The last few days have been a bit depressing. After a 40 minute spin on Wednesday the sinusitis took hold and I've been feeling pretty dire since. This has left me frustrated as I've not been ill for ages. I'm not really ill as I can work bit I feel tired and the whole of my face is sore.
Rest is important in any training plan but when it's enforced and unplanned it is unwelcome. I have in the past been guilty of overtraining and in doing this have learned how to build my training slowly and without injury.
So no swimming, biking or running to report. I could blog what I've been working on for the last few days but that would be incredibly dull so instead maybe I should blog about swimming. It is without doubt my least favorite of the disciplines!
When I got my place for Ironman Austria in Christmas 2006 I had one minor problem. I couldn't swim. Well that's a small lie, I could swim but could only manage a breadth of breast stroke and that was a struggle. When on a family holiday in the summer of 2006 my kids would laugh at me as they flew past me in the pool I absolutely knew I wasn't a swimmer.
Suddenly having said yes to a pal in London who had offered to transfer his place for the Ironman I suddenly realised I had to swim 2.4 miles - I tried to work out how many lengths of the pool that was and gave up when the number soared over 150. I couldn't swim one!
So I made a few enquiries. How many people swim an ironman breast stroke I put out on a triathlon website..... The response was a tad negative and I wasn't given any chance of completing the race. But I don't give up anything so asked about to find a swim teacher. I was recommended to speak to an experienced Edinburgh Triathlete called Scott Balfour. Scott is an amazing man, a gifted athlete and a triathlon giant. I emailed Scott and he kindly took me on. Lessons started in January 2007.
Scott took me back to basics initially learning how to push off from the wall before moving on through different exercises. I was the worst of the various students by some distance and struggled with form and stroke.
The months began to pass and I still hadn't actually managed to swim. I had many 25 metre lengths single arm but never put it into a single swim stroke. By Easter I still couldn't manage a length, I was the ultimate slow learner but I practiced hard all of the drills that Scott taught me. I didn't have the courage to tell Scott I was doing an Ironman in the summer as I was convinced he would just laugh at me.
The day I managed a full length I was so excited I almost choked! I was bizarrely emotional even though I could only breathe on one side and only had 12 weeks left to race day. I think the drills had built a lot of arm strength and when I started being able to swim one length at a time I was dead chuffed. Next challenge was being able to swim 2 lengths. It didn't take long and once I managed two lengths I began to build up the number of 50 metre swims I could do. I had made a decision that if I couldn 't swim 1900 metres non stop by the start of June I would give up.
So one day in May I decided to continue on and just swim beyond my 50 metre 2 length routine. I jumped into the commonwealth pool and got started. After one 50 metre length I usually stopped, this time there was no stopping and I carried on. I managed 1km - I danced out of the pool excited by my achievement. Maybe I could do this.......
The next few weeks were spent building distance. I didn't do any drills just banged out length after length in the pool desperately trying to build distance. The problem that I had was every time I got to 2,500 metres I would start cramping up. I had another problem which sounds weird but I was a bit scared of the water. As a kid I hadn't been able to swim and hated going out of my depth. The only reason I learned to swim when I was 18 was because of a certain girl who stayed in the same accommodation and she liked to swim so I secretly learned so I could go with her! It worked!
I have always been scared of water particularly when I can't see the bottom. I had completely put out of my head the fact a lake is a deep bit of water and I definetly wouldn't be able to see the bottom. A friend of mine suggested the we go out open water swimming. It was June, felt like winter and I set off for my first open water swim. I was terrified.
Before my first open water experience I had to buy a wetsuit. The Tri Shop in Edinburgh is excellent and the advice is excellent. They gave me a wetsuit and 2 plastic bags to go and try on the wetsuit. You put the bags over your feet to protect the suits when trying them on. Now the wetsuit needs to be snug and I wrestled with the first one they gave me. I reckon they give they give you a size too small to start with just to keep the spirits of the staff up as you waddle out of the changing area with an undersized suit looking like a complete pratt. I was passed the larger size and set about squeezing into it. I still couldn't zip it up but a kind and very strong member of staff pushed and pulled and eventually I was wet suited up. Not pretty but wetsuit selected I was ready for the open water.
Open water sounds exciting and almost romantic. I imagined me gliding through the lapping clear water of a beautiful loch. I met my pal at the Mussleburgh Lagoons. Not quite what I had imagined but an important lesson was about to be learned. I looked acrosss the lagoon and panicked - could I swim that far? Would I make it? My friend helped me on with my suit and we set off. Head down I swam directly across the water. When I say directly, I was directly heading n the wrong direction. Ah this is what they mean by sighting. You are supposed to check every 6 or so strokes that you are still aiming at the same point that you have selected as your target. I had picked a tree on a hill behind my turning point. I forgot to sight and by the time I checked I was 30 metres off to my right and miles out. Why wasn't there a white line at the bottom of the lagoon.
So after much zig zagging I made the turn and my pal suggested that I try and stay behind them - that was difficult too but it was easier to follow feet than sight so I decided that would be my race tactic. Having done the open water once I decided that was it. I could do it what was the issue and I set off back to the pool to finish my swim training.
I was as ready as I was gong to be and I set off to Austria having never swum the 3,800 metres that made up the Ironman swim. Foolish, stupid and uncertain of open water with no idea if I would finish my fear built by the day. More of the race day later but suffice to say don't let not being able to swim put you off triathlon!
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