pattern three more times; finished with an ez 200 fr. Lake water temp was perfect both days; and early mornings out there have been glorious!