Its official that I have a torn labrum in my left shoulder. The MRI came back positive and the doctors were very certain of what they saw. I have what is called a SLAP tear.

It was a difficult decision wether or not to get the surgery. I have been trying to rehab and build up the shoulder the past 3 weeks or so to try and swim with it but I was compensating too much during my workouts. I decided that I have a better chance of swimming fast as the Olympic Trials if I have the surgery now, rehab it and train for maybe 6 months than if I did not have the surgery and compensate for the injury every day.

The surgery is scheduled for July 8th.

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Today I didn’t work out but instead I got an MRI on my shoulder. I was injected with this dye first in order to see a better picture and because of that I cannot work out for another 24 hours.

My shoulder has been feeling a little bit better but every time I try and push it a little bit it just fights back. Its really frustrating.

I will know the results of the MRI on Thursday and we (doctors, coaches, physical therapists) will discuss the best plan of action.

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Well this has been a crazy few weeks and I’m looking forward to getting back into the groove a little bit. I just went back to Columbus this past weekend for my girlfriend Jessica’s graduation. It was awesome to see her again, as usual. I’m so proud of her and what she accomplished!

As far as my swimming goes. I took this weekend as an opportunity for my shoulder to recover from the rehab I have been doing and rest it up pretty good. It felt great at the start of practice but as practice wore on, the pain kept getting worse and worse. Its getting pretty frustrating not being able to “swim”. I’m still doing a lot of kicking and leg work so I will be able to improve that.

I have decided to get an MRI, haven’t scheduled it yet, and see if I can get some stronger meds/ treatment to be able to deal with the shoulder. I only have about a year until Olympic trials and I can’t afford to take half of it off recovering from a shoulder surgery (if I find out I might need that)

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So I’ve only been kicking for the past couple of weeks or so. I haven’t gotten an MRI to confirm but I had two opinions and they both think I have a torn labrum. I can’t really swim freestyle, there is too much pain. Backstroke isn’t as bad but there is still a lot of pain with it.

I have been getting a lot of treatment done with the folks at Architec Sports. Alan Tyson is our team PT and he has me going through a series of daily strengthening, stretching, massage and foam rolling routines to try and support the shoulder the best we can. He said it can possible be swum with but I’m going to have to really be tedious on my rehab and stuff.

I’m not sure what to make of everything. I have a “Go Bucks” type of attitude (for lack of a better term) It really stinks just kicking and knowing that I don’t have a lot of time or many more opportunities to get better. My kicking however has been mediocre at best so this is a good opportunity to turn my “weakness” into a strength.

I’ll try and keep everyone more updated, I realize I’ve been slacking a bit.

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So last week sometime I really tweaked my shoulder pretty good, more than I ever have in the past. I’m not really sure how exactly it happened, but it was probably a combination of a lot of things. Anyway since then I’ve basically just been kicking.

I got evaluated yesterday by our team PT and I have bursitis, something wrong with my labrum and then also some AC joint inflammation. He said that I have a lot of imbalances in my shoulder as far as flexibility. I stretch all of the time but there has been an area that I never really hit. Now to get those spots I have to do a lot of foam rolling and massage. So I’ll be getting work done at least 3 times a week until it is back to 100 percent.

As far as practices go, I’ve been doing fairly well just kicking. It might actually be a blessing in disguise since I’m a very average kicker and this will give me a chance to really focus on turning a “weakness” into a strength.

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After getting our butts kicked yesterday and earlier in the week, we took today as a recovery day. We went to our outdoor pool, Moss Creek and got the pool set up for the summer and then had a recovery workout there. The water was crazy cold, around 75 degrees. But it became bearable after we warmed up.

As for the rest of the day, I had to go to the office and do meet entries for my swimmers and then I had a vet appointment for Nalla. Just a check-up and her annual shots. She was such a good girl. I then had coaching, I had the kids do drop out 100s.

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So after Ultra Swim we got Monday off to sort of recoup and recover from the weekend. A lot of us went on Amy’s (David’s assistant) boat and went tubing and water skiing. It was a lot of fun, but a little cold.

Yesterday was my first real practice in a long time with going home to see my family and then with the meet this past weekend. It was a little rough but I got through it okay. It was basically a long aerobic practice, about 7500 meters long course.

Today, I went to the pool in the morning to get some film work done on my stroke. It is amazing how much it helps to constantly see what your stroke looks like.

We then had our lift, which was our explosive power day. Then we hit up JCSU for our afternoon swim workout. We did a speed set today. There were some variations to the set but this is what I did:

8x through:

25 kick in body line all out @ :30

50 all out swim @ :45

25 all out swim, from a toe hang

Rest about 3 minutes in between.

It was a really good pop. We then did a quick 1000 worth of pulling and then finished off practice with some paddle/fins swimming.

With paddles and fins:

2x 25 race @ :50

50 easy

4x 25 race @ :40

50 easy

2x 25 race @ :40

1x 50 all out

I pushed a 19.9 at the end right after the 2 25s, so thats not bad. During the first set I was swimming odds backstroke and evens freestyle. I was going 10s on the 25s and 23 lows on the 50s for free and 12s and 26s for backstroke.

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Ultra Swim was a great success. It has had the reputation of being the best Grand Prix meet in the series and will continue to hold that title. The stands were sold out each day, there was a ton of enthusiasm and hype.

It was a little difficult for me to be in a good swimming/racing mindset, given the past week and a half or so. But I did my best.

I had a few decent swims and a few, well, awful swims. My second 50 free, at finals was a fairly decent swim, and my 100 backstroke was the best I’ve gone so far this year. As for my 100 freestyle swims, we won’t talk about those. haha.

I’m really looking forward to getting back into a routine of training. Being with my family for a week and then leading up to and swimming in Ultra Swim, things have been kind of hectic and stressful.

Thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time, and I ask that you continue to pray for my Oma (grandmother).

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