Swimming PB dealt a blow

All my times and data recorded from swimming in Pandora's are worthless.

After my time trial on Thursday, which was ruining by kids in optimist yachts sailing right me, I went for my normal Sunday swim straight 1000m swim between the bouys that are the furthest apart (3 and 1) to find that bouy 1 at the far end of the pond had been moved right into the farthest corner adding a significant 50m - 75m to the length. The day before there was a half-ironman called ironmaori targetting pacific islanders and maori to get motivated to improve their health. And it is very successful but it does mean a lot of morbidly obese people donning lycra, etc And although I understand the reasons I don't think it is healthy. Anyway back to swimming. The Sunday morning was the club's first Shed2 series race in the pond and comparing peoples swim results between that and the Icebuster(both supposed to 750m) all the top swimmers where about 1min -1.30min slower. I was 4min slower for my easy 1000m.

So it looks like the swim bouys have been reset acurately and that means my PBs I had set were not PBs for 750m which is a bit depressing that I'm not as swimming as fast as I thought I was but in reality everybody is in the same boat and I'm still in the same position time wise compared to my competition. So if racer A swims faster than me by a minute that doesn't change he will still be about a minute faster than me.

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New swim PB

This is the reason my garden post was so brief... I just swam a new pb. 11.24min. But what makes it better is that it was in really rough conditions. The longest stretch was into a very strong wind and waves and the rest it was side on wind and waves some of the roughest I've experienced on the pond. I've also had a tiring day : ran 20min at 5.30am , walked the children up the hill to school, I then walked back up to coach the 2 cricket teams (beginner grade that play Friday afternoons) and then back up the hill to pick Emily up from school. I would have normally had the car for cricket and then gone to swim at the pond but Teresa needed the car to transport children to the same pond for optimist yachting, so I had to go at 5.30pm and I wasn't feeling to good.

Join the movement and we'll start a revolution - stop all unnecessary shopping - separate your needs from your wants.

Swimming update

It has been a while since I've treally had anything to write about on the training front. Because in reality the training is boring. It is about the next pedal stroke or progress in barefoot ruuning or the same old technique work in swimming - nothing really changes. But the summer racing season is upon me. I had identified last summer that because I wasn't racing(adjusting to barefoot running) I just trained through without the stimulus and break from routine provided and I raced best when I rest a lot. So I introduced my timetrials in all 3 disciplines every second week to imitate racing a lot.

This week was my first timetrial around the course in Pandora's pond (I do 700m and exclude the 50m beach start). I was as nervous as before a major race - fear of not swimming well. I had swum 12.17min on the exact same day as last year just a month after stasrting back open water swimming and just exclusively technique work all autumn, winter , etc. After months of swimming hard intervals between the bouys in the pond my final timetrial last year (I only did 2) my time was 11.20min and it felt comfortable. This week I did in 11.13min and it felt easy. So I'm gradually going to go harder and harder. In training I am still working on my fitness and I'm doing an overdistance swim (1000m non-stop) and then I will start doing harder intervals. I just want to see how fast I can get I'm hoping for 10min this summer. 10min for 700m. I'm dreaming of 9min the following year.

After that result I feel completely relaxed , I can still say my weird way of re-teaching my body to swim is working and at times I don't see a limit to what I can achieve then sometimes the little voice in my head says improvement can't go on forever. But most of the time my dream of being 1st out of the water is alive and still is the most important target for me

I'm adding a running target I want to beat my running pb of 1.16.xx min set for the half-marathon in 1994 when training for Ironman Lanzarote and this time doing it in minimalist running shoes.

Join the movement and we'll start a revolution - stop all unnecessary shopping - separate your needs from your wants.

Kayaking at the pond

Yesterday we hired a kayak for an hour at Pandora's pond and took turns at taking the children around. I swam in the pond first, more practice at starts and gradually increasing the distance. It was a great day out and then we went home for lunch read a bit and then worked in the garden for an hour. I must post a garden update soon as things are really happening.

Join the movement and we'll start a revolution - stop all unnecessary shopping - seperate your needs from your wants.

Pandora's Pond

The 'pond' is almost a lagoon that is part of a tidal estuary in Westshore Napier (25min from my house - this is a long way in Hawkes Bay terms). It is the scene for the Hawkes Bay Multi sport club's excellent summer series of 6 sprint races, with shorter introductory races and also a short series of women only races. It is a fantastic resource which borders onto a wildlife reserve. The club has open water swim training on Thursdays over summer. I an unable to do the organised training as I do almost all my training on my own, I train in the pond when I can if the weather is fine the children play on the playground, etc.

Family comes first and I work around it - it works quite well for me , my training is strictly timetabled, I have to do it in the allotted time or I don't get to do it. When I had more time to train as a student or as a tri bum with ideas of greatness, I would often put it off till later and later never came.

I was going to write about todays training and how it was affected by the drunken inconsiderate slobs that are our new neighbours (thank goodness for the noise control officers) but I will tomorrow.