Finding Focus

 

Hi there all. Hope this finds you all well and enjoying the Spring that we are having in Blighty - well the one day we had of it in the last week?

 

I am a bit late on this blog - but it is worth it. Recently my life took a bit of a seismic shift. This shift has given me new found vitality, and a reason to go and push myself to where I should be. So, how did this shift take place?

 

About two or three months ago I was conversing with a friend of mine over the internet.  He's an old friend,  who went to the same school as me in Zimbabwe. He follows me on Facebook and I follow him. He is a bit of a fitness freak- more so than me, the worst kind - a budding ironman. He is also the managing Director of Colins-IT, an IT company based in Rugby, Warwickshire.

 

As a thought, I proposed the idea of sponsoring me this year with my adventures.  I had done my work, the ball was in his court. Time went by and I did not hear anything back from him. I did not really feel like pushing him, he knew the details and the decision was his.  Whilst out with friends last weekend,  I get a Facebook  post back from him - short and to the point - Can I get hold of one of his colleagues?

 

Monday arrived and I sent the email, I was dumbfounded by the response that I got back. Not going into too much detail, I can now go and do the swims that I want to do this year - and a few more -without having to delve into my personal funds. The sponsorship runs for 6 months.

 

 As people who know me and what I do, these sporting events are not cheap. When you take into account all the training, accommodation, entrance fees, membership fees, travel and keeping my fat backside in costumes – chlorine really hammers them – it all adds up to a fair amount of money.

All these swims are done for charity, and I very seldom take any money back from them to cover my costs.

 

So, all of the above have taken me from a TRY-athlete to a PRO-athlete – depending on your interpretation of the word “PRO”!

 

What it has done for me personally, is amazing-  I have found my focus again!  Last week I would just go to the pool and grind out the lengths, often getting bored after about 4 km. Now I have a purpose, a goal, a helping hand.  Knowing someone believes in you is a very powerful motivator. I am not solely answerable to just myself any more. To be honest, I was beginning to get to the point where I was not enjoying what I love –my swimming – somewhere I never want to be.  My sport, and particularly my swimming have a lot to answer for, particularly in the person I have become.

 

So a new chapter in my sporting life begins – thank you Colins-IT. You have no idea how much this means to me. To top it all off, guess what their colours are – ORANGE!  It must be Fate!

 

On the training front, things have picked up and last week I managed to train for 5 days and this will carry on until I head to Africa to find some sunshine. Whilst I am there I will hope to be training at my old college. I have put in a couple of very good 5km sets and a couple of speed sessions, which are not as long, but a lot more intense. My times are starting to fall again.  I now train with two Masters classes. One, at David Lloyd Brooklands, one at David Lloyd Cheam. The Brooklands group has a lot more marathon swimmers. Half my Saturday session is done with a water-polo player who really keeps me on my toes – very short, very intense. I do normally carry on after my training partner leaves for the steam room.

 

My core strength is improving all the time thanks to the delightful Claire who is my Pilates instructor.

 

Since Middle of January I have lost 8kg, sliding further down the BMI scale on the way to being just fat!

 

Things that I need to improve on

 

My mental  well-being. I need to put time into my life to sit down and reflect on my challenges, and visualise how I am doing and the final outcome of them all. This was very easy in the past as I used to travel to work by train so used that time to its maximum in positive reflection – which sometimes ended up in sleep, and me missing my stop.

My physical well-being, I need to focus a bit on my nutrition during these training setss rather than go and do an big early morning session on just a banana. I do not really want to lose too much more weight – Have you ever seen a slim hippo??? In cold water it is preferable to be on the slightly rotund side of the scale.

 

 

I would like to end this post with a Quote that I find very pertinent to what you have just read:

 

Coming together is a beginning;

Keeping together is progress;

Working together is

SUCCESS.

Henry  Ford