Life and Training

Am I alone in this - that my life and my training is linked, when life is good, when everything is settled, training becomes easy and the little set backs liking waking to find your bike has a flat, getting ready for a run and discovering you forgot to recharge your MP3 player arent big deals and you push on.

But when life gets hard training gets hard.  When work stuff refuses to stay in its 9 to 5 box, when that big bill arrives out of the blue, when you and your family are still adjusting to a new way of life (like commuting between Melbourne and Newcastle and all the issues about not being there for your teenage daughter)  it takes bugger all to convince you that today isnt your day and how about we let this session slide.

Well, a review of my training diary over the fast four weeks has made it painfully clear I've drifted into that zone.  I kind of knew it had happened but it was really only when I went back and added up the k's I was running/swimming/riding before and after that it hit me in the forehead.

Well, I have been here before.  This is how I put on 30+ kilos over many years and never managed to shift it.  The key for me is the realization that the link between life and training is real and that it also works both ways.  Yeah, life can drag your training into the shitter with it, but training can pull your life out of there also.

I read an article recently that postulated that the single greatest difference between elite competers and we completers at the back of the field is mental strength. The ability to man up, take the pain and push on.  This applies in a race, in a training session, in a training season and in life.

Well right now my life is a little tough, all that means is that its time to man up.

So I'm off to the pool.

Training. Swimming - the least favored session

I grew up as a swimmer, my earliest childhood memories are of early mornings, chlorine, and always feeling wet (wet hair, water in ears, wet towel in school bag, and worst of all wet pants when you forgot to pack underwear and had to where the swimming suit from the morning session for underwear).

I was once able to complete 5 to 6 k sessions in a canter.  A 1k warm up was pretty normal.  At my very best I was somewhere around the top ten in the country for my favored event (50 m freestyle) getting it all done in under 23.5 seconds.  Well that was back in the day, and now is now.

Today I did my first swim session in a while and it wasnt pretty.  The session was basically:

Warm-up.  400 free, 100 brst

Main Set.   10 x 50 free @ 80% on 1:15 interval.
(averaged completion in 42-44 s per 50)

Dev Set. 4 x 100.  alternate kick/pull

Cool Down. 100m free, drills.

While it felt crap I did stick to plan and I'm confident I'm ready for the 750m swim I have on Sunday and pretty sure I'll be ready for the 2k swim in June, but the 1500m in March feels at risk.  I so need to get back into a regular swimming regime.