More of the same in November...gentle progression, the
distance work is feeling nice and comfortable and the speed work is hard, challenging and......
fun. I used to really dislike interval training, but now I am loving
it. Getting into the pool when you’re still groggy with sleep, fall into
the water and start swimming the warm up I am thinking, ‘am I going to be able
to pick up the pace’ but during the build set the heart starts to beat a little
faster and the blood pump a little harder....then I really get into it!! Loving the sprint
sessions....just have to remember that I am training for a long distance swim
and not a sprint!
The kids continue to impact my ability to sleep and during
the middle of the month it got so bad that I couldn’t train much for a
week. When I hit a period that I cannot train for any reason it really
bothers me. I almost feel my fitness waning if I miss a planned
session. I know this is the ‘condition’ of the endurance athlete and what
drives us to train as hard as we do. Even though I understand this, it
doesn’t help when I miss a session!
On the upside I started strength training this month - a
couple of Pilates sessions per week and 2 x strength sessions and a Boxercise
class, for variety. The key thing I noticed about my first Pilates
session was how ‘unfit’ I am! As the
sweat was pouring down my face and the inability to do some of the moves well
and certainly without any finesse, reminded me that my fitness is swim
specific. The stiffness I felt the following day helped confirm
this. I had been trying to convince myself that I could get away without
doing the gym work, as I really don’t enjoy it and just concentrate on more
swimming. Now that I have started to pump a bit of iron I am reminded
that during the 24 hour swim I did last year I had no shoulder problems due to
the weight training I was doing at the time. A problem that a lot of the
other swimmers were struggling with. It is a key part of the training, I
have faced the facts and am now getting on with it.
I was thinking that the way I have introduced the strength
training into my plan may not be the worst way. I ramped up my swim
training in September and gave myself just over 2 months of building,
allowing my body to adapt to the increasingly steady load. Only
then have I added the strength training. I know I did not plan it this
way, but now that it has happened I think this could be the way forward rather
than hitting it all at the same time and pounding the body. I trained
that way in 2011, all at once and full on. That winter I had so many colds and was very
run down, that was before we had 2 children to worry about and sleep was not
quite so elusive! I can feel the strength training impacting my swim
fitness as my muscles get used to the increased workload. It is slowing me down and I am having to make
sure I warm up and down better (I’d say properly, but that would be a lie!) to work
through the stiffness. I have even
started using a recovery drink in the hope it will help me recover more quickly
between sessions. I am hoping that this is a temporary blip and
will suddenly have a leap forward in speed and stamina in the water, in the
coming weeks. It’s good to hope.
I have started looking at the events/ races I would like to do next year, to assist my training and give me smaller goals to aim for in the lead up to the ‘Big One’ . This is what I have so far:
·
March – Eton Channel Swimming Training Camp.
·
26/4 – 2Swim4Life
– yes I am a glutton for punishment, but awesome mental training. Last
time I did 12hrs skins and 12hrs with wetsuit, the target this time is
obviously to do the whole thing skins!
·
27/5 – Eton 10km - possibly not the best
event to chose in my lead up to the Channel, but as I was the one that pushed
HR into putting the race on, I see it as ‘my race’ J
·
15/6 – Champion of Champions – I hear it is a
must!
·
End of June – Jurassic coast swim, basically me,
a boat (need to find one) and my crew doing a 10 miler along the lovely coast
and practising all the things that need practising before the big one.
