Back To Basics

I've mentioned lift.do a few times recently - it's a habit-tracking site I've been using for a few months and I think it's really made a difference in terms of sticking to things I need to do or practice regularly. My list is a bit crazy at the moment because I've just added a bunch of new programs, but I'd really recommend it if you want to learn something new or make sure you do something repeatedly. I use it all day long and my day looks like this:

 - it's kind of neat to be able to achieve things without even getting out of bed, so I tick off "inbox zero", "100 vocab words in 100 days", "mental maths" and "take allergy meds am" first thing.

- once I've taken the kids to school I can tick off "eat breakfast", "eat fruit", "writing prompt" and "1min office yoga".

- After lunch I do languages on Duolingo with Youngest (she likes pressing the buttons and laughing at my accent), so that's "learn French", "learn German" and "learn Spanish" ticked off, and I try for "Unclutter" as well.

- At tea I "take vitamins" (mostly because I'm post-bug right now) and afterwards "flute practice" on some nights and "kata" every night with Eldest.

- Evenings are "watch at least one Coursera video", although I'm actually doing the Forensic Science course on FutureLearn right now, then "30 day Planks for beginners", "Push ups for beginners", "Master the Pull-up level 1" and "exercise", which can be either just active nights for those three or one of my swim/karate/yoga classes. I also need to make sure I've done my "physio exercises" and "tracked food on My Fitness Pal".

- And after all that, I've now got to "take allergy meds pm", "meditate" and "go to bed by midnight".

Busy days, and no doubt that's ridiculously regimented to some people, but I am thriving - I've never done so many things so consistently for so long. The strength building programs are particularly helpful and stop me being aimless.

So my exercise log for tonight, starting all three back at the beginning, is:

• Push-Up
  • 3 reps5
• Plank
  • 00:00:209
• Side Plank
  • 00:00:1513
• Pull-Up
  • 3 reps48
  • 4 reps60
  • 3 reps48
  • All assisted
• Negative Pull-Up
• 2 reps17
• 1 neg, 1 hold

For which I got 200 points on Fitocracy, and that's good enough for me tonight.

Shoshin

Shoshin is the concept of "beginner's mind" in Zen Buddhism - staying open to new ideas. It's an important one for me at the moment, particularly since I'm at the beginning of many new skills right now.

I've swum all my life - I don't remember a time I wasn't happy in the water - but it's one of those skills you can always, always improve on. And I'm more than aware I have plenty to improve on; my times alone will tell you that. Over the last few years I've trained a lot with USWIM, had a session with SwimSmooth, put in many hours alone and read a few books as well. I'm getting towards the point where I can feel where my imbalances are - I think I under-rotate my hip-shoulder axis (which makes me laugh because I'm told I over-rotate in karate); I have a tendency to look over my shoulder rather than keep my head straight when I breathe; that sort of thing. But it's very hard to tell what you're doing in the water and to that end I booked a couple of sessions with Dave Quatermain to have video analysis and some personalised critique.

First session was tonight - and lo, the videos have just dropped into my inbox, how's that for efficient! It was a very gentle hour, just what I needed after the collywobbles over Christmas. So no great distance or heart-pounding, terrifying sprint drills, but just enough to enjoy the water and regain my confidence. Being weak and shaky for days on end was no fun at all.

Deeply unflattering views of myself, there, so no way am I posting them! but ouch, that left arm cross is dreadful. Thought I'd fixed that :( That's the big obvious one, anyway. I await the criticism with trepidation. And an open mind...

The Universe Laughs In My Face

So yes, I should have exercised and blogged four times for Janathon by now, shouldn't I? Uh-huh. Great plans, and all that. We've now all had the vomiting bug - kids, husband, and it hit me on New Year's Day after a full ten days of cleaning up and looking after everyone else. I left our friends' home about lunchtime feeling ok, mildly hungover, nothing unusual, even talking about going out for a run that evening...and three hours later I was in bed, sick to my stomach, pain in every joint. Bloody wonderful.

2nd Jan I spent huddled in an armchair shivering, trying to deal with the bored and squabbly kids and went to bed again the minute I could. After 48hrs with no food I was pretty wobbly - on the mend again but quite weak. I knew the kids were bored out of their minds, though, so I said I would take them to see Frozen the following day...and then proceeded not to sleep at all that night due to an exceedingly painful shoulder. It finally succumbed to paracetamol at 7am and the kids woke me up at eight. *facepalm*

3rd Jan we made it to the pictures, though getting up the stairs to the cinema was dizzying and draining. On the other hand I ate! Lots. Felt a lot better, no more sick, just wobbly as hell. I planned for this to be the last rest day...but at 11.30pm Eldest Daughter threw up all over the bed and necessitated several hours' worth of clean-up and cuddling between us. And then I couldn't sleep again.

Today the cat joined in and threw up on the sofa. The devil vomits on my eiderdown again, to quote Blackadder. So you know what, screw it. I'm tired, I have work to do and we've done more laundry in the last fortnight than anyone should ever do over Christmas. Eldest and I have managed to physically do our kata for the last couple of days, though - I have practiced every day for 118 days in a row, even at my sickest, because I can still visualise it even if I can't get up and do it. But it feels good to be on my feet again and I can't wait to get to karate on Wednesday to see if I'm finally getting it right.

Tomorrow - all being well and no more sickness - I'm back at Aquatics for training, in a small group with the coach. At the moment I'm only planning to stay for the first hour; I had originally intended to join the main session afterwards but I think that would be stupid at the moment. No sense in getting knocked out for the whole month. On Monday I'm going to reset all my programmes on Lift - pull-ups, push-ups and planks - back to the beginning because I feel like I've lost a lot of strength. Fingers crossed for just a late start to Janathon, rather than completely abandoned.

Of course, the snow's bound to blow in now, isn't it...

Ooh, Crumbs, It's Janathon Time Again

Well, nearly. I need to seriously update this here blog (especially the stats, which are miles out of date!). Very briefly:
- I swam a 5km at Salford Quays in September (dead last in 2hrs 22mins but a great experience)
- Took up karate with my amazing daughter (she's now a yellow belt and coming up to grading again, I will take my first belt at the same time hopefully) and the awesome Red Tigers
- Started yoga with the sweet and lovely Jane at Radiant Heart
- Went back to winter training with USWIM.

We also supported five members of the family (including my dear husband) at Great North Run. It's no wonder I've had no time to blog - I now do some kind of sport five days a week, and that's not counting various body weight programs I've been doing via lift.do. I'm still a big fan of Fitocracy and continue to meet lots of great people and be motivated that way. I've also signed up for the Cross-Coniston Chillswim in September '14, which is just over five miles. It's the same weekend as Great North Run, which my beloved other half has signed up to again, so we're going to be rather busy this year.

Anyway, the one thing I've found hard to commit to over the last year is running, and that's just annoying because it's only my own sheer laziness holding me back there. So here's hoping I don't get thwarted by snow like last year, and manage to go for a run on the days I'm not doing anything else. Or as well as. I live in hope!

Fancy signing up for Janathon too? Go here and go forth: http://www.janathon.com

Very Great Swims

First of all, huge congratulations to Ella The Mermaid who's completed her Channel Solo in the last hour or so - absolutely fantastic, I've been on pins watching the tracker all day. Amazing stuff.

So, no updates from me for a while, not for lack of swimming but because I've mostly switched to a tablet for day to day use and much as I like it, it's not great for typing on. It's time I did a bit of a round-up, though! No big swim this weekend as we were away in Whitby for a little family break. I was good and did a set of drills in the hotel pool, though, and the girls are doing great.

6th July - barely a cloud in the sky, 18oC in the water, clocked 4050m - my first Iron Fish of the season, and dropped the wetsuit for the last 500m. Ridiculously warm, caught the sun of course. Slow, and I bought a Finis Tempo Tracker this week, which I still haven't used because I've been too busy and fuddled to work out how to set the baseline. I really enjoyed the non-wetsuit lap, though.

A view from the bridge, 13th July - 20oC in. I forgot my prescription goggles, so stuck to four laps of the short course (1600m), one unsuited, and a lesson from Coach Jane, who sorted out my sinky legs with a single tip - stick your head down! I'd been so stressed about sighting since before Windermere that I'd got myself into the habit of swimming with my head much too high in the water, which caused my legs to drop and slowed me right down. It improved things a great deal; far less stress on my shoulders.

I went to Great Manchester Swim unsupported this year - since I know my way around now I wasn't too worried about getting back to the baggage drop without my glasses. I got there early, talked to Steph from ChillSwim and walked the course with Michael from USWIM (who was the first person to help get me into the water last year, so that was lovely - very much full-circle) and sussed out where everything was. I was well in time to send off Alex and Ben in the first wave, who I'd got to know through Fitocracy and taken round the Quays earlier in the year. I love chatting to people at these events, especially first-timers - there's nothing like sharing your enthusiasm for the sport and helping to calm someone's nerves at the same time. I met loads of lovely people and the atmosphere was fantastic. 

The swim itself was crazy-warm - 21oC - and though they'd made it wetsuit-optional I elected to keep mine on, knowing that I simply hadn't trained that distance without. Event day is not "try something new" day! I'd done around a mile in the pool (urgh - like swimming through grease) earlier that week and had to bail out with cramp so there was no way I was changing anything at that point. It was a good swim, for me - 39m 15s, a new PB over that distance for either pool or OW; didn't do too badly on the sighting and quite enjoyed the tussle and busyness of being in the middle of the pack. The water was pretty weedy, especially through the canal, but I didn't mind - it wasn't obnoxious. I am proud of that time and look forward to taking minutes off it next year!

Good use for a space hopper, no?

Back at Salford again the following week, 27th July - 22.5oC in the water and a full Iron Fish (3.8km) with no wetsuit. It is MUCH harder to do that distance without the suit and I was really quite sore in the upper arms the following day. But no joint pain, just DOMS, so I'm hoping that means my stroke is getting better technically.

Comparing my stats from last year, I managed 4km only once between April-September. So far this year I've done it (or 3.8km, which is near enough) three times already and there's still a fair bit of time to go. I'm seriously considering entering the USWIM 5km in a couple of weeks since there's no time limit on finishing - I want to see how close to 2hrs I can get before deciding to enter Great North 5km since you have to be under that. If I can get it within 10-15mins then I know I mostly have fitness to work on; more than that and I'll have to leave entry til later when I can get some one-to-one or at least regular technical training at Aquatics over winter as well.

In terms of upcoming plans beyond that I want to do at least one Chillswim - they're coming to Salford in December! That's an unsuited 25m-ish at about 5oC, which should be funny if nothing else. If it's fun I may do the Coniston one in Feb too. After that...well, we'll see, but cross-Coniston in Sept '14 (5.25mi/8.4km) is looking like a distinct possibility. I'm good for half that now - surely I can double it in a year? :)

One Great Swim, Two Good Swims

I did it! I've just been too lazy to write it up. And in some ways, still processing the swim at Windermere even now as it was such a different challenge.

So, some facts about the day:

• It was well organised - busy, but we were able to park, get the ferry and bus to Low Wood and still have a bit of time to get oriented, arrange meeting points and so on. We did leave quite early in the morning, though, padding in enough time for getting lost, delayed and travel sickness.
• The kids had a great time. There were things to do, faces to be painted, ice-cream to be had. It was an expensive day out once you'd factored in petrol, parking, ferry and bus for four, plus snacks (we'd taken a small picnic but you know, ice cream) and entertainment on top of the entrance fee and mandatory wetsuit.
• The weather was settled and warm without being too hot, and the wind had dropped which was a relief after the pictures from the previous day! It wasn't quite mill-pond-still but close.
• Water temp was 15.5oC, though I felt it was a little warmer in the shallows.
• I completed the two miles in 1hr 29mins. This is 9mins slower than my average pool time, but I went badly off-course at one point in the second mile which probably explains at least some of that. My first mile was 42mins.
• It was fantastic to have A and the girls waiting for me as I came up the exit ramp (and to get my glasses back straight away!). You feel so exhilarated after finishing and it was wonderful to be able to share that. I'm a little sad they won't be at Manchester in a couple of weeks since it clashes with karate.
• Windermere isn't as clear water as Salford and it tastes different too. That made me more aware of being thirsty and I need to examine my attitude to hydration before I do anything longer.
• I have a lot to learn about sighting. Foggy goggles were a big issue as I hadn't wanted to risk anything new, and I was grateful for the kayaker who got me back on course! I think something which would help at these events is to have different coloured buoys at each position because I sighted on the wrong yellow buoy at the end of the first mile - the 200m rather than the 100m - and cut a corner. For this event it was ok but in a race I'd have been disqualified. The major turns were big orange triangles which was a huge help.
• I wish someone had told me drift was a problem. The return leg of the course was in the shallows (no more than 1.5m deep and less than that in most places) and I really found I was being pushed into the shore even with hardly any chop and a light breeze. That was frustrating and it was hard to make progress. There were many, many times I thought I wasn't making any progress at all but was actually overcompensating. Drift is not something I encounter at Salford Quays unless there's a really stiff wind, so it just goes to show what a different beastie lake swimming is. I wish I'd had a GPS as my course pattern would have been hilarious!
• Everything worked fine together - suit, watch, timing chip and so on. My cap was starting to slip in the last 400m or so, which was annoying - there were a lot lost in the shallows so I guess I wasn't the only one having issues. There was plenty of room to change and a shower to rinse my suit, too.
• Mentally, the first mile was as hard as ever, with the additional pressure of having to learn the course. The outbound leg of the second mile was the best bit, once I was back on course - I knew where to go, I'd settled into a rhythm, and the following wave caught up so I was able to draft a bit off the faster swimmers. I was also able to overtake the people from my own wave who'd started out too fast and got tired. That was a nice boost. The final half-mile was hard going with the drift but wow, what a feeling to finish under my target time of 1hr 30 (even if it was only just!).
• The post-race goodie bag was mostly nice - good t-shirt and medal; I was saddened to find it included Nestle products, though, and I do wish sports event organisers would think very much harder about partnering with this company. Here's why.
• Pancakes are excellent post-swim food.
• It took me four days to feel like I'd recovered! Ridiculous. Shows how unfit I've got.

So that was my big swim of the season and I'm now contemplating Coniston end-to-end next year with Chill Swim, which is 5.25 miles. I can't do it this year as it's expensive, I'm undertrained and it clashes with Great North Run anyway (which could be an issue next year as well depending on how well A gets on with GNR as an event). I'd love to do it with a group, probably swimming for a small charity, and there are quite a few people from USWIM and Accrington Wild Swimmers talking about it at the moment. Fingers crossed.

The following weekend I was back at Salford, of course.

Great session on 22nd - it looks awful from that photo but it was beautifully warm, at least 17oC-18oC. There was a stiff wind with some really fun and interesting chop - you get some good cross-currents around the bridge - and it'd stirred up the weeds a bit, so not as clear as usual. It smelled like the sea (which is definitely weird in such an urban setting). I did three 750m laps, so 2.25km altogether. I was pleased with that and had more in the tank, so I really need to get my bum out of bed earlier to get more laps in. Averaging 22min/lap at the moment, so slow, but ok. It was mad busy with Great Manchester Swim just round the corner, and of course triathlon season is upon us as well.

A view of the set-up for the USWIM event this Saturday (29th June) - I wasn't able to stay for it this time but it looked very busy and sounded like it was a success! I need to check dates for the next one but looking at the finishing times I think I'd be ok to enter the 3.8km or 5km distances if I get a few good swims in over the next month or so. I did 3km this week (4 laps) but I was terribly slow, averaging 24mins/lap - awful. I haven't figured out why, either - again, sighting is poor and for some reason I seemed to be lurching towards the walls rather than keeping tightly to the course. Baffling. I think my technique has properly gone to pot and several of the folks I know from winter training were also lamenting not having that Masters-level group over the summer.

On the other hand I have a partial solution to the fogging goggles, using a watered-down squirt of baby shampoo. It's still a problem on the right, so I suspect I have a slow leak and will replace the lenses once I've had an eye test. Overall I'm pleased with the distance I did and will be looking to up that to 5-6 laps by the end of July once various events are over. Two more sessions before GMS and hopefully I'll get some pool laps and maybe a few runs in beforehand.

I was pleased to spot Ella as I left Salford on Saturday - she's a Channel-aspirant and was doing a 6hr charity swim that day (I left my GNS cap in her bucket for the bunting she's making). She was the only one in at that point and I stopped to admire her stroke - so calm and smooth even after all that time. I can only dream of such control. Maybe one day!

Last bit of news - Eldest Daughter got her 9th kyu this weekend, so she's now a white belt with yellow tip. She's very pleased and we're very proud, of course!

First Visit To The Big Pool

How could you not want to swim there?

Today was Great North Swim Training Day at Windermere - biggest pool in the country! It was very good indeed, I'm glad I went. My training has been sabotaged by various things since January - snow, cold, viruses, dodgy hips and finally a visit to A&E last Saturday when I got an eyeful of either grit or anti-fog solution which pretty much made me blind in one eye for 24hrs. I was properly cheesed off because the weather was perfect and I'd planned to do two miles but I barely managed a 750m lap. So I'd been worrying that in booking the Intermediate class I'd been far too optimistic. It turned out to be the right level, though - I'm slow and obviously my fitness has taken a nosedive, but in terms of technique it was spot on.

Windermere itself is just breathtaking. I don't have enough superlatives to describe it. At 16.5oC it felt absolutely tropical - I know cold water swimmers say that at ridiculous temps like 5oC, but it really did feel extremely warm and didn't need any acclimitisation at all. Were it not for Great Swim regulations I wouldn't have bothered with the wetsuit at all. The sun was bright and there was no wind; other than the small chop from the ferry every so often it was as flat as a millpond. It's not as clear as Salford - the waters are greener and you can't see the bottom once you're in past shoulder-height. I found this a little difficult; Salford's so clear that I'd got used to sighting on the buoy-ropes underwater as I went round them, not the actual buoys above the surface! It smells and tastes different, too, and entry was via a rocky beach which was fairly painful to get in and out of! I was glad I'd taken my Crocs, ugly as they are.

Everything was well-organised - I wasn't really clear on where to go once I'd arrived at Brockholes but the Visitor Centre knew where to direct me and it was well-signposted after that. Sign-in was easy; changing facilities minimal (I recommend arriving with your swimsuit on under your clothes and having a big towel for afterwards because it's poky toilets or "find a handy bush to change behind"!). The coaches and kayakers were friendly, observant and encouraging - my group was taken by Emma from ActivBlu, who was great.

There were around 30-40 people there, all of us with some open water experience and around half had done a Great Swim before. Emma took us through breathing, sighting and drafting, with some practice on swimming in groups. Since Great Swim isn't really a race event there was some nice chat about camaraderie and cheering your fellow swimmers on, which I thought was really lovely. These events are pretty expensive, but the atmosphere at GMS last year was well worth the money. I'm not sure I'd feel as confident in a race situation. I fully intend to swim at my own pace, not worry about anyone else, and just enjoy the water as much as possible.

So today was a big success in terms of a) getting to know Windermere as a body of water, and b) learning about drafting (mostly that I'm not a fan because my fitness is poor and I can't keep up to take advantage of it!) and group swimming (important if I go to not-officially-organised swims). What wasn't so good was my goggles steaming up so much - I need a substitute for anti-fog that won't hurt my eye - which had a big impact on my sighting, particularly on the smaller buoys. If last year's GMS is anything to go by they'll have flipping huge buoys and loads of kayakers, so I shouldn't go too far off-course, but it is a worry. I'm intending to go to Salford next Saturday, hopefully sans wetsuit, to get some sighting practice in before Great North Swim on Sunday.

In other news, my big girl got her gi today. Doesn't she look great!