As usual I was fairly tired by the time I got there having done a lab test for Jon at Sports and Exercise Science and then an hour of circuit training, but I soon got into the swimming.

After a warm up and some drills Lauren had us doing 15 x 75m for the main set off 1:45. The first 5 reps were steady for the first 50m followed by a 25 sprint. The next 5 reps were steady for the first 25m followed by a 50m sprint and the final 5 were flat out all the way. It turned out to be a pretty good set as I tried hard to keep my times the same on the final 5 reps and just about managed to do it and actually knocked off a few seconds on the last few.

One swim a week just isn’t enough though so I think I’m going to have to find a way to fit an extra one in now and then.

Last time we took him to the pool at Plascrug leisure centre we were told that the children’s pool was a little cold. When we got in was was more than cold, it was absolutely freezing and there was no way anyone could stay in it so everyone had to use the large pool. This wasn’t much better and Morgan was only able to stay in the water for about 10 minutes before going blue. Needless to say we weren’t too pleased but the leisure centre didn’t seem too bothered about it and were still letting people in (and of course charging them) despite the fact that the pool was unusable.

We tried again on Monday as it was half term and there is supposed to be free swimming for children in the mornings. A good idea as this encourages children to get in the pool and of course gets their families into the pool as well. As far as I’m concerned this is just the sort of thing the council should be doing – no doubt getting people more active and therefore fitter would save money in the long term.

However, we turned up just before 11:30am only to be told (by a very grumpy girl on the desk) that we were too late for the free child swim and we had to pay full price for Morgan. We argued the point for a bit but in the end had to pay for him. It’s not the money that gets us, its the principle.  For a start we were on time – last entry for the free swim is apparently 11:30am and both the credit card receipt and the till receipt from the pool has a time stamp before 11:30 (only just admittedly but we did argue the point for a minute or so before actually paying). More important though is the fact that they should be encouraging people to go swimming, not making it difficult for them, even if it had been a few minutes past 11:30 surely they should let you in anyway, afterall we were only going there because of the offer of a free kids swim so they were getting the full price for two adults anyway.

Anna has e-mailed the council to moan about it, so we’ll see what they say.

It seemed to work quite well, even the video quality was OK. Shame about my videography skills, but I was only messing around.

Morgan seemed to have a good time though.

Last year I had a couple of visits to the cardiac unit and was told to refrain from anything too strenuous for a few months. So far this year I’ve had an ear infection and have been told not to go swimming. The ear infection has apparently been brought on by Surfer’s Ear.

The narrowing of my ear canal due to Surfer’s Ear means that it is no longer as good at ‘self-cleaning’ and ‘self-drying’ as it should be making it susceptible to infections.

Despite antibiotics, ear drops and refraining from swimming the infection still hasn’t cleared up. I’m therefore continuing with the ear drops and have been told to avoid getting it too wet. I might try swimming with blu-tack in my ear soon though!  I’ve also been referred to an ENT specialist to see if anything needs to be done about my Surfer’s Ear. I don’t think I’ll let them go down the surgery route yet though. This is the first infection I’ve had and although it is proving fairly stubborn, I don’t think I should jump into the surgery option straight away. Obvisouly if I keep getting infections then that will change.

In the meantime how is a man supposed to get fit if everytime he visits the doctor he gets told not to swim or run or ride a bike etc.!

Then it was home (via MacDonalds!), and a catch up on my e-mails before doing a quick turbo trainer workout followed by a short Yoga session. Then I was back on the school run, after which Morgan and I went to the climbing wall for an hour.

I then dropped Morgan off with Anna at work and headed back to the Sports Hall for an hour of pain in the form of a circuit training session. I would have then spent some time on the spin bikes and gone for a swimfit session, but I’m under doctors orders not to swim at the moment due to my surfer’s and swimmer’s ear. Once I’m allowed to swim again, Tuesdays could turn out to be an action packed day, turbo training, yoga, rock climbing, circuit training, spin bikes and swimming. I just need to find a way of earning some money at the same time!

Swim Session

We should all strive to learn new things and challenging ourselves, but now and then you can’t beat the feeling of doing something you’re good at.

I’m trying to get fit, or at least fitter, since getting back on track after my hospital visits this year and swimming is a great way to do so. I used to swim properly many years ago and was quite good at it, but apart from a couple of sessions a week for a few months before my ‘health issues’ I really hadn’t been in the pool for about 10 years. Since I met Anna actually.

So, to help kick-start my fitness drive again I decided to turn up to a proper coached session at the pool in the university. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I did know a few other people who attended, so knew that I wouldn’t be completely out-classed.

As it turned out, although I’m slower than I used to be, I’m still fairly good at swimming and ended up leading the fast lane for the whole session. That doesn’t mean that I’m fit though as swimming is 95% technique, but it is something I’m fairly good at so doing it is a great ego boost.

I shall have to go more often, not only does it help me get fit but it makes me feel good too.

Today was just such a day. I was up early to do some work and then had a busy morning at a class followed by the tying up a few loose ends and more work. The wind was blowing, the sun was shining and I should really go for a windsurf. I didn’t have much time though as I was due to make the school run at 3pm. So, in some ways a cup of tea and yet more work was fairly inviting.

I didn’t let that get to me though, With only 2 hours to spare it was going to be a short session by the time I had got into my wetsuit, got my kit ready, walked to the beach, rigged up and got on the water. I then had to leave time to do all of that in reverse and still get to school in time to collect Morgan. It was worth it though as I had a nice hour of power windsurfing in decent conditions here at Ynyslas. Yes, there could have been a little more wind, and yes, it did pick up nicely once I got off the water but the hour I had was good enough. It  certainly beat working and I feel so much better for it now.

My busy day continues though, off to get Morgan now and then time to motivate myself to go back out for a swim session this evening. At least I know I’ll feel better after having done it.

I can’t find a suitable ‘motivational’ photo, so here’s on of the beach at Borth. That should be motivation enough to just ‘get out there and do it’.

The Beach at Borth

The plan was to do at least 3 rides a week, a couple of swims, maybe some ‘core-exercises’ such as sit-ups and press-up at home and to make one of the rides a longer ride to prepare me for the event. The Dyfi Enduro is 45km (ish) off road plus quite a few more on the road so doing some longer distance rides beforehand would be useful.

All was going well, the swimming was good, I was getting quite a few rides in as well, including some longer rides and I had plenty of other rides planned. But then I came down with a ‘heart problem‘ which had me in hospital for a couple of days and then suffering with chest pains so I’ve been taking it easy since. All of which means I haven’t had a decent training session for almost two weeks. It’s driving me mad, I just want to get out there and do some training, as I feel as though I’m just sat here getting fatter, losing fitness and getting slower.

I did go for a little swim yesterday, but that hurt a bit despite taking it relatively easily. I was going to go for a ride today as well as I feel as though I need to ‘stress-test’ it to see how well I cope. But my chest is a little sore so maybe I should give it a rest for a few more days to allow it to heal properly.

I only have 5 weeks left until the Dyfi Enduro though. Just enough time to make some difference I suppose, but its going to be tough, especially if this doesn’t clear up soon.

Hope everyone elses training schedules are going better than mine.