Last night I was very brave and decided that I had faffed around quite long enough on the entering a "proper" Triathlon front and confidently logged on to the internet to book one! However I was foiled at the first hurdle! They asked me for my 500 metres swim time ... errrr I have no idea ... to just put SLOW was not an option!
So tonight I went swimming armed with my pool mate watch to enlighten me on my current speed! It has been another hot day so I was pleased to be plunging into a refreshingly cool pool.
Thankfully it was fairly quiet. I entered one of the lanes, started my pool mate off and swam! I struggled for the first couple of lengths to get my breathing under control. I think timing myself put pressure on me and I couldn't concentrate on my stroke initially. I eventually settled down into it and before I knew it I had completed my first set of 20 lengths. I had a minute or 2 rest and then set off to do another set of 20. By the time I had finished I had in fact swam 4 sets of 20 lengths totalling 2000 metres.
These are my times:
Set 1: 12:48
Set 2: 13:47
Set 3: 14:28
Set 4: 14.08
Looking back to October 2012 when I first starting swimming in order to train for a triathlon my 500 metre (20 lengths) time was an incredibly slow 33 minutes and 35 seconds!
I was so chuffed when I saw this huge improvement as I had it in my head that I wasn't improving when clearly I am!
In 8 months I have knocked 21 minutes 27 seconds off my swimming time and that is with a 2 month break because of my ankle injury!
So back to booking a Triathlon now that I have a time to insert!
I was looking at last years results for the tri I am interested in and the swimming times varied from the fastest being 6 minutes 15 seconds and the slowest being 16 minutes 55 seconds. My 12:48 time would be quite respectable I feel!
I also decided to look back in my blog to the end of last year to remind me what goals I had set myself.
These are them!
• Compete in a duathlon.
• Experiment with off-road running.
• Run another Marathon and improve my time: aim for a sub 4 hour time!
• Run a sub 50 minute 10K road race.
• Run a sub 1:50 Half Marathon
• Compete in a triathlon.
• Run 12 races in 12 months.
Requirements (aims) to successfully accomplish goals for 2013:
12 minute 500m (20 lengths) swim
43 minute 18K Cycle
25 min 5k off bike Run
Under 9 minute mile pace running long distance
Under 8 minute miles over 10k (or shorter) distances.
Retain resting heart rate at around 48 BPM, if goes above 58 REST.
Familiarisation with transition techniques.
I am getting close to my 12 minute 500m swim goal, I have had a little bit of transition technique training from the Try-a-tri I completed, I regularly monitor my resting Heart Rate and I need to work on the rest!
On another totally irrelevant note ...
The Queen is coming to Kendal! This is very exciting for a sleepy little town like Kendal as no one important ever visits!
Apparently her last visit to Kendal was 57 years ago - so I think we are long overdue a little bit of her Majesty's attention! Even more exciting is a child from our school has been selected to meet her and give her a posy AND the rest of the school are going into town to watch her go past!!!
I must get a flag to wave!!!
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