Swim, Said The Mama Fishy, Swim If You Can

When the clocks strike noon tomorrow I will be starting my Swimathon. I'm nervous, worried that I've not done enough preparation, that I'll make a fool of myself, that somehow I won't do "well", whatever that may mean.

It will, of course, be what it will be. I'm a strong enough swimmer to be able to do the distance and really the only thing that can go wrong is that I start to panic in the water. No one is relying on me, I haven't set myself a time target, people will be able to overtake me if need be and there are sides to hang on to if I really need the rest. I've done all the training I can do. Fitting in swims had been tricky and I know I've swum less than some of my fellow Swimathon ladies (even if they are doing longer distances) but I've done what I can without getting stressed out about it. Staying on top of my running during the past few weeks has been important too so they've needed equal priority.

My training during the week commencing March 7th was as follows:
Monday : 5 mile run & Boxercise
Tuesday : Rest day
Wednesday : Rest day
Thursday : Swimming (2000m ish) & Yoga
Friday : Swim training (1300m) with TVT
Saturday : 7 mile run
Sunday : Half Marathon

The water was cold in the pool on Friday night and I very nearly gave up on the session a couple of times, but was glad I stuck it out in the end, treating myself to a dip in the jacuzzi afterwards to warm up. Coach Lynn was quite complimentary again. Apparently my swimming is very "balanced" although I have no idea what that actually means. I quite often catch myself not using my legs much in front crawl which I suppose is no bad thing for triathlon training but I'm not sure it'll do me much good tomorrow.

This week my training has consisted of:
Monday : HIIT
Tuesday : 3 mile run
Wednesday : Boxing training & Yoga at home
Thursday : Swimming
Friday : Boxing training & Clubbercise

Looking back over this I suppose it's no wonder I've been feeling a little tired. Things haven't been as well planned out as they could have been but I'd promised to lead a 5-7 mile run on the Saturday when perhaps I shouldn't have, I really wanted to try Clubbercise, and although one more swim earlier in the week would have been great it just wasn't possible with my timetable. Yoga has been non-negotiable; it helps to preserve my sanity and headspace. I'd intended to run 6 miles on Tuesday but I was feeling bodily tired and although I got myself out of the door the heavy legs and sick feeling in my stomach made it too easy to call it quits early. I guess I needed to rest that day really. At least I made the decision to marshal instead of run parkrun on Saturday morning!

So this is it. let's see if this girl can!