Balance...

It is almost fitting that the biggest goal of my year is to continue finding balance in life...and my second swim of the year was titled 'Balance 1900 m'.

I managed to zip through my warm up of 100m swim/100 m kick/ 100 m swim/ 100 m kick. Nothing too exciting there. Oh, except for the fact that I managed to whiz past the older gal in the snorkel and fins. Phew!

Next up were 3 sets of balance work and swim. It was broken up into 50 m segments. In other words, 50 m kick / 50 m swim. 50 m 6 count side kick / 50 m swim. 50 m one side kick / 50 m swim. Then the pièce de résistance.... 50 m side kick NO ARMS / 50 m swim.

So lets start off with the 50 m side kick no arms. Seriously??? Once again this is some coaches way of trying to drown a triathlete. I foiled thiee plan though and somehow managed to stay afloat AND avoided drinking copious amounts of water. While on each side my butt and hip wanted to drag along the bottom of the pool, but I kicked harder so I would keep moving. Picture how a dog swims with just a portion of their head above water...but on their side...and you will know how I was swimming this set. Hmmm, can't remember if I passed the snorkel/fin gal whilst doing this or not....

My 50 m swim intervals rocked, if I do say so myself. I am really focussing on my technique now and boy did I feel it! My upper back and shoulders were working hard right from the get go. I felt a lot faster as well. By the end of all the sets (I also had 4 x 50 m at the end, then a 200 m cooldown) I felt as though I was slowing down a bit, but I fought to keep my technique of really catching and pushing the water away. The trick now will be to keep that up for 3.8 kilometers. All in good time though.

After work I got an hour run in. I felt a bit sluggish which may have been due partly because of the skiing and strength bike workout on the weekend. Still, it seemed to go quite quickly and I managed to ignore the slurpie headache I got from the cold. No, I was not wearing a toque...just ear warmers. Yes, I expect a comment from the parental unit on this. Oh, just to score points with the parental unit I DID run with my yellow safety vest. So there.

And so the amazing training continues!!

Peace out my friends.