Candida Cleanse, Day 5: Second Breakfast of Champions.

Today was my first real swim practice since the holidays: yes, I had been to the pool on my own twice, but not for a coached workout.

Wouldn't you know that I would pick Give-Up Fly day?

NOTE: Not Got to Give It Up Fly, Marvin.

Damn.

So here is how Give-Up Fly works:
You start out swimming 50s, with fins on. For the first 50, you do one stroke of fly, and then the rest free. For the second 50, you do two strokes of fly, and then the rest free. For the third 50, you do three strokes of fly, and then the rest free. You get the idea.

At a certain point--when you get to where you're swimming an entire 50 of fly--you upgrade from 50s to 100s. In theory, I suppose, you would then upgrade to 150s, but I didn't make it that far.

So I did my upgrade at 16 strokes: that made for 2 full lengths of fly, and then the added 50 was all free.

I have done this set before. That time, I completed the 16th one, but then died on number 17, because I was trying not to breathe on the first stroke off the wall.

Believe me, you need to breathe on the first stroke off the wall. Maybe not on the first 25, since there is a rest interval, but on the others. And this time, coach had me trying to breathe every stroke for the second and third lengths: doing that requires more power, but at least you have oxygen in your blood.

Anyway, this time I made it to number 24, so completing three full lengths of fly. I could really feel my stroke technique deteriorating on the last few, and I was doing backstroke rather than free for the remaining strokes, but I'm proud I made it to the full 75.

That made for 1650 yards for the set, and roughly half of it fly.

The rest of the practice was a 1000-yard warm-up and a 350-yard cool-down, for 3000 yards in 70 minutes.

This is a HUGE improvement over Saturday. Part of this, I know, is that the set requires focus, and that kept my mind off how bad I felt. (Well, sort of.) But I do think my body is adapting to the cleanse diet, and I am very pleased that I was able to complete that practice.

When I came back, I sliced up and heated two of those pre-cooked turkey sausages that the PP had kindly found me at Whole Foods, reheated some left-over kale, and had the most awesome second breakfast ever.

BREAKFAST:
Oatmeal with butter, slivered almonds, and nutmeg (nice!)
2 cups rooibos tea

SECOND BREAKFAST:
2 pre-cooked turkey sausages
some left-over kale, which, by the way, I had way over-salted
another cup of rooibos tea