Roller coaster

My swims are so inconsistent. Complete roller coaster. One week I am fast (for me) and efficient and the following week I just drag my whole body and cannot make it move.
Makes me mad!

Today was one of those "down" days. It started pretty well, I somehow managed to do 2x200 with bands and paddles only. I have never gone that far pb (my code for paddles and bands only). I usually do only 6x50 and already that trashes me. But I usually do those at the end of the workout so that might be part of the reason why I always drag my feet at the bottom of the pool. Today I did pb at the beginning and I was surprised how easy (compared to my usual pb) it was.
But it probably trashed me for the rest of my workout because although it was very easy workout I wasn't able to hit my paces. I was not able to move faster!

I am not too concerned about it because that's how my swimming has always been. But maybe I should be concerned because this inconsistency is not good, not good at all. I want to nail most of my workouts, not just 70-80% of them.
Hopefully it will improve as I become stronger swimmer.

I spoke with a PT today and he did a few basic assessments on my legs/ITB. He said that my left hip is weaker (it is my right ITB that bothers me) and that I probably overcompensate with my right legs and thus the problem. It might be true, but because I have been crazy about doing different exercises using my right leg mostly to solve the issue I have probably caused that to myself in past few weeks.
He also said that I have weak hip flexors and that I should start doing exercises. My core is ok, although not perfect, I can make it definitely stronger and it will help. It was only very superficial basic assessment but now I know at least that it is probably hip flexors and weak left hip so I can work on that and see how that goes.

Last year this time, I was stuck at the airport in Amsterdam while coming to Michigan for the first time. Those were good times:)
Today, at exactly this time I am supposed to be on plane back home.
Unfortunately my flight ticket was not refundable and I could not make any changes to it so it was a waste:( But I am able to stay here and that's what's important now.

I am debating signing up for another triathlon in 3 weeks. All depends on how my ITB feels. (Run in this tri is done on a dirt road, not an actual road, which is good.) I would really love to do it because it is a "club" race and a lot of people from tri club will be there and it would be awesome to have someone with me in a race and share the excitement.
I am not too keen on racing a running race. Because I know that I am not "running" fit and thus it would be just a waste of money. I will not PR thus no point in racing. I can assess my running fitness on track doing workouts for free.
If I stay here, I am definitely doing Detroit 5k that's held together with Detroit marathon and half at the end of October. And depending on how I feel fitness wise I might find something Sept and Nov. It all depends...
But I am fit enough to have a good tri race. But it is sooooo expensive. $90! I am not sure whether it is worth it considering my financial situation. Last race was $75 and it was worth it because it was my first so the experience alone was kinda worth it and I luckily won those running shoes thus I have "recovered" the fee by that. Now I want to do this race just because everyone is doing it (aka I can show off in front of club people. Although coming think of it some of them already think that I am nuts with a lot of potential. But what if I have a crappy race and then they change their opinion about me? That would kill my ego:)) and because I really believe that I can have faster finish time- lots of potential to improve my swim, I now know that I can push harder on a bike and obviously I can improve my run. Although I will probably not improve much in 2 weeks, will I? I might actually run slower because my legs might be too tired and shocked by sudden running training, don't you think? And although my ITB feels good now, maybe it will start hurting again and then I would not be able to do the tri and all that money would be wasted for nothing. I need to sign up asap, that tri sells out every year so I cannot wait to see whether ITB will hold. It is very hard to decide what to do.

And maybe my ITB will start protesting tomorrow and then my dilemma is solved because I will very likely shoot myself. (Don't worry, I do not have a gun so I will not do it)