Went to Sydney this weekend with the intention of swimming 5 hours with Vald's Channel swimmers.
Even though I felt the flu coming on during Friday the lure of swimming in the ocean is far to great for me.
We stayed at a lovely apartment but during the night it hit hard. Everything was aching and it felt like my head was about to explode. In all my wisdom I decided to sleep a little longer, thinking that will fix everything then catch up with the group for swim mid morning.
Got to the beach full of vicks and barocca...I was ready. The water was warm around 17ish and the swell was up. This made for an interesting and challenging swim. I made two hours before calling it a day along with all the other swimmers.
Unfortunately I am paying for my stupid decision now as I just spent Sunday feeling rather sorry for myself. I will now probably miss the whole week of swimming.
Lesson learnt...!
A Sunday afternoon set
It felt so good to knock out a decent set today at Civic Pool. About half of the 11km was speed work, a quarter one arm drills and the rest continuous swimming at 75% (that's my favourite part). Best of all, even toward the end my times were holding steady, meaning there is still lots left in the tank.
This week is the 3rd 'on week' of the monthly program (I call it cranky week). I do 3 weeks in a row of about 25km swimming, one weights session and one Pilates session. The 4th week is half the swimming distance, Pilates and no weights...the 4th week is the most important week as the down time is letting my mind and body rest and consolidate that hard work, thus becoming stronger!
This week is the 3rd 'on week' of the monthly program (I call it cranky week). I do 3 weeks in a row of about 25km swimming, one weights session and one Pilates session. The 4th week is half the swimming distance, Pilates and no weights...the 4th week is the most important week as the down time is letting my mind and body rest and consolidate that hard work, thus becoming stronger!
Location:Civic Pool
South Head Swim
Yesterday I competed in the South Head Rough Water Swim, a 10km black water swim. Although the seas were calm the strong head current made the swim over an hour longer than what that distance should actually take. The swim itself is nothing but spectacular, with giant cliffs plunging into deep black water off Sydney's coastline.
The best part of the day was undoubtably swimming through the Heads. Very few people actually get to have this honour and today Duncan and I did it!
Yet again we had a great support team with Matt driving his boat, Mick and Christian support paddling and Narelle looking after food and drinks.
The best part of the day was undoubtably swimming through the Heads. Very few people actually get to have this honour and today Duncan and I did it!
Yet again we had a great support team with Matt driving his boat, Mick and Christian support paddling and Narelle looking after food and drinks.
Long Swim
Second long swim back after Rottnest and it seemed easier than usual and I think I know why.
For the last 4 weeks I have been working hard with Andrew and Suzy on improving my stroke to improve efficiency and relieve some right shoulder tension. With an increasing training load coming up for the Gibraltar Swim starting in October now is the time to do this much needed technique work.
So it's been a few weeks of changing the angle of my right hand entry and eliminating my trademark right arm stretch before starting my catch. It was a weird feeling to start with but as the weeks rolled on the feeling became one of 'just been' normal.
All the training has been short sharp sessions designed at getting the feel before getting tired. There was strictly no long sets or no speed work until I could instantly feel if I reverted back to that 'old stroke'.
So today was the first long session where a 10km swim was planned. I decided to break the swim into 6 x 1km and then a 4km swim once I started to get tired. I decided it was about completing the swim and forgetting the times. Lucky, as my watch was showing some terrible splits. But I walked away from the set feeling full of energy and best of all no shoulder joint pain.
So it's onto the 10km Roughwater swim in Sydney next weekend to give my new stroke another good work out before going back to the pool for the winter.
For the last 4 weeks I have been working hard with Andrew and Suzy on improving my stroke to improve efficiency and relieve some right shoulder tension. With an increasing training load coming up for the Gibraltar Swim starting in October now is the time to do this much needed technique work.
So it's been a few weeks of changing the angle of my right hand entry and eliminating my trademark right arm stretch before starting my catch. It was a weird feeling to start with but as the weeks rolled on the feeling became one of 'just been' normal.
All the training has been short sharp sessions designed at getting the feel before getting tired. There was strictly no long sets or no speed work until I could instantly feel if I reverted back to that 'old stroke'.
So today was the first long session where a 10km swim was planned. I decided to break the swim into 6 x 1km and then a 4km swim once I started to get tired. I decided it was about completing the swim and forgetting the times. Lucky, as my watch was showing some terrible splits. But I walked away from the set feeling full of energy and best of all no shoulder joint pain.
So it's onto the 10km Roughwater swim in Sydney next weekend to give my new stroke another good work out before going back to the pool for the winter.
4 months of technique work
With my shoulder still giving me grief it's time to step aside from the intensity training and into a winter of technique training to fix this ongoing issue.
In particular, I am working on my right arm entry, catch/pull and the timing of that stroke. I have had the first lesson where I was immediately made aware that I was gliding too far on the right which then made for a dead spot where neither arm was propelling me forward. It was also clear that my stroke on the right was about .5 seconds longer than the left. This explains and confirms the gliding.
So, the challenge is to now even up the right stroke rate to the left. By quickening up that stroke I will stop gliding and the pressure on my shoulder will decrease.
So this little stroke beeper will be my favourite friend over the coming months as I look to fix this problem before the Gibraltar prep and the summer marathons start up again.
In particular, I am working on my right arm entry, catch/pull and the timing of that stroke. I have had the first lesson where I was immediately made aware that I was gliding too far on the right which then made for a dead spot where neither arm was propelling me forward. It was also clear that my stroke on the right was about .5 seconds longer than the left. This explains and confirms the gliding.
So, the challenge is to now even up the right stroke rate to the left. By quickening up that stroke I will stop gliding and the pressure on my shoulder will decrease.
So this little stroke beeper will be my favourite friend over the coming months as I look to fix this problem before the Gibraltar prep and the summer marathons start up again.
Last post for the Rottnest blog
This will be the last post in the "Swim Kane Swim - Rottnest Channel" blog...
I hope you have enjoyed the journey as much as i have. Here is the movie i put together of the swim:
Don't forget to follow my next swimming adventure: Gibraltar Straits Crossing in 2015.
I hope you have enjoyed the journey as much as i have. Here is the movie i put together of the swim:
Share and share alike...
It is three weeks since the Rottnest swim and I am now back into swimming and also excitedly starting to think about my next swimming challenge.
I have had lots of people ask me about the logistics of swimming Rottnest as an interstate swimmer. So below is a list of the main points of note that i would past on:
Don't forget to follow my next swimming adventure: Gibraltar Straits Crossing in 2015.
I have had lots of people ask me about the logistics of swimming Rottnest as an interstate swimmer. So below is a list of the main points of note that i would past on:
- Set your goal(s) for the swim:
- I had two:
- To successfully swim the Rottnest Channel
- To ensure i trained enough to enjoy the day, not just struggle through it
- Early preparation is the key:
- Make yourself aware of three key dates as soon as you decide Rottnest is for you:
- The registration period (its only open for 1 week)
- The qualifying swim and a backup swim (just incase)
- The Rottnest swim
- Book accommodation immediately. Hotels in the area book out well in advance.
- Make enquiries into hiring a support boat. Getting a boat and experienced skipper is probably going to be the hardest part of your preparation.
- There are skippers out there who just want to be part of this huge event. They won't charge you excessive amounts either. I was lucky and found a wonderful skipper who refused to let me pay for a single thing, it was clear he was just honoured to skipper a solo swimmer. So get going ASAP...
- I hired an endurance coach in July
- I have completed lots of 10km swims but moving up to swimming 20km means different challenges.
- A good coach who knows about endurance will be able to help you to peak at the right times (qualifying race and again for the actual race). They will also be able to help you out with nutrition plans, endurance sets, recovery plans and advice, and also help you through those down times (trust me, there will be downs time where you just want to throw the towel in).
- Join a swim squad
- Speed work as part of your drills is vital to your success, swimming with others makes this easier.
- Start experimenting with food during your swims now
- It took me 3 months to find food that settled in my stomach well
- Practise eating during your training swims
- Practise treading water. I was incorporating 5 min periods at the end of my sets.
- Resistance, resistance, resistance; Use resistance to simulate longer swims. For example i would put the hand paddles on and get in the habit of doing 500m before the warm down at the end of each squad session.
- Get ready to eat like you have never eaten before. As the training ramps up so does the food bill.
- Put good stuff in and your body will perform well. I found on the odd day where we had take away food my body did not perform well for the next few days.
- I also found drinking milk immediately after long sessions helped with recovery.
- Find out which sea sickness and nausea tablets work well for you. TIP: forget the herbal crap, i did that at the beginning and they don't work anything like the medical stuff.
- Get a good support team together
- Make sure you find a few good paddlers
- I started practising 3 months out with the kayakers.
- Practise your feeding/drinking from the kayak. Get them used to your likes/dislikes.
- You want everything to just go smoothly on the day.
Don't forget to follow my next swimming adventure: Gibraltar Straits Crossing in 2015.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)