I smell of Chlorine. I really smell of Chlorine. I used to smell of BO but now it's consistently the stink of swimming pool chlorine. The wonderfully horrible stink of swimming pool, which can only mean one thing. I've been consistent, and to me now that smell is the smell of success, the smell that I am getting somewhere, putting in the hours and actually feeling like I'm improving.
I even sweat now when I finish in the pool. Which is odd but strangely satisfying. I never knew I could do that. Another achievement. I am more confident in my stroke. Breathing to the right is somewhat successful and even though only 3 short weeks ago I was fully sure that breathing on every second stroke was too much for me it turns out is perfect. And guess what you go faster and are less tired! Who knew. Slowly but surely the jigsaw is coming together, the breathing, the arm strokes and the kick. There still is, and I assume always will be a lot of tweaking but for now, I'm relatively happy.
I've been sick this week which meant I missed one running session on Thursday. I almost avoided swimming on Friday too but somehow I convinced myself to man up and face the chlorine, thinking if I can do even one length its one more than not going at all. In the end, I did 8 and spent some time focusing on breathing on the left and also the reach and glide. So overall given how I've felt this week I got enough done. I wasn't sure if continuing was wise but I'm almost over whatever bug I had now so ready to get back on track this week and set some targets for distance on the watch.
On Wednesday morning I used the Garmin watch to track my progress. I managed 500m at 7am and it really is a great way to start the day. Even if it was a struggle getting up at 6am to -4 degree and a hard frost, the pool was warm and once I was finished the sense of achievement was fantastic.
So to the numbers. I managed an average pace of 4.12 per 100m. This wasn't straightforward swimming. I needed some breaks sometimes at 50m and others unplanned when I forgot how to breathe and how to swim and ended up standing up. Not a luxury I'll always have.
Anyway if I swim on race day at this pace guess what will happen. I'll miss the cutoff time finishing just short of 80 minutes and 10 whole minutes or 200m short of where I should be.
I choose to look at this in two ways. Firstly I'm only swimming 3 weeks, I've still got 8 months, I'll probably be able to make up 10 tiny minutes. And secondly, the fear keeps me driven, the fear of not finishing the swim, of not even getting on the bike, of wasting so much time, effort, focus and determination and not achieving what I want.
So a combination of fear, logic and drive will get me there.
Breakdown of the week:
Monday Swim lesson and extra swimming 2 hours
Tuesday Swim 1 hour
Wednesday (early morning) Swim 500m at 4.12 per 100m pace
Thursday Off Sick
Friday Swim 200m, a real struggle
Saturday Nothing
Sunday 5 mile
Aim for next week is to use the watch and get some distances in the pool so I can work out where I am at and what I need to do. Similar to last week although I should get an extra swim on Saturday evening and hopefully I mini run-bike-run on Sunday to finish the week.
I need to get better at the anti-injury strategies, foam rolling and stretching. I can feel my arms and upper body so I know some swim fitness is coming but I am carrying an issue with my shoulder AC joint but that's a story for another day.
Consistent actions create consistent results.
Onwards.
I even sweat now when I finish in the pool. Which is odd but strangely satisfying. I never knew I could do that. Another achievement. I am more confident in my stroke. Breathing to the right is somewhat successful and even though only 3 short weeks ago I was fully sure that breathing on every second stroke was too much for me it turns out is perfect. And guess what you go faster and are less tired! Who knew. Slowly but surely the jigsaw is coming together, the breathing, the arm strokes and the kick. There still is, and I assume always will be a lot of tweaking but for now, I'm relatively happy.
I've been sick this week which meant I missed one running session on Thursday. I almost avoided swimming on Friday too but somehow I convinced myself to man up and face the chlorine, thinking if I can do even one length its one more than not going at all. In the end, I did 8 and spent some time focusing on breathing on the left and also the reach and glide. So overall given how I've felt this week I got enough done. I wasn't sure if continuing was wise but I'm almost over whatever bug I had now so ready to get back on track this week and set some targets for distance on the watch.
On Wednesday morning I used the Garmin watch to track my progress. I managed 500m at 7am and it really is a great way to start the day. Even if it was a struggle getting up at 6am to -4 degree and a hard frost, the pool was warm and once I was finished the sense of achievement was fantastic.
So to the numbers. I managed an average pace of 4.12 per 100m. This wasn't straightforward swimming. I needed some breaks sometimes at 50m and others unplanned when I forgot how to breathe and how to swim and ended up standing up. Not a luxury I'll always have.
Anyway if I swim on race day at this pace guess what will happen. I'll miss the cutoff time finishing just short of 80 minutes and 10 whole minutes or 200m short of where I should be.
I choose to look at this in two ways. Firstly I'm only swimming 3 weeks, I've still got 8 months, I'll probably be able to make up 10 tiny minutes. And secondly, the fear keeps me driven, the fear of not finishing the swim, of not even getting on the bike, of wasting so much time, effort, focus and determination and not achieving what I want.
So a combination of fear, logic and drive will get me there.
Breakdown of the week:
Monday Swim lesson and extra swimming 2 hours
Tuesday Swim 1 hour
Wednesday (early morning) Swim 500m at 4.12 per 100m pace
Thursday Off Sick
Friday Swim 200m, a real struggle
Saturday Nothing
Sunday 5 mile
Aim for next week is to use the watch and get some distances in the pool so I can work out where I am at and what I need to do. Similar to last week although I should get an extra swim on Saturday evening and hopefully I mini run-bike-run on Sunday to finish the week.
I need to get better at the anti-injury strategies, foam rolling and stretching. I can feel my arms and upper body so I know some swim fitness is coming but I am carrying an issue with my shoulder AC joint but that's a story for another day.
Consistent actions create consistent results.
Onwards.
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