Apologies for the lack of updates, with uni finishing up I have been both busy and a terrible human-being to come into contact with. Further apologies for lack of pictures, taking pictures inside a pool risks getting you on a sex-offender list :)
For many triathletes (especially those who race short-course and/or draft-legal) the first few months of the new season are dominated by the stench of chlorine. Any frequent reader will know that I am in the habit of lamenting about my mediocre swimming ability. Hindsight would suggest that it would’ve been in my best interests to keep up swimming past year 8, even in those years it was only once a week.
In reality though I am pretty pleased where I’m at considering I have only been swimming for the last 3.5years, of which only the last 18 months have been in a coached/squad environment. What used to be a pretty standard week of swimming (6ks) is now covered in one session alone 2-3 times a week!
This justification for my mediocrity carries little weight as I watched, with frightening regularity, the front pack power into the distance during a number of (especially early-season) races.
You know you’re in a swim block when:
1. You spend more time with 15yos than you do with 21yos.
2. Your car smells like a morgue…you spend a week trying to find the culprit, thinking it is some half-eaten piece of fruit. After an extensive search it is (of all things!) your kickboard.
3. 5.30am becomes a sleep-in
4. Your alarm is set at 4.20am, with another at 4.25am, and another at 4.27am. Each ‘alarm-song’ is gradually more aggressive/loud/annoying. I’m not a fan of Skrillex at the best of times, especially at 4.27am.
5. You start to feel less out of place at a gym….i.e. Weight-gain. Cracked 70kgs (I’m 182cm) for the first time in nearly a year yesterday. Generally race at 66kgs.
6. 20k swim weeks are viewed as ‘recovery’ weeks compared to a ‘normal’ week
A return to Melbourne (following three years in Canberra) meant finding a new-swim squad. As much as I loved my swim-squad in Canberra and especially the people, I wanted a squad which had sessions slightly more targeted towards triathlon swimming. Moreover I have a pathological hatred of kick-sets, I don’t think I ever made a proper time-cycle last year (Unfortunately we had a 16x100m kick test set yesterday!). It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say that I would go semi-anaerobic on the ‘social kick’ sets.
Long-story short I am out swimming at Mentone. The 5:15am start in the water start has meant that my bedtime is earlier than my 11yo sister, and my waking time (4.20am) can only just be classified as an ‘early morning’ rather than ‘very late night.’
My coach warned me that these guys train ‘hard.’ I agree, and that’s before we have even started the main set!
The 1.45hr session generally means we clock 5-6ks per session with (at least) a 3k main set. Monday has become 10x400m day. Its bad enough doing 55mins of hard swimming, but trying to keep count of laps and avoid getting dizzy in a 25m pool is just as strenuous.
Added to this I’ve finally had the opportunity to do some swim filming with my coach. Being in Canberra meant that I missed out on these opportunities. It is one thing to be told you are doing something wrong, actually seeing it makes a big difference.
On another note, I finally finished my Arts degree! What started as two university subjects in year 12 (instead of doing an extra VCE subject) turned into three years at ANU and then another semester at Melbourne Uni. As a result of a rather legendary/infamous night in 2010 I got glandular fever, meaning that I dropped three subjects. Two of which were replaced by my year 12 studies at Monash, the last of which was completed at Melbourne Uni this semester gone. The plan was to do Honors in Political Science at Melbourne. I was going to write a thesis on Tony Blair’s continuation/articulation of Margaret Thatcher’s neoliberal reforms (not the most mainstream of topics). However I didn’t enjoy Melbourne, the 1hr travel to uni each day, its size (so much bigger than ANU), the bigger classes and the easier marking (average mark at Melb Uni is 9 points higher than at ANU, both marked on a bell-curve). I am taking next semester off to train and work (most likely being involved with the Federal Election). It will give me a chance to work out where I’m headed next year in terms of study.
Also in more exciting news I am off to the US tomorrow. On the side-bar are links to my posts from my Boulder trip last year. I’m returning for 6 weeks this time, living in the house of a rather ‘eccentric’ artist. I will be joined by one of my closest friends who is a runner, coming 5th in the North Face 100, uncoached in her first ever proper running race. Her dedication to training is incredible and importantly we both value our own space when we’re in heavy training, that she is an incredible cook doesn’t come into it at all :) I’ll also be sharing the house with two other professional triathletes. It will be fascinating to see how they go about their business.
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