Back Into It

Back to work today after what has been an extraordinarily long holiday for both Hamish and I. The first day back is always pretty cruisey - lots of checking emails and catching up with colleagues and coffee breaks. I managed to get a little work done in between all the gossip, and that's the best that can be hoped for under the circumstances!

Today was also 'back into the training' day. I toyed with the idea of taking it easy on my first real day back, but that didn't seem like much fun. So it was up at 6.00am to head into the gym for my first weights session in three weeks. Although I feel like I've lost muscle tone I don't seem to have lost any real muscle strength, and I didn't have to drop my weights at all, which was a relief.

At 11.30am I started to feel like going for a run, so it was back to the gym changing rooms and out onto the pavement. I ran another half hour down to the waterfront and back. The out must have been quite fast, and I did get my 'fifteen minute stitch', which was annoying. Thankfully I ran through it and it eventually dissipated. I ran a little more slowly on the way back, got into a groove, and it was almost with regret that I arrived back at the gym. It was a gorgeous day for running, with a light Northerly keeping things reasonably comfortable. I'll have to head out for a longer run on Wednesday and start building my times up again. My knee feels fine and I'm confident I can up things without doing myself damage.

Come late afternoon the sun was out and I was in the mood for a swim. I was toying with walking down to Freyberg, but a colleague emailed me to say she was leaving for Thorndon soon, and did I want to come along? So Thorndon it was, which was more sensible really as it's much closer and near the bus terminal. I just feel fond of Freyberg, as it's where my swimming career began.

In the end Thorndon was an inspired choice. It was lovely swimming outdoors in the sun. At first the slow lane was fairly quiet, and I got several good lengths in, first swimming on my side, then doing a few lengths breathing to one side. Towards the end I practiced breathing to both sides for a few lengths. My main problem is breathing out enough so as to not get water up my nose when I eventually lift my head to breathe. If I keep breathing out until my head is out of the water I feel like I sound like a surfacing whale, making a big wet blowing noise. Thankfully Hamish has now told me that everyone sounds like that, so I guess I'm just normal.

When I started to tire I thought about getting out, but it was so lovely in the sun that I moved to the recreation lane and messed around for a while diving underwater, floating on a tire tube and on my back. I tried swimming on my side without flippers and sank, so I can see that's going to be my next challenge. I have to be realistic and accept that I may not have things down sufficiently to be ready to do 300m without flippers by the 28th of January, but there's always another event. I've realised it's better to not worry about working towards an event and just enjoy the process of learning.

Duck sent out an email this afternoon reminding us (as if I could forget) that tomorrow is the start of the second round of Women's Multis. However her next comment really threw me. Her instructions were to bring running, swimming and cycling gear. Gulp! I haven't got a wetsuit yet and I'm still not overly confident about swimming in the sea. I decided I would try to swim tomorrow with a floaty, rather than risk panicking in water over my head, at least for the first swim session. I'm still trying to decide whether to cycle to work in the morning - as it will involve carrying my running shoes, my swim gear and my office clothing all on my back. It might be easier to get Hamish to drop me off.

Nobody told me the logistics of triathlon training would be this difficult!