Once Was Lazy

A fat lazy guy's journey into a triathlon guy

Tingles and nerves

Not long to go before triathlon number 2.

Sunday 7am is game time.

Temperature looks a little cool at that time of about 18degrees so water likely a few degrees less…most nerve racking aspect for me is getting too cold like I did at the Nepean triathlon.

That was a disaster!

So I offer up this chocolate biscuit to the Gods of Luck, Water Temperature and Triathlon that my swim on this one is much more pleasant smooth and relaxing…

There it’s a no doubt I have put the swim training in….

T-minus 54hrs…

Swimming Tips: excellent website

Over beers (a few too many) last night a mate (who’s sister is a champion age-group Australian tri-athlete I discovered!) put me onto this website as I had been telling him about my Nepean swim freak out…

Swim Smooth (www.swimsmooth.com)

I read some of this before my Ocean Swim training today.

It’s very good.  I aim to read the rest of the tips today ahead of tomorrow’s training.

The tip I read today was about breathing.  Breathing out as soon as your face is in the water…I’d been holding it (I thought for buoyancy reasons) and exhaling on the last stroke before doing my intake breath…but wow, yes the CO2 factor and relaxation this breathing technique is painfully obvious when you do it…

So, happy days…hopefully I’ll pick up a lot more tips and dramatically improve my confidence and swimming over the next few week.

Ocean Swim: Shelly Beach – Manly – Shelly Beach

It was ocean swim day 1 of training for the lead up to the Callala Bay Triathlon.

Absolutely stunning Sydney beach weather.

 

It was a tiny bit cool (the water), was concerned I’d hit the same issues I had at the Nepean Triathlon around not having a wetsuit.  The first 250m was cold, but after that I seemed to adjust into it and the rest of the swim was extremely pleasant from a warmth point of view.

Total distance was about 1.25km swam, in two sessions.  First about 850m and the next the remainder.  Total time for the swim was about 25min…snail pace but focus was on doing it rather than doing it fast.

 

Was also a successful trial of of my new ocean swimming goggles the V1000A Xtreme Swimming Goggle / Mask…which were really awesome!

No fogging whatsoever, really comfortable and the vision they offer is far superior to the normal goggles.  I look like a bit of a freak, but that was a small price to pay.

Overall, very pleased with the swim today.  I wasn’t 100% comfortable out there (rate myself a freaking out rating of 6/10) but I now know that a) I can do it provided I keep doing it and b) the feeling afterwards is pretty amazing.

Tomorrow I’ll be doing another one…maybe at Balmoral than Manly (it’s a long drive in traffic!).

Distance swimming…tips needed!

So, just had my second day of doing a daily 1km+ swim ahead of the next Triathlon at Callala Bay

Swimming, I find, is great…but really hard over long distance (is 1km even considered “distance”, let alone “long distance”???).

Today, I swam no further than 550m non stop (650m yesterday, both in a 25m pool… probably could add 150m to that if it were a 50m pool).

How the hell can one:

  • Swim non stop for over 1km (furtherest I’ve done 2.5km about 8 weeks ago in a 50m pool…but that was with MANY stops).
  • Do it without being able to see the bottom (i.e. murky/dark water) without completely freaking out
  • Get the mind distracted so you can just get through the technique (assumption being I’ll get to the 1km before I know it)
  • Learn how not to think about things that start making you tired (I’m not, but I start THINKING I should be).

Any tips would be very welcome!

First triathlon: done!

I’ve been extremely remiss on updating this blog.

However, the last few months have been productive in terms of my ongoing transformation from a fat dude to a triathlon dude (I use the phrase “triathlon dude” extremely loosely, as compared to the “real” athletes I saw at my first Triathlon, I’m more “embarrassing triathlon dude” than “triathlete”.

 

 

But I digress.

I can proudly say I’ve completed (medal and all to show for it) the Nepean Triathlon (Club distance), which is Australia’s oldest triathlon.  I even passed the 60 year old guy that has done all 30 or so Nepean Triathlon’s near the finish line….yay me.

Club distance is 1km swim, 30km bike and 10km run…slightly different to an Olympic distance.

I’m extremely proud of the result…I am officially a below average, mediocre tri-hard.

 

Overall
558th out of total 832 competitors

Category 35-39 
95th out of 171

The toughest part was the swim.  I really struggled in the cool water without a wetsuit.  Training in a pool where you can a) see the bottom and b) take a quick breather at each 50m mark isn’t the best.  I had a bit of a panic attack 300m into the swim, almost withdrew from the entire race three times, mostly did breath stroke and overall felt like a complete looser…but I finished the swim, and very happy with the bike and run legs which made up or it (a bit).

I’m about to sign up to my next Triathlon, this one Callala Bay on the 9th December.  This is another Club distance, which is good.

I am currently focusing entirely on my swim, doing a minimum of 1km a day and doing 1.5km ocean swim every Sat and Sun to try to boost my confidence here…

83kg

…on the bright(er) side, I did hit 83kg…have been hovering around the 86kg-88kg for some months now.

I think the increase in activity (lunch time mini-triathlons) and big reduction in beer/alcohol have been the main contributing factors.

*Might* be able to start considering myself as being “fit”…soon.

3:30am

So last night, at 3:30am, Ella decided it was playtime…it really wasn’t!

That has left me a bit tired today.  I am planning on doing a mini-lunch triathlon of 20min each discipline…but the fog of tired is dampening my enthusiasm, and the agency staff are starting to talk of a liquid pub lunch…

 versus 

These two factors may combine in undermining my plans…

We’ll see soon enough!

*Update*…the winner was….

(the pub…obviously)

K

A very long time friend of mine, this Sunday, will come out for her first jog…and we’ve chosen the BayRun (6.7km) as the venue….

First jog (in my living memory of her…15 or so years) and I am REALLY excited (for her).

I am going to do a lap with a mutual friend first, and K will give us a 20min head start before heading off on a brisk walk….we’ll catch up to her on our second lap and should all be able to finish together at more or less the same pace.

Will post results of the day and her reaction next week :)

Wine will be consumed at the conclusion.

Lunch time mini-triathlons

For the last week, I have been trialing a new lunch time exercise activity, involving a quick 500m swim, 10km bike and 3km run…like a 1/3 Sprint triathlon but at fast(est) pace….which in reality for me is rather slow…(total 13.5km)

But it has been FUN.

So I have done three of these sessions, and it only takes about 45min total…so very doable over a lunch break.

I have also chopped a bit of time off my swimming (over 1min over the 500m) and posting strong (for me) times of just over 16min for 3km…

From tomorrow (work / client commitments allowing) I will switch to 20min sessions on each discipline to see how far I can go within the 60min total time….

Strangely, I find thinking and planning these little sessions FUN!

I do need to fit in my Week 7 of 8 run challenge sometime….the weekend looks pretty booked out with Zoo on Sat with Ella and friends, and Sunday a long time friend of mine is strapping the joggers on for the first time and joining me for a lap of the BayRun…could this be the start of a life of running for K (identity kept private to save the innocent)…?!?

July 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th mini lunch triathlons:

 

Week 6 of 8 week challenge

Re-starting (after flu and cooled weather) my 8 week run challenge again.

Feel ready again after setting a new PB for The BayRun (6.7km) in 0:34:51 last weekend and successful back to back mini lunchtime triathlon training runs.

Today is the 15km Waitara station to Artarmon.

Perfect way to measure readiness for City2Surf in August (except no big hills on this run).

Happy Dayz!!

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