Eggciting

Easter Sunday, a bit of a long lie for a holiday weekend. After breakfast we had our usual egg chase round the house where Team Kennedy Manager hides various chocolate goodies and Wallis and I seek them out.

At that point I decided I wouldn't run today and I settled in to the papers and a cup of tea. I managed a Creme Egg and half a Flake, nothing but the best in my athletic diet. I started to feel a bit funny round the house and knew I was craving a run but it was crappy weather with wind and sporadic rain showers.

I eventually decided to get out and just take on a 10K to get it out of my system. I set out quick and felt pretty good and my pace felt quite quick. At 5K at the top of the Hedgehog hill I was at 23:20, which I think is quickest to date this year and although I felt tired I knew it would be only 500M or so along the flat to feel better and get my breath back.

Sure enough I'm feeling better by the time I reach the roundabout, although my legs felt a bit shakey. I did fantasize at that point about having finished a second Creme egg as my jelly legs were telling me I was short of something. It soon passed.

Run back was easier than last time as the wind was a lot quieter than Friday and coming from the North across my right to left so felt pretty weak. I came to the top of the plateau at 40 minutes and knew I would be close my my best time.

At about 1KM to go I upped the pace and managed to keep that up till the end. I could probably have started my kick a bit earlier as I had a little bit left at the end and had finished in 49:19 which is 30 seconds faster than my best time on that route and distance this year. Its not massive progress but its progress and I feel that if I keep up my training level that improvement will continue.

The Man from Atlantis

Friday night at 6pm and I've had a bad day at work so its time to hit the pool and get back to normal. On the way home I've purchased new goggles, a nose clip and a new swimming cap. My Retail Therapy has a total cost of €28. I now at least look the part. I've been reading a few fitness books at the moment and one of the methods offered up was doing one training session a week with no carbohydrate intake beforehand...so its in the back of my mind. I'm in desperate need of a haircut as Alison had said I was starting to look like Rick Astley during his 80's heyday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Astley) so rather than lunch on Friday I got a haircut...When I hit the pool I am fuelled up only on tea,chocolate and sports drinks, a rather interesting mix..I'm looking to do 3km, the furthest yet and under the banner of train hard race easy I'm looking to go further than the race itself.....

The pool is quite busy for a Friday. I've never worn a swimming cap before and feel like a bit of a tube. I get in and start my laps. The first km I try using a technique on the downstroke which resembles holding a barrel in front of your chest. Its supposed to be the technique to use. I know my normal km time is between 22 and 24 minutes depending on frequency of kids bombing me at the pool. I stop after 70 lengths(1km),my watch says 26 and a half minutes...Its hardly David Wilkie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wilkie_(swimmer)).

I resort to my normal stroke for the second km and this is also usually an easier leg for me. The pool is quiet now but there is a women at the other side of the pool with a long green foam flotation aid and a woman in a tracksuit is dancing and exercising at the side of the pool in time(very appoximately) with blaring house music. At first I'm not really sure what is happening, it really looks bad, a bit like a bad dance at a wedding but in a swimming pool. I'm OK on the downswim as I always breathe to the right so don't see this woman however on the upswim she is there and its making me laugh underwater. I wonder if she gets self conscious about this and if she is worried about the popularity of what she is doing. Given there is only one women of pensioner age participating.

I manage the next km in 23minutes. I decide to go for the third as in reality I'm still feeling OK. I start the lengths and this time rather than just turning normally I try using tumble turns to see if it improves my time. After about 10 lengths I'm getting cramps in one foot. I'm easing it using the push off from each end as I don't want to stop. It now starts in the other foot..I need to stop and try to stretch it off. It goes away, I do another 3 or so lengths but I'm now getting cramp in my calf...Time to call it a day. I stopped around the 170 length mark, about 2.8km. I don't know if its the tumble turns, the added distance or the fact I hadn't eaten. I hope I don't get it in the lake as there won't be anywhere to push my leg against. :O)