2013: Tri-ing something new

[marathondan]

I really hate to admit it, but I quite enjoyed this week's swim session.

Ever so slowly, I'm starting to see improvements. I'm beginning to realise that it's not the end of the world if you can't do a particular drill properly (which for me tends to be any that don't involve my arms). Just by trying to do the drill in the proper form, you somehow absorb some of the point of the drill by osmosis. It feels stupid at the time, but then 10 minutes later you're back to crawl laps, and it somehow feels just a tiny bit smoother. Something has rubbed off.

On the bike front, I'm continuing a session of around 40 mins with a 2 mile run after. The run is surprisingly pleasant - a chance to loosen up after sitting in a crouched position. All I can really do here is gradually increase the bike miles.

I upgraded my short lunchtime run to a tempo session last week, and it was a hearty blast. It's my only quality run session of the week so I ought to make it count.

It's clear that I'm only really scratching the surface of this sport, doing less than the most basic get-you-round programmes suggest. But this is the only practical option open to me really. Funny to read about the likes of Sweder, MLCM and Tom ramping up their marathon prep right now. Other years I'd be doing the same, getting all technical over my plan and fretting over a few seconds per mile here or there. Instead I'm back in kindergarten, as much of a newbie as it's possible to be. Humbling, bewildering, interesting, fun.