Keeping the faith with TI

It has been difficult since the last race being positive about my swimming telling people it isn't important because I am learning to swim from scratch. When I read a posting by ace in his blog made me feel I wasn't alone. I have been using TI for 12months, people no longer make comments or though I do feel isolated not being in 'no pain' group. I know it is a long term committment and when I watch swimming lessons when I take Emily to her class,I relate a lot of what they do to what I am doing. Years ago when I started concentrating on technique it was always panic of the race season that made me revert back because I had got to a reasonable standard. What is different this time is that since my return to the sport the urgency has gone, I feel I have the time. Although it doesn't stop the self doubt, especially when all the races I do are local and have a lot of the same people and because of my slower swimming people who normally wouldn't beat me are beating me.

I have to believe long term improve my stroke I will get faster. The evidence has always been there. Those skinny 12yr old girls who leave me for dead in the pool. This time I feel I've gone too far down the road, I'm enjoying swimming, I am aware of what I am doing, I understand and as Terry Laughlin says it is like practicing a martial art. And in addition I'm not exhausted at the end of it.

Making use of not training positively

Despite my grumpiness brought on by being sick which stopped me getting my daily fix of energy (training) we had a relaxing weekend getting things done in the garden. We normally have time in the garden every weekend it's kind of relaxing and the children enjoy help plant seeds and pull things up.

Picture of Cameron taken by Emily.

I had some old herb seeds left over from a previous herb garden which got too hard to maintain because it was before we had all the junk cleared. So I with help from the children planted those and they helped Teresa plant some peas and pick some radishes, the only thing we have been able to eat yet. This is our first real serious attempt at a proper veg garden so it is all about learning this year. I finished making some tripods for the beans to climb, they are made from prunings from one of the trees and string.

weekly beer

I forgot to do last weeks so this week I am posting a photo. Old Peculiar is an old favourite the 6x I can't remember if I've had it before.

I have a cold and a I can't train rant

I have come to the realisation that after running yesterday and then feeling lousy all day that I have succumbed to the cold that the rest of the family has. I missed swimming last night and will have to skip training on the bike this weekend and see how I am Monday.

If I can start training Tuesday on the bike I will race next weekend. I am wondering whether I was starting to sicken ay last weeks race. It's hard not to get sick when you have small children, an almost 3year old needs cuddling when sick and feeling miserable. I am getting better at handling this sort of disappointment. I was tempted to train but I know there are lots of races.

Although I still get grumpy when I can't train and I seem to get short tempered especially when I see obeses people, obese people smoking or driving around in large cars with seats reclined back to make room for their stomachs. I also get extra annoyed with people on mobile phones whilst driving, staring at it whilst walking down the street or whilst supposedly out with friends or family.
My personal opinion is that I don't want to contacted all the time, when I am talking to someone whether it is a client, friend or family I want to give them my undivided attention and I expect the same. There are very things in this world so important that I need to be contacted by mobile.
I also enjoy training without music whether on the indoor trainer , open road or running. I just love being left to think, enjoy the quiet , the sound of my tyres on the road. And then there is the safety issue.

One of the best things about blogging for me is that I can empty all this stuff out of my head its like therapy only much cheaper. And it doesn't matter if anybody reads it , I don't have to carry it around, Teresa doesn't have to listen (shes heard it all before) and now I feel all relaxed.

Day at home

No teaching today thank goodness and I've decided not to take Cameron to music group. He is still full of cold and has been into the childminder three times this week. Joan (the childminder) is a lady in her sixties and she is great but this last week she has been making veiled comments about parents who leave their children in childcare when they are sick. Surely she can't mean me. This year he will have been in childcare between 45 and 50 days, the days I have been in school - thats not many.

The problem with me going into school a lot during a week means that the housework especially the laundry gets backed up. I can get it washed but not dried (we refuse to have a tumble drier for financial and environmental reasons). Luckily Emily has not wet the bed for the last 2 nights and Cameron hasn't poohed and wet himself a lot. I also get the chance to get some website work done and a picture sorted for the school yearbook. St Mary's school have sent me yet more photos of their new principal to put on the website but they are finding it really hard the principal Liz just can't looked relaxed.

I've also got the repair man for the dishwasher coming this afternoon. We wouldn't buy a dishwasher for years until somebody told us that it is more environmentally friendly because it heats its own water rather than drawing it from the hot water cylinder.

I didn't want to get up at five this morning but I did, out the door by 5.11am. I wanted to run a new 7mile run using roads I haven't used before. I went out for about 28min 3.5 miles @ 8min mile because I know I return on an out and back run faster. It took me 51.57 min I will measure it in the car tonight on the way to swimming. My legs were very tired but other than that it was good. I think the famous Arthur Lydiard was a fan of out and back runs as opposed to loops because he thought you could judge effort better. I plan to get one of the new polar running heart rate monitors that has the capacity for measuring your distance / speed , etc But that is way down on the list of things to save up for.