Tuesday
Those of you on Fitocracy will have seen my ragequit strop on Tuesday...sheesh. Swimming in a public session is just getting harder and harder the more I improve, and I wish I could say that without it sounding braggy. It is pretty difficult to do serious training when you're not sharing your space with like-minded people, in a place where the rules of etiquette are not even explained, let alone enforced. Still. Numpty-dodging aside, I knocked out a straight distance session of 3.3km over approximately 1hr 15mins and gave up in sheer disgust at being able to lap some of the lane hoggers not once but twice over 100m. All told, when I had a clear lane it was great and my first 100m in was 2min 01s! I'm really pleased with that. I couldn't keep it going at that constantly - people get in the way, you stop to fix your goggles, you slow down when you get tired - but I can't have been far off that pace most of the way through. Bodes well. I'm just frustrated not to have been able to go non-stop for two hours. I can't find a single pool locally that has a clear 2hrs of lanes at a time I can get to.
Sunday
USWIM Masters, yay! Last day of the Swimprove sessions. I think I can safely say "yes, I have improved" but in all honesty I couldn't tell you exactly what's improved. It may be "nothing" more than confidence. It may be a combination of tiny tweaks all over - I'm pretty sure my arm position is a little better, and that I kick from the hip more than I used to. I need to do a little more work on my breathing, and I want to ask about the "dead spot" I sometimes find with my hands as they move from vertical to hip. Anyway, I feel good, and this week's coach (Claire or Katie - I'm so sorry, I am useless at names!) made a point of saying that I and one other chap in particular should have "no trouble" keeping up with the Intermediates group. I am more chuffed than you can possibly imagine with that! I did join their session for a little while afterwards, after spending a while dithering about whether to do so, and it was kinda fun - and gruelling - to play with the grown-ups. After an hour of solid drills, though, I was pretty tired and decided to head home early so's not to miss tucking the girls in. But I'll be straight into lane 2 next week to see if I can keep up!
Plans
Still dithering about Windermere. I almost went "sod it" and entered the 5km earlier this week - and then spotted it was on a Friday, which is quite an issue on a school day. Having not been able to get a full 2hrs in on Tuesday means I'm still dubious about where I stand with respect to getting the 5km under 2hrs by June. The bit on the form that asks "the Date, Event Name and Finish Time of the most recent open water swimming event which you have completed two miles or more" is also a sticking point, since I haven't actually completed an event at that distance, just training. And it was training at the end of September, when I wasn't as improved as I am now and wasn't going at any kind of speed - I was only trying to see if I could crack the Iron Fish and the time didn't matter. Not sure I can see a way around that other than finding a two-miler to do earlier in the season!
I really must get on and book Manchester, though, there's no reason to delay on that. Other than money, of course. I'm not sure what I'm going to do in terms of running/lifting this week; my Coursera classes are all changing over the next fortnight and I'll have to see what it's like in term of workload and what exactly I'm going to commit to for that. And I suppose I'll grudgingly accept that I need to be doing some Christmas stuff too. Bah.
