It can't be that hard - surely - was my first thought, after all I've ran a marathon! Ohhhhh I think I have got that one so wrong!
A friend of mine who is very involved with the swimming club volunteered to give me some swimming technique lessons to see if I could improve my speed substantially (which needs to happen before I enter any race!).
So Wednesday at 7pm was our first date! Sharon watched me swim a length front crawl then told me all the things I was doing wrong! The main problem was my arms windmilling rather than being bent. This was easily solved by her making me feel very silly swimming another length whilst doing "hips, shoulder, head" with my arms to get them to bend correctly. After doing this I managed another length with correct arms. Next problem area to tackle was my kick, apparently I'm kicking too frantically as if a shark is after me, with very short fast kicks. I need to go slower and deeper! To help me concentrate on my legs Sharon asked a life guard for a float. Just as I set off down the pool holding a float one of the little darlings from school appeared laughing "Mrs Wallace is learning to swim!". GGGrrrrrr There's no privacy in the world! I found the legs more difficult to change! My head was too busy telling me to go fast kick like hell! The funny thing is when I did manage to go slower with my legs I did actually go faster!
Practice, practice, practice! My new mantra!
Another issue is my breathing - however we are leaving that one to another day! As you have probably gathered I wasn't doing very much right hence why I'm a slow, crap swimmer! After spending just over an hour trying to change all my bad habits we decided to bring the lesson to a close!
On Thursday I decided to run the 5K tri route to see how I got on compared with the timings from the 2012 tri results. Probably not a good idea! I ran 1 and a half miles before I got to the "start" then set a new "lap" to start on my Garmin and ran! My legs didn't want to go fast - I tried - I think I have spent so long whilst marathon training telling them slow and steady wins the race that now they won't do anything else! Anyhow, after doing the 5K route I set another new "lap" to start so I could see exactly how fast I had run that section! Then ran the remaining mile home! All in all I did 5.30 miles which can be viewed here!
How did I compare? I have a lot of work to do before April! I did the 5K route in a slow time of 28:23, averaging 9.12 minute miles.
The slowest time in the triathlon for the run section was about 38 minutes but bearing in mind this is after swimming and cycling! I haven't braved cycling the bike route yet, so I can't compare! Kendal sprint triathlon results 2012
After getting home from my run I decided to go for a swim and put into practice what I had learned before I forgot! Quick shower and change and I was off.
I decided to time my first length so I could see the improvement over the coming months! I did a slow 45 second length front crawl.
A long way to go, but hey I can only improve! I was so busy concentrating on my technique I lost count of how many lengths I actually did! I'm guesstimating I did about 40 lengths in the hour I was in the pool. I also did a lot of watching the fast lane female swimmers trying to pick up tips! I had my goggles on so I even watched them under the water to see the leg and arm action etc. My husband said if I was a man I would have been evicted for being a pervert!
I was far more exhausted after my hours swim then I am after running for an hour!
I thought I was fairly fit - but evidently not! I need to do more training!
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