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.  

100 x 100m Boxing Day Challenge

DONE...with hand paddles from 5km too...

Last Swim for 2014

Vald Swim 10km event at Balmoral...better time this swim

Not the best result for my first event

My first event for the new swimming season produced a time i was not expecting.  The 2 hour 40 min 9.5 km swim was definitely not what i wanted, but after some sole searching and reflection it really should not have been unexpected considering we have been concentrating on picking up my speed and not spending time on endurance.

The first 5km saw exceptionally good 1km split times but that is where it ended and i came home with a very 'dry sail'.

  

Easy lake swim today

First swim back after a slight shoulder injury. Everything felt good, no pain and i managed to get through just under 8km in just over 2hours.

Back into the pool tomorrow for some more long distance speed work.

Niggle...

First shoulder niggle for the year has seen a 3 day hiatus from the water. Up until then the training has been uninterrupted with good improvements seen, especially lately in the 1km pool splits and 100m sets.

I have been lucky with my shoulders so far but i put that down to a lot of shoulder strengthening and stretching exercises. Once or twice a week, depending on which week in the phase it is, i am in my garage gym. I have about 20 exercises to do that takes about 90 minute to complete. About 15 of the exercises use bands are focused on the shoulders and associated muscles and the rest on my core and lats. To ensure improvement I keep track of all the exercises i do, here is a screenshot.

 

I suppose injuries are all part of this journey and it how they are managed that will be the key to getting back in the water ASAP.

Time Trail...

After a week of only a half training it was nice to get into the pool today and measure how much all this work has improved my swimming.  My time in today's 1km time-trial saw an improvement of just over 20 seconds...obviously the training is working.

This month is all about speed training again, then two 10km swims and then a few weeks off over Christmas.