Today - I did a mini brick!
The thoughts of a triathlon have been creeping back into my mind - how does one control their thoughts and stop ones such as this?
Now don't forget that I don't cycle or swim - so that you can see how ridiculous this is.
Anyway - last night I decided to go for a ride as it was a little cooler. Hubby came too, and we only rode a few kms - saw that some friends were home, and dropped in. But the key thing here, was that it was easy peasy. I regained some confidence and even practiced riding one handed (last ride was 12 months ago - terrifying in the traffic, and before that - about 20 yrs!). The friends have a lap pool, and reiterated the offer for me to swim in it any time......
Got to thinking about the Asics Triathlon coming up in March. Looked it up on the internet - and the short course is only 160m swim/8km bike ride/1.5 km run. To me, these distances seem all out of kilter. What's with a 1.5 km run - hardly seems worth putting the sandshoes on, and even for a non-cyclist like me, 8km seems an easy bike ride, BUT - 160 m swim -isn't that a marathon!!!!! LOL.
Anyway - I've got about 8 weeks until its on. So I decided that each morning I will cycle to the friends house, swim 10 laps (180m), cycle home, and do my normal cardio workout - which at the moment is on the elliptical because of my hamstring problems.
AND I DID
Ok - to be honest here - I swam 10 laps, but I can barely manage one, which is 18m, and I had to stop and rest/recover for about a minute in between each one. But it all comes down to the breathing - I'm sure I have the fitness and muscle endurance to do it - I just have to nail the technique. And good form comes with persistant practice. I have a good book on drills to improve technique - and I incorporated these into the first three laps, and I'm going to just keep persevering and see if I can nail it. Oh and I think I will increase the length of the ride so that it is 4kms each way - ie 8kms in total. This way I am easily covering all of the distances for the tri each morning - although split up. I'll decide in Feb if I think the tri is achievable.
Now all that's left in the planning is to find a great tri suit and a new bike.... Why is it that shopping is always on my mind!
About Me
- Lisa
- I am a Fitness Instructor with a long background in health and rehabilitation.(BApp Applied Sc (OT). Cert III Fitness, studying Cert IV, PunchFit and KickPad accredited, AusCycle Instructor) I love endurance events, resistance training (eg suspension training, kettlebells) and every challenge imaginable. I have competed in many events and am passionate about improving performance. But my claim to fame is actually about the fact that I am NOT a gifted athlete, just a passionate one who believes that everyone is capable of improving performance and achieving goals So what do you want to achieve? I'd love to help you!
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5 comments:
Good on you for considering a triathlon. I want to do the Noosa triathlon when im fighting fit again although my problem is the run, i hate running lol.
Your will find your stamina for swimming will improve pretty quickly. Unfortunately water fitness and land fitness never match up, which is something i have always hated and thats why i stick to water sports.
As for breathing while swimming, a lot of people tend to hold their breath while their head is in the water and then when they turn to breathe they have to both exhale and then inhale before they stick their head under again and continue swimming. If this is the case it takes more energy and exhausts you pretty quickly. The best thing to do is to exhale with your head still under water and then when you turn to breathe its a simple gasp of air and head back under again. This way you keep moving forward while breathing.
Kick sets and arm only sets are also pretty good for focusing on one area of your stroke at a time and improving it before putting it all back together.
160m swim will be easy come March.
Will it be open water or pool swim?
Cat
email me anytime u want its keastydownunder@hotmail.com i'm only to happy to try and help
Hi-just saw your blog on CAT's..how exciting a triathlon! What an adventure! I admire triathletes immensely!
Looking forward to following your progress!
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
Hi LISA! How funny that we were reading each others at the same time!
A figure competitor is a form of bodybuilding competitor-it's fairly new (has become popular in the last 10 years I think) for women-and much more feminine then say the physique competitor which is a bit bigger and even more muscular.
I think that you may have been thinking of that when you asked about "fitness competitor"-which can probably cover an array of different fields. I hope that answered your question! You can find links to a number of figure competitors on my blogs-I am new to it myelf as I'm planning to do my first comp this year!
Hi again! I just realised why you asked about fitness competitors-I guess because one of the girls I placed in "blogs I read" I stated "fitness compititor"-I meant to put "figure" but it was early this morning and I simply made a mistake -LOL!
cheers!
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