Another bit of tennis today. 1/2 hours lesson with Jenny Tennis, and some practice with Emma first.
More improvement – but my backhand could still do with some work!
A swim in the indoor, then outdoor pool with the kids afterwards. Not a lot of training involved, but nice to be swimming outside!
Loch Ore is great – a deep man made lake with a reasonably shallow beach entry point, buoys set out to swim around, loads of like-minded folk out for a swim, and hot showers at the end. After stuffing up the preparation, and start on Saturday, I thought I should really make sure I can start more confidently in open water. On Saturday, once I got going (After about 600m) I was fine, so can I get going after 1m, instead?
The plan had been to get in, do some SGF, 50 metres to get acclimatised, get out, then get back in again. But, of course, it didn’t quite go like that. I went in, SGF, a few strokes, and carried on, straight into a lap. The buoys were probably about 240m apart, so a lap was about 500m give or take, so three laps, done, 23 minutes. Certainly felt more comfortable than Saturday. I got the start of a bit of cramp in my calf at the start of the third lap, but I just relaxed, kicked less, focuses on streamlining my legs horizontally behind, and the cramp disappeared. Last year I’d have over kicked at that point, and the cramp would have probably injured me.
So, a success, and confidence is restored. I did a race exit, sort of, and took my wetsuit off as though I were in T1. All good, then.
Not sure what I’ll do tomorrow, perhaps a wee run, then a rest day Friday, a cycle with JEdg on Saturday, and the Aberfeldy Sprint on Sunday…
Every day is a school day, they say – I learnt a great deal today.
We arrived in plenty of time, went to register in plenty of time. Got changed in plenty of time; too much time. It was very windy, and very cold on the top of the hill, waiting for the race briefing. I got too cold. Shivery. Not good.
We went down to the water with 10 mins to spare – I got in, wearing my flip flops, not sure why, but I kept them on. So I couldn’t swim out for a bit to get acclimatised. I came out, stood on the side with Mother, and got cold again. So when they told us that we could start, I went quickly, to get going.
The organiser said to me as I was getting in “Go off quickly to get warm, and keep your head up for a bit”. Terrible advice, I know, but I was so cold I wasn’t thinking straight, so I did what he said. And by 200m I was knackered. Had to revert to breast-stroke to catch my breath. I tried to crawl again, but I was so tired, my form went completely out of the window. At the first buoy, I was very close to calling over a safety boat. Very close. I carried on.
By about 500m I was able to get my head down, and start to swim. It was into 3 foot waves, but I started to swim. Many of the guys I was swimming with had to stop as the waves crashed over.
Once we turned around the other side of the island, the waves settled, and I was able to swim properly again – the first 750m took me over 18 minutes, the second 750 in around 12.
All the things I would tell any newcomer to open water swimming to avoid: make sure you swim a good 50m in the water before the race; set of at a steady pace; don’t rush; get your head in the water, get used to the cold early; don’t panic. I made all those mistakes. So a very useful day, but not a particularly quick day.
The results? I was 20th in my category, 65th out of 167 total entry. So I shouldn’t be too despondent – after all, 14 months ago, I couldn’t swim 100m of crawl in a pool…
Just enough time to get to the pool today and have the first crack at intermediate session 2. Not a physically demanding session, a far more technical session, working on flow, streamlining. So lots of skating, then.
SG x2
SGF x2
Swim x2
Sweetspot x2
Skate to sweetspot:
Hands down x2
Laser beam x2
Hand depth x2
Wide track x2
Shoulder just out x2
Bullseye x2
Swim x2
Swim with bullseye focus x16
Easy swim x2
And one length of butterfly!
I swam in the outside pool, as it has been a lovely day out today. The sun was dropping down behind the fence by the end of the swim, but the water was lovely throughout. Bits of twig and leaf in the water to look at. Great stuff. I certainly felt far more relaxed, more streamlined, and more efficient after the drills – much better head position, better breathing position. The drills really do work.
In other news, I *will* cycle to work tomorrow.
I have left my name with at Sweatshop to be contacted next time there’s a 5 mile run organised of an evening. I need the motivation of running with others. They seem to be 8 to 9 minute milers, so I should be fine. I might even wear the five fingers and see how I get on with them in anger.
The Stirling Triathlon is about 6 weeks away. I think I should enter, and give myself something to aim for… Really need to get out on the bike….
And hopefully I’ll be swimming in Loch Katrine/Venecher on Friday with P-Dub. And it’s the Pitcur swim on Saturday evening too. Perhaps something on Monday too….
Tuesday is Arbroath clinic day, so on the way back from clinic I was able to pop into the gym for a wee swim. I forgot my poolmate, so I have no idea how many actual lengths I actually did. I just swam in the outdoor pool for 45 minutes. 11 strokes per length throughout, and I’m guessing about a 28 minute mile, or so. It doesn’t really matter; it was a lovely swim in the outdoor pool, I felt some glide, some catch and if it hadn’t been for a bit of cramp at 45 minutes, I’d have carried on for longer.
Drills are so important, but it’s nice to get a longer swim done every so often.
Two more outdoor swims with the OSS lined up – Kinghorn and, erm, somewhere else….
Tennis lesson tomorrow!
First outdoor swim of the season. Loch Lubnaig, just North of Callandar. About 10 people turned up for the dook. We all put our feet in, and decided it really wasn’t that cold. In we went. It was the coldest water I’ve ever swum in. Soooo cold. It was like putting my face into the freezer.
We had planned to swim out to the other side of the loch, but it was too cold to swim more than about 50 metres at a go. It was great to get out into the water again, and it was certainly refreshing! The boys had a paddle, but couldn’t persuade Mrs Dundeechest into the water…..
More outdoor swims later in the season.
Skye is an amazing place, in many ways. The variety in the landscapes, the changeability of the weather, the amount of water there is to plop into. And there’s only about 10 roads for the whole island, so there’s little chance of “just noticing” everything when driving on the way to somewhere, so much of the island is simply not visible from the road. So, with OS landranger maps 23, 32 and 33 in hand, we had a beach in mind.
Leaving Portree, heading South for Broadford, there’s a left hand turn, marked as a dead end to The Braes, down the ubiquitous single track road with passing places. The track passes a church, and a recycling point (which seems odd to me at first, but why shouldn’t there be recycling on the island?), then the trees on the left give way to fields and the beach of Camas a´Mhor-Bheòil. One of the houses on the right has a (very) small car park in front of it; opposite that there is a gravel path the leads down to the beach. It’s a little bit narrow in places, but my 4 year old manages it with not issues. The beach is half pebble and half sand – that unusual sand on Skye that is a mixture of very dark and very light grains, leading to the appearance of grey sand.
The swim was lovely, of course. The sea was perhaps best described as ‘fresh’, but certainly easily swimmable in a wetsuit. The bay is North facing, away from the prevailing wind, and protected from the colder currents. At points, the sea was a still as mill pond, at others there was quite a wind, whipping grey sand at the bare legs of my children. The water is crystal clear – the grey sand is interspersed with small forests of seaweed, swaying in the gentle currents. The slope of the beach is very gentle, so I barely get out of my depth, despite swimming out a good 50 or 60 metres from the beach. If anything, the swim is nicest further out, as the seaweed gives way to more sand.
The bay is home to 10,000 jelly fish. Small ones, no bigger than a lime I would say. But thousands of them. I have only a handful of stings, mainly on my right hand – relaxed hand, straight into a big clump of them. I did not get anyone to pee onto it. The bay is only a couple of hundred metres wide, but as its so sheltered swimming out a couple of hundred metres is also safe enough as a solo swimmer; a circuit of about half a mile is certainly possible.
And how many people would miss it by sticking to the main roads?
A good, if long, day at the conference, so a quick trip to the Eastern beaches before heading off to Benifiao for dinner. Helen and Regina looked after my bits and pieces, whilst I swam parallel to the shore for about half a mile, and then came back. I was very sensible, and took sighting of a prominent landmark – a lifeguard tower lined up with a restaurant in the background. Little was I to know that there are identical restaurants behind every lifeguard tower on the beach, and there’s a lifeguard tower every 100 yards. Doh.
The swim was great – just 50 yards out from the beach, and swimming along to the North initially, then back to the South. The waves were breaking over onto my for the majority of the swim, which was tiring, but rewarding to get to the end. Highlights of the swim – swimming into a 2×4 piece of wood was interesting, but not as interesting as swimming into the dead, I think, seagull. The swim was difficult, particularly on the way back as the waves reached about 4 feet high – easily enough to surf on.
TI really does work out there – focusing on long, easy strokes, taking time, relaxing, and minimising effort throughout. I saw many people come out, swim along with me for about 2 minutes, then give up. A boost for me, for sure. Perhaps I’ll get out to the South beaches tomorrow.
Valencia, home of the Orange. Well, actually, it’s the venue for the 2010 ECFS conference, so I’m in Valencia. Rules of these trips – always travel down a day early, and come back a day late, to maximise the learning opportunities.
I have brought my swimming gear, of course, so after finding the apartment, it was off to find some water. We took a wrong turn, despite John Cleese’s best directions (courtesy of Tom Tom inc), and ended up at a beach to the North of Valencia, rather than the East. But there was water, in a nice little harbour. Alison Dietician fancied a swim too, so she came with me, much to the amusement of J-Dub and Ali Physio. The swim was choppy, but lovely and warm. No wetsuit, of course. The water must be at least 26 degrees; it doesn’t feel much cooler than the pool at the gym.
Just did a couple of shuttles across the bay, which can’t have been much more than about 1/2 a mile, but Alison Dietician looked tired! It was nice just to get out in the sea without a wetsuit, and to taste the salty sea again.
Hopefully I’ll get the chance to swim a bit farther later in the week, but there is the small matter of the conference. And dinners that don’t start until 2100hrs….
Suuuuuuunday morning. James do a great cover of that track – it’s on B-Sides Ultra, if anyone’s interested.
The OSS website says that Loch Katrine is a nice swim, with no fishermen, and only two pleasure boats to bosh us on the head, so we all set off to meet up with p-dub for a dip. On arrival – miserable. Raining, wet, and not hopeful. A cup of tea/diet coke later, and the rain cleared enough for Family Dundeechest to take a boat trip, and for us to venture into the water.
We take the loch side road to the East, and walk about half a mile up before deciding on a point by a cattle grid to jump over the fence, and disrobe for the swim. Keys hidden in a cubbyhole, we venture in. It’s warm, must be at least 14 degrees in there, and the water is fresh, and clear. PW feels unable to warm his wetsuit in the usual manner; perhaps he fears that Glaswegians will be drinking it in a week or so…
We make for a small island, which looks far away, but turns out not to be. Target reassessed, and we decided to make a round trip of the larger island. The swim was as nice a swim as we’ve had since the Derwent practice swim on the Saturday. The water is clear, but about 10 feet down it becomes *very* black: it’s very much like swimming above a star-less sky. The sun comes out, and we can see bizarre creatures beneath us, seemingly aping our movements, 12 feet down. They are, of course, our shadows, cast down into the murk, like a shadow in a smoke filled room. PW is particularly pleased.
A mile or so is enough for us today. I could have gladly gone around the islands again, but the boat is back in from it’s journey around the Loch, and there will be another time, for sure.
Back to the outdoor pool tomorrow, if there’s time.
