Watched

As usual I have been keeping an eye on my favourite swimming websites/blogs and stealing ideas related to training sessions to spice things up in the pool occasionally. I noticed that Karen Throsby was contemplating 100 x 100m set, a 10km session. Now whilst I have done plenty of pool sessions of that length I have never contemplated such a mind blowing set. I can barely count to ten let alone one hundred, so I asked Karen how on earth she manages...she stated she uses a poolmate wristwatch which counts her laps, strokes and logs other details such as calories used etc

Sounds ideal I thought, so off I went shopping on amazon and sent for the my new gadget without delay at a cost of £60, once it eventually arrived I entered my personal details and headed off to the pool to give it a whirl...to say I was disappointed is an under statement. I could hardly fit it on my wrist for starters and when it came to reading the display, well, I felt like throwing it against the wall. To keep track of my lap count I normally glance at the display of my trusted Timex at the turns when I think I am somewhere near the required distance. I can quickly do the maths and know the metres covered. With the poolmate, I could only just read the time but certainly not the lap counter whilst on the move or mid turn, the slightest water or fog on my goggles rendered it pretty useless. Suffice to say it is being returned as we speak.

On the other hand (or wrist!) The display on my Timex is easy to read both in the pool, in the lake or in the sea, coupled with its ability to display the temperature, therefore I am going to continue doing the maths and learn to count past the sum of my fingers and toes.

Gadgets aside, last week allowed for some consistent efforts with the following sessions:

Monday..6500m

Tuesday..rest

Wednesday..11,000m

Thursday..4800m

Friday..3500m

Total for the week 25,800m

Congratulations to Kevin Murphy for appointment in his new role as Honourary Secretary of the CS&PF,  I am sure you will do a fantastic job following in the footsteps of Mike and Angela Oram.

The week that was

The last couple of weeks have been a little inconsistent for a number of reasons, I had  reasonable results returning to the pool post injury and am pleased to report being free from any relapse in terms of intercostal issues, there is still minor tenderness at the site but nothing worth complaining about. The restart of training was briefly interrupted by half term at Charlies school, meaning less training but lots of fun with my little buddy/coach.

Last week I also had the pleasure of going for coffee with the very funny, straight talking Tanni Grey Thompson DBE, her husband Ian and Carys their daughter. We spent a few hours chatting about all manner of things including  my swimming, work, training, motivation and injuries etc etc. what they don't know about rotar cuff problems isn't worth knowing. I find both Ian and Tanni inspirational yet also incredibly down to earth, we will be meeting again, hopefully soon, for more motivational chatter. If you get chance and you like to read I would recommend both Aim High and Seize the day.

So..half term over I headed back to the murky Total Fitness 25m pool, initially building up slowly again so as not to shock the system: training went as follows, I will spare you the details and just give the totals

Monday 28 Feb.. 1600m

Tuesday 1 March : 3400m

Wednesday 2nd..10,000m

Thursday 3rd..4000m

Friday 4th..4500m

Saturday 5th..4000m

Sunday 6th Rest Day

Total for the week 27,500m

all of the swims after Monday included an element of backstroke in an attempt to balance the stress on my shoulders/reduce the over use issues.

It will soon be time to brave the cold of the North Sea....now that will be a shock to the system.