Quick Trip

Just completed a quick trip to Sydney for a 10km swim at Balmoral. Conditions were tough with a decent swell coming through Sydney heads.  At the change of tide it felt like we were swimming on the spot.  Afterwards i was told we were dong 1km per hour in that region going up and 5.5km per hour on the way back.

For me it was great to get into this type of confused water. It is exactly what i can expect in 18 months.   

First long swim of 2015

A sunny but windy day greeted us for the 17.25km swim at Balmoral today.  In order to stick to my eating plan for the swim the morning started 2 hours before; a large bowl of muesli, 2 sea sickness tablets and 2 Beroccas.

The water conditions that greeted us were bumpy and toward the end of the swim it was rather choppy. Those conditions are great to swim in as i find i stay far more alert than just going through the motions when it is flat. 

The first 10km flew by quite quickly and before i knew it we were into the business end.  I love this part of the swim because this is where I see all that hard work in the pool really pay off.  

Because a few of us decided to go for a swim up to the Spit I totally messed up my food schedule.  I was running close to empty and it was lucky Dean was there with a smile and a spare bottle of Endura that could get me back back to my food...life saver mate!  

The last lap was challenging, the weather was turning and the chop increasing.  It was time to put the head down, sink the body a fraction and grind out the last 1250m.  After turning the headland it was nice to finally get some runners into the beach. After 5hours 10 min of swimming, 30 min of eating/chatting and 20 minutes of looking for a lost swimmer the swim was done, with lots of petrol still in the tank (after i got back to my food that is)!

     

Back into the Gym

Back into the gym today for more strength work. This period the focus is on core and tricep strength which will help for some long swims that are coming up. Each session is about 60 min and has to be recorded to see improvements.

First few swims of 2015

2015 is all about building a very solid base that will hopefully leave me in perfect physical condition for a 6 month surge in 2016.

The first swim of the year was an interesting set. It was not challenging from getting tired but the lactic acid build up and then getting through that discomfort barrier.

8km

• 1 x 1000m 
• 1 x 1000m - finger paddles
• 1 x 1000m - medium hand paddles
• 1 x 1000m - large hand paddles
• 1 x 1000m - large hand paddles
• 1 x 1000m - medium hand paddles
• 1 x 1000m - finger paddles
• 1 x 1000m
• 5 minutes treading water

Today's set was again meant to quickly build the acid back up and then learn to swim through it:

5km

• 1 x 1000 - kicking
• 1 x 1000 - one arm swimming
• 1 x 1000 - finger paddles
• 1 x 1000 - medium paddles
• 1 x 1000 - large hand paddles
• 12 minutes treading water

The year that was...

A lot of kilometres covered in 2014.  A quite winter saw me me miss out on the 1000km mark.

With a lot of base building in 2015 I guarantee this distance will be past about September this year.