2013: Tri-ing something new

[marathondan]

Week 5 of 17

Mon – another minor logistical slip-up in the gear-dependent world of triathlon training. I lent my bike lock to Luke, who was leaving his bike at school all week for his cycling proficiency test (the toddler who came to watch my first marathon is 10 next week). I’d forgotten that I would need the lock to be able to take the bike to the pool. Result: swim-bike combo downgraded to swim only. I’ll upgrade the midweek run to a minor brick (half-brick?) to recoup the bike miles.

Swim lesson was good, with some esoteric drills (8x50m dolphin kick, on side, with fins, anyone?). We covered over a mile in the hour, but most of that was with fins so doesn’t really count as a good measure. But the fact that we’re doing 8x50m for most of our drills now is a good marker. As is the irrefutable fact that, after 10 weeks, I can swim continuous crawl 10 times further than when I started.

The fins give the legs a good workout, and for once it was legs rather than arms aching afterwards. They also allow you to concentrate on form much more, as the basic business of propulsion is much easier. A notable form problem for me, a classic it seems, is kicking from the knee instead of from the hip. A bent leg creates drag. As always though, with my typical male multi-tasking ability, concentrating on one aspect of form means the others fall by the wayside. The drills are all about building muscle memory, so that all these different parts become second nature.