Swim your own race
Sun, sand and surf celebrated the closing of the summer in style, along with the 750 hardy souls who joined me on the beach on Saturday morning (20th March) to take part in the Sand to Surf Ocean Swim.
The highs: I finished. My back/shoulder didn’t seized up. I set a time faster than my estimate. I’ve got some benchmarks to meet next month.
The lessons:
1. Don’t panic about not finishing.
2. Don’t panic about coming last.
3. Don’t panic about not swimming fast enough.
(There’s a theme forming here).
4. Don’t panic about the what the swimmer next to you/in front of you/behind you is/isn’t/might be doing.
Which could all be summed up as
5. Don’t panic.
Or
6. Swim your own race (which is very good advice which I’ve read somewhere else).
Running through ‘proper’ surf at the beginning of the race was a challenge and definately an area I need to work on for next year. More importantly, I need to focus on lesson 6 (above) and keeping my stroke rate up. I spent so much time on the negative self-talk that the energy going into my stroke rate dropped far too low.
So, lots to improve on, which means plenty of scope for better times in the (near) future.
Heading North
With three weeks behind me now, training with a proper swim squad (details to come), I’m feeling somewhat more positive about Saturday’s swim than I had expected.
Back & shoulder are holding up well – thanks to Blair & Nicky’s not-always-so-painless manipulations.
Here’s to a good soak in the old brine. Will fill in the blanks when I get back.
Corsair Classic – This Weekend (tomorrow actually)
Last week – it seemed like the race was ‘a couple of weeks away’. In fact it was a matter of days (seven of them) and it’s upon us already. Shocking weather. Again. I hope, for all those entered in tomorrow’s race, that the wind stays away and the waters remain (relatively) calm.
Target Tauranga
The goal is to swim the full 2.8 km race (Ocean Swim Series) in Tauranga next month. The Corsair Classic is coming up in a couple of weeks here in Christchurch, but I won’t be ready in time, so will set my sights on something a little more realistic.
It’s year’s since I’ve swum at the Mount. Should be a blast.
Posturing
It’s all about lifting my arrow. I’ve been shot, you see. Through the back, just above the bra line.
So I’m walking about now, shoulders relaxed, “lifting my arrow”. After years of slouching about this is causing a certain amount of discomfort. Apparently I’ve got 26 more days of concerted effort and I’ll have reverted to a ‘natural’ posture.
In addition to preventing a repeat of the neck/spine/shoulder torment, the arrow palaver will also remove all traces of ‘dowagers hump’ – a delightful wee curvature in my thoracic spine which was just starting to make it’s presence known. Attractive.
I imagine all this lifting and lengthening will make me more streamlined in the water. I’ll be like one of those silver fish darting through the water in ‘Nation’. Although one hopes, not on my way to the underworld.
Back aligned and online
Three months out. Phew, overtraining’s a drag. As is poor posture, stress, and what amounts to a pretty poor approach to the 2009 season.
Muscle spasms at 3am are never fun, but when they’re thundering along the spine, and exiting in your central neural cortex (or whatever) the world becomes a palace of pain.
Twelve weeks after the initial (seemingly inocuous) injury, I’m back out at Corsair Bay enjoying the freedom of the open water. My fitness is shocking and my arms feel leaden most of the time, but I’ll acknowledge the small steps towards recovery.
Add to that the tremendous achievement of returning to the blog site & adding a new post, and one might say I’m back on track for 2011. At the very least I’m heading in the right direction again.
Thanks Jumper!
A quiet word was all it took…and I had a clean swim this afternoon. Taking one day at a time, let’s see how I do tomorrow.
Distractions and detours: finding new ways forward.
Progress on the focus for this blog, my three year goal, my major project, has plateaued drastically. I am posting impressive successes in my physical, emotional and academic endeavours. You’d think that this success stems logically from a healthier, balanced lifestyle. The truth is that I haven’t regularly hit the pool since May. I’m just starting to get decent technique and distance again, but I haven’t slipped into a training routine yet.
I’m no less committed to my project. What I have learnt from recent events (or relearnt perhaps) is that men are just as distracting at 35 as they were at 25. Dating is just as confusing and heartache is just as painful – and irrational.
When I wasn’t caught up in the dating game, fervent study towards my final university paper chewed out time that could have been allocated to training. And for a significant portion of August the work-life balance mantra flew right out the window.
This blog was intended as a motivation tool – I would share my progress with you and in a sense be held accountable to maintain a routine. As my illness/recuperation period post Vaunatu continued into what can be generously described as an off-season holiday (laziness) I avoided reporting at all – when I needed additional motivation the most I didn’t access it.
Just where does this leave me now. In unfamiliar territory. To break out of this funk I need help – and I’m not particularly good at asking for it. I’m aiming for 30km/week training distance by the end of October, and 45-50km by the end of the year. These are fairly modest targets, which I should be achieving already.
So, friends & family. Supporters. Can you start giving me a hard time now. At least for the next six weeks. Email, phone, message on the blog. It would be great to have another swimming buddy, but right now I’ll settle for encouragement, cajoling, stern words, reminders, etc. 
Success stories
When I started writing this blog I decided not to use the Bridget Jones template – beginning each entry with lbs lost, cigarettes smoken, alcohol consumed. My scales are in kilograms, I don’t smoke and drinking isn’t exactly irregular but not something that rates a daily mention in the weblog.
Instead I decided that I wouldn’t diet or track my weight at all. For the first time in twenty years I put all the books away and just enjoyed the taste, smell, texture and nutritional value of food.
Eight months on and I’ve overhauled my wardrobe, from a size 22 to a size 14. In total that’s a 20kg weight loss from January to now. And all because I wasn’t stressing about the food – just enjoying the exercise.
My resting pulse rate’s down to 60 and my blood pressures around 115/78. Climbing the steps to my 3rd flood apartment isn’t a breeze – but I don’t start puffing until the last flight now. I can run all the way around Sth Hagley Park now, which is HUGE for a former couch-potatoe like myself.
As a result for the first time in my conscious memory, I am able to look at and enjoy my physical appearance. I feel pretty everyday. A normal, wholesome “love the skin you’re in” appreciation that every woman is entitled to and that I’m enjoying now.
Zarah's (kitten) tail shown in centre of photo
Glass half full
Well, my blood pressures fantastic, I’m losing weight and my exercise recovery times are not too shabby. I’m carrying a bronchial infection around like a bit of a badge (moron ) , yet there’s still plenty to smile about.
The jog yesterday didn’t go to well. As a result, my jogging buddies kicked my backside all the way to the G.P. this morning. Turned out to be a thoroughly painless experience – I am blessed with a truly awesome G.P. & practice nurse at the High St Medical Centre in Christchurch.
Antibiotics and an inhaler will clear my bronchi in time to meet that 2km goal for Sunday afternoon. Until then I’m sidelined again. Resting for another three days. Could be worse, could be four days. Could be weeks.
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