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Wednesday 4 August 2010

Back in training

I got back from Dingle on Saturday evening having left early in the morning and then stopped over at my aunt’s for a few hours. The driving conditions were atrocious so when I finally got home I was exhausted, and didn’t do all that much on Sunday (unpacked, food shopping, clothes washing). Friday having been a horrible day down in Dingle, I was now three days without having done any training. I wasn’t particularly bothered from a fitness point of view because I overtrained the other days of my holiday and an extended recovery was probably a good thing. However, it can be hard to get a rhythm going again, I always seem to forget how good it feels, although these days I do feel weird if I’ve done nothing all day. I eased myself in with my old ‘exercise that doesn’t feel like exercise’ routine, where I work out to a film or TV show. I did my strength training first to a couple of Lady Gaga tunes and then biked for the first 50 minutes of Girl Interrupted. I find indoor bike work and weights very boring without something to distract me, with something on in the background, the minutes slip by.

Swim training
Yesterday I was feeling ready for something a bit more challenging so I went to the pool last night. It was really busy so I didn’t try out front crawl with my new nose clip (but I have tried sticking my head in the sink with it on and it makes a HUGE difference for me), however I did swim my longest ever (not just since I started swimming again a month ago)- 50 lengths (1250m). I got to 40 and was feeling pretty comfortable and there was still plenty of time before closing. I was tempted to try 1500, but held myself back and settled on 1250. Three weeks ago I was getting leg cramps swimming 20 lengths and freaking out when water got in my mouth. Now I’m comfortably swimming more than double that and contemplating putting my face in the water. I thought I’d be breaststroking the tri swim, but I think freestyle is now realistic. While I’ve also knocked some time off the clock, I’m not going to worry about aiming for a pace for this tri (my swim threshold is about 0.43m/s (3:52 per 100m)at the moment), my aim is to finish it comfortably, come out of the water relaxed with a heart rate of 120ish so I can push the bike. Over the winter, I’m definitely going to work hard at an efficient, faster stroke and getting to grips with the flip turn, maybe even get a lesson or two.

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