Stopping is for the weak!

As my muscle stiffness finally begins to dissipate I am faced with a question about training that, in one shape or another, has been on my mind for years. Ever since I was a skinny kid starting out in competitive swimming, and especially after tasting some success, I have equated training with muscle pain. In fact, I cannot break out of this mold and feel like I somehow am getting cheated if I DON'T feel some pain. Looking back on the past nine months while on my quest to get back into shape, I realize that this may be the number one reason why I bounce from one injury to another like a pinball. The ankle will always be a maintenance project, but since January I've had a variety of ailments, all due to over training and none of the acute kind. Is it possible to break out of this cycle of torture? Will I ever get to the point where I am satisfied with just going out for a long, slow jog arriving back home not completely exhausted?

Case in point, today I made it to another lunchtime swim. This is the start of my third week of swimming, so I am not anywhere near in swimming shape (nor do I delude myself that I ever will reach swimming shape with two short swims per week). In fact, I am slightly embarrassed at how slow I am because the training and racing times I used to be able to do are still etched in my head and I compare myself against these. But I digress...

Today I decided to try and swim longer before having to stop and take a short break. So I jumped in and off I went hoping to reach 600m before "adjusting my goggles" (a clear sign of weakness, like a gimpy leg on an adolescent zebra being stalked by a lioness). The first week I only managed 300m and then my shoulders were burning - mission accomplished from a training perspective, though slightly emasculating. This time I was quite happily swimming not too fast, lost in my thoughts, when I decided to check my time while executing a flip turn at the 500m mark - 7:30, which translated to 1:30/100m splits (for competitive swimmers this is exceedingly slow, at best a warm up pace, but for me this was a clear challenge!). By now my shoulders were starting to feel the burn, but the splits made my brain believe that I wasn't working out hard enough, and so I did not stop at 600m, or 700m, or 800m, or... You get the picture.

Upon reaching 1600m I ran out of time and had to get back to the office, "saved by the bell" or I might have gone for a nice round number like 2000m, or more, and ended with biceps tendinitis.
Anyway, I am just wondering if anyone else out there suffers from this "not getting my money's worth" syndrome when training? I simply can't hold back as much as I plan to. Is it possible that I am not as mature as I think I am? (My wife is not allowed to respond to that question!)

For good measure I plan on doing some weights tonight as well; you know, I've once again grown fond of muscle pain...

Dryer Vent Update:

And oh yeah! We also figured out why the fruits-of-me-loin were pouring water down the neighbour's dryer vent hole!!! In their infinite wisdom, they were simply trying to wash out (cover up) the huge amounts of grass clippings that they had stuffed down said hole earlier in the day! Ahhhh... Can a Dad be any more proud? Well done, you freakin' kids! But the huge wad of grass that came back up the pipe once the neighbour started her dryer kind of gave it all away... At least the dryer seems to be working, for now.


Tonight's weights:

• 10 minute stationary bike warm up
• Incline Dumbell Bench Press 10-10-10 55lbs
• Seated Rows 10-10-10 140lbs
• Dumbell Shoulder Press 10-10 40lbs
• Lat Pulldowns 8-8 145lbs
• Biceps Curls 10-10 65lbs 10 45lbs
• Dips 12-12
• Bicycle Crunches 50-50-50