Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Count down to the tri season

Well its almost two weeks to go till the Scorching series starts, that marks the official kick off of the pre race season, that means six weeks till the half, time goes so fast, its amazing... I'm counting the days,

The first race is on the 14th of November, its a warm up race:

1km swim
30km bike
8km run

Still Scorching bay in November will be "fun" !!! hahaha

Winning the head game

This week my swim coach said something that has stuck with me, he said I should allow myself to celebrate the successes I have in the pool. It stuck with me for a couple of reasons.
As a para athlete I have always pushed myself harder,expected more of myself. And it stuck with me because of something that was said to me as a child I remember being told to never settle with what you have, always strive to improve. My coach has invested a huge amount in my success, I push myself harder for my own reasons but I am also very grateful for the efforts that he puts in to me personally that will allow me to swim faster and achieve my goals.

I also wonder if I was less focused on the minute details of each performance, scrutinising each performance in detail and focused more on the big picture whether my performance would improve. This week we have a time trial, its something we do regularly to measure performance. I will be looking at my performance to see whether I improve but this time I will allow myself to feel good about my swim.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

the toll of training

I wanted to spend a bit of time this week talking about how much of a toll all the training is having on my body and the great support I'm receiving to keep me going regardless.

At the moment it seems like I'm spending a lot of time in the physio, which is frustrating as its the last place I want to be right now in this phase of the training cycle. I need to thank Ben and Steph at VUW physio for giving me really fast treatment and putting up with me being a bit grumpy and apprehensive at the moment.

http://www.victoria.ac.nz/st_services/physio/

In the last month I have aggrivated both rotator cuff's, both left and right shoulders, hense the many trips to the physio.The annoying thing about all this is that while I am in the pool I feel fast and my times in the water confirm that feeling, I am swimming 6 min 300m which equates out to a 2hr pace for the 3.8km swim.

Another wonderful lady who is helping me with my recovery is Jin Ong, she is an Osteopath who is giving me a course of 'dry-needling' to encourage flushing of lactic acid. I see Jin every couple of weeks for treatments and she is great, thoroughly recommend her,she's very great.

http://theosteopathicpractice.co.nz/

Well its less than a month to go till the pre race season starts with the Scorcher Tri's starting on the 14th of November, can't wait, then its almost a month till Taupo half, I'm getting very excited about that...

Sunday, October 10, 2010

New Month,getting closer to race season, time to get serious

Well its October, I just about can't believe it, It's only a month till the pre race tri series starts which is a real wake up call. It's great though, focuses the attention on the big prize in March.

I've had an interesting winter, My swim has really moved forward but just recently in the last month I have had minor rotator cuff injuries to both left and right shoulders, nothing major but enough to remind me that I will need both shoulders working perfectly on race days.

I've been working with an Osteopath, Jin, at the Osteopathic Practice who has been working magic in terms of reducing the lactic acid from my legs, so I seriously recommend that treatment.

The programme that Lynley has be on at the moment feels really good, I know that the numbers will increase as we go into Jan / Feb but I also know that right now I feel very comfortable with my run and bike and my swim is feeling good other than the fact that I'm rehabing my shoulder.