Monday 15 July 2013

Letchworth Outdoor Pool: swim training

As well as cycling, I've also started to increase my swim training while I can't run. After deciding to enter Freedom Tri's Duck N Dash Aquathlon in September (400m swim, 6K run), I thought I ought to train a few times at least at Letchworth Outdoor Pool, to familiarise myself with the layout and the length. The pool is 50m long, so a lot different to the 25m pool at Saxon that I'm used to.


I swam last Thursday with some friends, and today I went on my own to see if I could manage the full 400m distance without stopping between lengths. I didn't really manage that, it's so tiring! I definitely need to practise more. But I covered 800m in 30 minutes, so I'm happy with that.

Sunday 7 July 2013

Not running, cycling

2 days before the end of Juneathon and I had to give in. SOMETHING (no idea what) has happened to my shin and it hurts to run on it. I don't want to injure myself unnecessarily. I have no races coming up until September so I've curtailed the running for the next few weeks.

Time to up the cross training (ie, anything other than running). Swimming will start again next week (still need to buy a new suit), but for this week I've dusted off my bike and bought a helmet. Let's go ride a bike.

I'm a nervous cyclist. I don't like cars behind me or passing me (I'm too polite and don't like to inconvenience people). I'm also prone to falling off. Plus, for the past 5 years I've had a small child attached to my rear. Doesn't make for confident cycling.

So, for my first ride, I stuck to quiet lanes near my house (no small child attached, the seat has gone forever). Of course, everyone decided to be out driving their car on Thursday, so after 10 minutes I was quite used to people passing me. I'd also got used to being on my bike again, solo, and getting faster with every minute. Instead of just going home after 4 miles I decided to push myself until I was tired. 10 miles, averaging 12 mph. I was very happy with that!

On Saturday I went out for a slower ride but a bit further distance. I decided to go off-road and cover the full Greenway around Letchworth (13+ miles). I've run it in 1 hour 46 minutes. I cycled it in 1 hour 22 minutes. Average 10 mph (14 miles total). Mo Farah could've run faster. In my defence, I was hindered by road crossings and kissing gates. Those things are tricky.

Today I had a very slow 3.5 mile bike ride with the family. Ice creams and the park were our reward. Well done us.