Taking Stock...

I have a day off both work and swimming today and i thought i would look back to see where my training started and where i am at the moment.

I am rather anal about putting all my figures into Garmin Connect and after a bit of data extraction and manipulation i was interested, but not surprised, at what the last year's worth of training looked like.

I was not surprised because it was exactly how Andrew described it at the very beginning. We will build your distance up, we will consolidate that fitness, we will build it up again, consolidate it, then go for the final push...its the same with any endurance sport.

The light at the end of the tunnel

My training schedule for the last 4 weeks...two weeks of 'normal' training and then its into the Taper Weeks!

Resistance is not my favourite word

Just back from an 8km resistance set...probably one of the hardest set so far.

1km warm up...
1km paddles - build
1km ankle band and paddles
1km paddles (6,4,2,6,4,2...) breathing
1km ankle band and paddles (8,6,8,6...) breathing
1km paddles and ankle band
1km swimming as slow as I possibly can (55sec) per lap. Bloody hard work....

4 weeks to go!

Into the last four weeks and the last few weeks have been nothing but water and water!

This weekend is my rehearsal swim as scheduled by my endurance coach.

Saturday was 5km, Sunday AM 6km and PM 8km, then 10km (1/3 under resistance by dragging a wet spnge behind me) on Monday. These three days will be 150% of the race distance and is the beginning of the last of the major build weeks. After then its into the last of the resistance and hypoxic training.

Saturday's Swim 5km

Sunday AM Swim 6km

Sunday PM Squad Swim 8km

Monday Swim 10km

This week is probably the first week i am really feeling comfortable with completing 20km. My fitness and speed is exactly where we predicted it to be, my food is sorted and i think the sea sickness and nausea medication is spot on.

Day 6 Bondi Boot Camp

Rest day, just as well too. The surf was huge (9ft swell).

Day 4 Bondi Boot Camp

Day stated off with an ocean swim. I felt great in the water and quickly completed 5 laps in good pace and rhythm. As i turned for the last lap (in very calm water) i started to feel rather sea sick, i think it is when i have a drink and i am vertical in the water.  I got 500m before i feeling so terrible that i swum into shore.

I tried extra hard not to consume any salt water but no matter how hard i try to keep it out it seems to get in. The culmination of water upsets my stomach and its not long after that the sea sickness starts.

I have heard 'Tums' and the serious sea sickness tablets combined with no-doze can help so i might find a chemist and give them a go. I might also try drinking more water as this should assist in flushing it through quicker and not leaving me dehydrated, as salt does. Anyways, this is exactly what this week was for...to find out all the things that work and don't before heading across to Rottnest.

The pool 5km session this afternoon went without hiccup and i worked on not consuming any water.

Day 3 Bondi Boot Camp

Day 3 has come and gone. Because the surf was high in the morning but expected to drop i swapped the ocean and pool sessions around.

So it is a bus trip and a nice walk to the ABC pool on the harbour.  The set was a challenging 5km speed and resistance set combined with race pace swimming. I find it hard to drop back into that race pace (18min / km) so i practise it a lot.

The early afternoon we spent in the ocean having fun in the breakwater bodysurfing before i did some open water swimming out the back. It was cold yesterday, i presume this is from the large waves churning the cool water up from the bottom.

Now that my wife has gone home i have this nagging voice in my head about swimming alone. As i mentioned yesterday i know i can swim for hours and hours but now there is now no-one on the beach keeping an eye on my progress or expecting me to return after x hours. I feel rather vulnerable out there and have chosen to stick to the end of the beach where there are more people, surfers etc. Sounds a bit cowardly but this goal of mine is not worth losing my life over.

I got in the 3km set without to much effort and then it was back to the hostel for a dinner of vegetables and pasta.

Lets see what Day 4 brings, i figure i will be swimming tired tomorrow...then its onto a day off.  

Day 2 Bondi Boot Camp

The day started with disappointment as the ocean was far too rough and sets too close together to go out safely by myself. So i headed to the ocean pool and to my surprise it was as rough as the ocean. The waves were crashing over the walls and creating challenging conditions. Even though i am a confident swimming there are some situations i would never put myself in.

I completed the ocean set in the pool and enjoyed every minute of been tossed around like a cork in the ocean.

It was then onto the ABC Pool for the second session of the day which consisted of a warmup, main set and drills equaling 3700m.  This seemed to be a breeze and it felt like a 30 minute swim.

Early to bed tonight to pretty much do the same tomorrow.  Hopefully the waves and swell will be a little tamer tomorrow.

Day 1 - Bondi Boot Camp

Day 1 of a 10 day ocean swimming boot camp has come to an end. After a few hour drive to Bondi it was check in and then for a lesson on improving my body surfing and picking returning lines from out the back in rough conditions. Then it was onto the main set, 4 crossings of the bay. This is usually a 14 to 15 min breeze but today it got quite scary. A large swell was pushing into south end of the beach and it took a lot of concentrating to navigate though. I swallowed a large amount of water on the third crossing which played on my stomach. Just in case I got sick or cramp from the water I decided to swim in closer to the surfers on the back break. This course change made things considerably rougher but in return my comfort level increased dramatically and I cruised in to complete the set.

My poor stomach is still tossing 3 hours later! Lesson 1 - salt water in the mouth is a swimmers worst
Enemy!

Tomorrow it's a 6 way crossing with a mate of mine. Conditions are going to be rough again tomorrow so I am going to drag my safety float and head out a bit further. Safety first!!! Then it's on for a pool session in the evening!