Slow Start to March

The Start of March has come and gone and we are now 1 week into it. Well it has not been a stunning start to the Month. My aim was to start pushing my trainig up to 6km sets. You Guessed it, Have not managed to do one. No matter how hard I try to justify it, and my justifications are perfectly valid. I think it is just plain old Laziness and negativity.

The main reason I have not been swimming that much is I picked up a horrible cough and cold that has had me up most nights and coughing a spluttering most of the day. There is a lot of it around at the moment so it is not an odd thing. I did a small set on Saturday last week of about 4km. This was followed in the afternoon by a lovely walk in Epsom Downs  with Rish Robbie and Marlene. I felt crap most the rest of the week so did not do any training apart from Wednesday.

I had planned to go and find some other Masters classes to train with and gauge their abilities to push me and hopefully, focus my mind again. Armed with a blocked nose, stuffy head, that was about to explode and not so great Cough, I ventured down to Brooklands David lloyd gym, dosed myself up on a few drugs and headed for the pool to do a couple of Km's of the masters class.

The outcome - I found some swimmers that can push me, they are not just faster than me, they validate the one belief in myself that I have always had - I am not such a good swimmer afterall!! Well in my state, I manged to hammer out the whole set and ended up doing about 4km of swimming, at a pace harder than I have done this year. If I felt Crap before I started, I now felt absolutely terrible except, this time, it was physical I can deal with that kind of ailment. The mental side of me was very pleased. I had left my comfort zone of my masters class - which I really love swimming with, and found a group which challenges me to get better and push harder.

If I learnt nothing else, I have taken away from that evening that I need to Leave my comfort zone more often. If I train on my own then I really need to mix up my training a lot more.Whenever I train on my own I generally do what I know I am capable of and build my sets on that basis. It all comes back to the T.B.C (Total Body Confusion) method of training which I adhere too, seems like I need to change the way I do that as well. Not drastically, but input a lot more diversity.

A couple of them even knew of, and had been following the escapades of the Zimhippo. I have subsequently swapped details with some of them and will aim to meet them once a week to keep me focused. There are a lot more marathon swimmers at their club than I have at my club. I will probably meet up with for training more often.

Another thing that I took possession of this week is my new traiing Aid. A Lovely ORANGE (Marlene, see what you have done to me!!) Timex Ironman watch. I purchased this about 2 weeks ago on the interweb from America for the poultry sum of £55. Cheapest one I found in the UK was £70. The Numbers are BIG. most people whose site starts to fail them go and get glasses or contacts, I like my solution better, Buy  Bigger things with bigger numbers. On that note, I think I need a bigger TV as well. Anyone know of a bright Orange 60" smart TV going Cheap?

Another plus this week is that I have been weighing myself since middle of December last year and, as of yesterday, I have lost 5KG (0.8 stone or 11 pounds) in three months. On the wonderful BMI index, That just puts me into the top end of the Obese category, narrowly escaping the Severely Obese category.

So what Lies in the week Ahead?

I think first and foremost,

   - Book my 9 mile swim and get paid up for that. I do not think the 21 mile swim is open yet for bookings.

    - Get into my longer sets and train with other people who push me.
    - Look at maybe getting a coach. I have found it difficult this year to coach myself. Something I have never really struggled with. This year I need to face the facts that it might have to be an option.

    - Put what is behind me BEHIND ME and let it go. I can't change how crap I have been in the past but I can change how crap I will be in the future ----SORRY, that was meant to be AMAZING!!

    - Most important thing is to BELEIVE in ME, if the responses I have had to my facebook postings are anything to go by, it seems that I am the only one who does not.

On that note, I would like to express my thanks to my Amazing friends and family that are getting me through this

"Journey to 21"

I would like to end this blog with a quote that has come very much into my focus this week

THERE IS NO "I" IN TEAM

With the "team" I have 

behind me, success 

is the ultimate

conclusion to

this Journey.