I finally got back into the water last week after Christmas. Why is it always such a bun fight in swimming pools? I had to wind myself up to get to the pool to start with. I have used the Christmas holiday period to have a go at writing my own training plans using the Swim Smooth book as a guide. I’m building up for a marathon swim later in the year. I’m both scared stupid and excited at the same time.
I’ve been struggling to focus on my swim training. It all feels so daunting. I am not a life time swimmer. I only started swimming ‘properly’ in May 2012 after leg surgery and needing to do something whilst all my friends were donning their lycra and enjoying lots of active fun whilst I struggled to put my feet on the floor. I learned to swim as a child. It was a case of sink or swim quite literally. My swim teacher, bored with me being the last in the group to give up arm bands, pushed me into the pool when I wasn’t ready and I suddenly had to doggy paddle. Not the most auspicious start to an aquatic career. So, here I am in the pool with all of my toys and my home made plans and today I had an inexplicably leaky drink bottle that spat half of my Kona Cola Nuun water over my trackie bottoms.
I’m currently swimming three times a week supplemented with a couple of runs and a couple of strength sessions One is a technique set, one is either speed (I wish) or threshold and Sundays are my endurance set. Today I did a set that included 100m intervals. I simply cannot break 2 mins per 100m. I might do the odd 25m at 1.45 but I can’t hold it. Admittedly, I’ve not been training for some months, so I’m not sure why I’m expecting miracles at this stage, but I’d like to see some evidence that I’m not wasting my time. I have a lesson with my fantastic swim coach at the end of February and if I can’t show some improvement by then I may indeed have to go and have a lie down.
ordinary2extreme 