On Wednesday night, I did my first evening lane
swim at the local pool. What a
difference paying $2.70 for a bit of peace and quiet made to my training!
There was no riff-raff, aqua joggers were
non-existent, no slow people in the medium lane, in fact, no people in my lane
at all! I had a whole lane to myself,
and although I know it sounds selfish, I like it that way. I can swim at my own pace, in my own time,
and not have to have ridiculously long enforced rest breaks between sets due to
someone with a kickboard getting in the way.
I did my 600 metres and got out, smiling for a change.
The best part of the session was the spa
afterwards. Ten minutes of soaking tired
muscles in a nice bubbly spa pool was blissful.
The changing rooms and showers were clean and empty, so overall it
was probably the best pool session I have ever had.
Of course, the fact that I had just passed my
last practical assessment at Uni (being exercise instruction) probably assisted
with the bliss and happiness. It was
nice to hear, “Congratulations, you’re done”, after a year of hard slog. Hooray!
I now get a funky shirt with my Uni name on it and a nice drink
bottle. I guess that means I will have a
uniform to wear when training clients, which is excellent!
After hearing “Congratulations, you’re done” I
was really fired up for my swim session.
I was also pretty fired up for sticking my bike on the new wind trainer,
so I when I got home from work yesterday I tried to take off the front
wheel. FAIL! The springs for my front
skewer were stuck in the wheel core, and would not budge. I loaded the bike into the car and went down
to my trusty bike shop for help. Nick
undid the skewer and gave the diagnosis as the springs being in round the wrong
way. Ugh! I thought it looked a little
odd but was not quite sure why.
Well, I do not know who has been playing with
my bike for the past two months but I certainly have not taken off my wheel. Nick stuck my wheel back on with the springs
around the right way, pumped up my tires with an air compressor, checked my
brakes and gears quickly and pronounced it fit for triathlon number 5. I took the bike home, took the front wheel off
and stuck her on the trainer.
Aside from needing a stepladder to get on and
off the bike while it is on the trainer, it is all good. However, the stabiliser is too far forward so
I need Allen keys to move it back to sit under the crankshaft. Once adjusted, I will be pedalling off into
the night on an Avanti Sprint wind trainer!
I have found and ordered a virtual rider
DVD. This one has you riding out to the Mornington Peninsula
in Victoria , Australia
With triathlon number five coming this weekend,
I want to go out and do it in less than 1 hr 12 minutes. The swim is 300m so that should take under 12
minutes including an uphill crawl to transition and getting to my rack. The bike is 8km so that should take about
20-25 minutes. The run is 3km, which
will take about 25 minutes. With five
minutes extra thrown in for transitions and getting off my bike, I am thinking around
1hr 10 minutes.
I really would like a PR. I should be able to achieve my desired
timeframe, considering my swim has improved markedly in the last couple of
weeks, the bike is shorter than normal and I am feeling good after two massages
this week! Bring it on!
No comments:
Post a Comment