29 days to go!!

With just 29 days till we line up on the start line at Cottesloe Beach, Perth, Western Australia I am just starting to get the tiny nerves in me moving. Now I am still confident that myself and my training partner will finish the 20 kilometer swim that lays in front of us, we are still in the midst of training, and clocking in up to 25km per week. So far for the month of January we have done 75km with more to do before the month finishes.

There have been some great swims this month and some not so good, but they are all part of the training of the mind and body. The next two weeks sees more training in the pool and more kilometers put in before we start to taper.

We have a mandatory safety meeting to attend on Tuesday night which will make everything so very real, as we get to pick up our packs with our timing chips and caps and race numbers. I get to meet my skipper as well. With just a few more things to sort out it will be here before we know it.

Have a great weekend.

Hayley xx

Is Consistency Key??

Consistency: steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.
Routine: regular, unvarying, habitual, unimaginative, or rote procedure.

I ask the question is consistency key to everything in life or is it mainly in sports? While swimming this morning and yesterday, this thought has been passing through my mind and so I wonder is it key? Or do we stay in the way of such a routine and be comfortable where we are?

Lets look at everyday kind of things. Our jobs do have a strong sense of routine, we are expected to turn up to work at a certain time, work till finish, have lunch and breaks at a certain time. The we go home. We get dinner ready, have family time, go and do any sport and so one, day in day out. So have we ever thought of changing our routine and making some changes in our lives? Most of us would probably love to, but we feel safe in our daily routines. 

So if the above quote is true, why do we seem to find it so hard to break routine. Is it because we are comfortable and unsure what might happen if we make some changes? Are we unsure how to go about making the changes we dream of, and so desire? How do we make small changes and be consistent with them and keep the changes happening till we get to the point where our lives have completely done a 360 degree change?

Ok lets look at swimming as an example as its what I know a fair amount about. There is still routine involved in swimming as a sport. You still need to get up each day and do the training that is necessary to reach your goals. You still need to make sure you are eating right to maintain a healthy body and mind. You still have events to take part in. Though there is a need for consistency in your chosen sport. For instance with my swimming, I have training up to six times a week and distances vary between two kilometers to ten kilometers. I still have had events that I had to take part in as part of my training and also requirements to meet before being eligible to swim in the Rottnest Channel Swim. This past week has shown me that consistency is definitely key to getting my body and mind ready for such a big swim. There have been days that I have not wanted to get into the water. Like yesterday (Saturday) I started the first 1500m really well, but then it hit me the body wanted to stop and I was debating with myself to keep going or to stop and play catch up another day. I knew that I needed to get the distance done, whether I liked it or not, or if felt like it or not, or if I was so sore or not. The debate carried on for another two to three kilometers in the water, until I realised that I was going to get it done and that is all that mattered. I also had to get myself to understand that if I feel like this in the water out in the middle of the ocean, I know that I have the mental strength to get the body in sync and keep the arms turning over.

I don't think we will ever not have no routine in our lives as no matter what we do there is always some routine to our days. I guess its a matter of some times taking ourselves out of that mundane routine that doesn't make us happy and do something different or new. 

As for consistency, when we reach for our dreams and goals there is always a need to be consistent with what we do to reach them and make them come true, no matter how long it takes. As the quote says, "The Time Will Pass Anyway", its what we do with that time to make our goals and dreams become moments in our lives of pure happiness and joy.

Have an awesome week...

Hayley xx

"In The Zone"

As I get closer day by day to the start line of the Rottnest Channel Swim, my training partner and I have put the accelerator down and are starting to push more kilometers into the tank to get ready for the biggest swim I have ever done. So over the last twelve or so months I have had good days and not so good days. I have had days of powering through the water and days when I feel like a brick swimming through mud. Its been an amazing journey so far, on getting my swimming technique right, pacing a lot better and strength and endurance to be all balanced.

Since last Thursday I am on a nine day swimming program where I swim everyday and twice on Mondays. This is a program I have put together for myself and my training partner. Its a tough ask on the body and mind, but all part of the training that is needed. If I can sustain good form and pace through out the nine days straight of swimming, I know in my heart making the 20 kilometers to Rottnest Island for Cottesloe Beach will be well with in my reach and in a good time as well.

So yesterday saw myself and training partner in Bunbury swimming five kilometers with my paddler that will be with me on the Rottnest swim. I thought initially heading out that I would find a good rhythm and stick to it and as close to the kayak that was comfortable. Well after the first set (1.8km) I was sitting one about 2:01/100m which was great. I was feeling good, and comfortable in the water. We had a gel got settled and went back out for another 1.8km. Again was still feeling good and strong, felt technique was good pulling through the water and siting was all good as well for my paddler. So after another very quick rest it was back out for the last 1.8km. This is where you know you are a little sore in the right places and feeling a little tired, and you know your mind takes over and the body stays with the mind...oh yes the feeling of being "In The Zone".

After a good night sleep it was time to rise and head for the local pool again for another session, but today would see us doing a two kilometer session in the morning as a recovery from yesterday and stretching out anything that was sore and tight. Then in the afternoon a second swim of three kilometers was on the cards. The three kilometer session is one of my favourites with it being done in two parts. Both 1500 meter intervals. Between them the rest period is fairly short, as it will be in the actual swim.

There were a couple of issues with people and and lanes tonight, but managed to sort them out, with some frustration, and break in the rhythm of my swim, so after changing lanes and settling back into it I was was off again. Here is the interesting part, this "In The Zone" feeling was back, I could feel parts of my back and arms aching a little due to tiredness but was still feeling strong. I just hope that this stays with me over the next few weeks and that I don't hit the mark to early and end up being to tired and over trained by the start of the Rottnest Channel Swim on the 27th February.

 So it is back into the pool again tomorrow morning, Wednesday morning and Thursday morning, with Friday being a well needed rest day, before we start all over again, but for only six days not nine.

Determination gets you everywhere you want to go!

Have a great week...
Hayley xx

46 days to go....

 Today I have spent it swimming, reading, writing, listening, and thinking. The above quote stirs my heart and mind into so many thoughts and feelings. Its interesting to see how you think you are so passionate about something to only realise it was a stepping stone to something so much more. I thought my passion for triathlon was so much deeper than what it was, I didn't have a true understanding of myself then. I thought I knew what I wanted and why, but I was still in the midst of an eating disorder and its treatment.

Yes I could train six days a week and sort of know what I was doing and why, but its now that I am so much further in my recovery and into my swimming and understanding so much more about myself and my true passions in life and how to use them. I have 46 days till the Rottnest Channel Swim, with hope of a calm day weather wise, I know within my heart and mind that if it is rough that I will do everything in my power to swim the 20 kilometers to Rottnest Island within 10 hours.

I have a lot of people ask me why I am doing this, I usually say because I can, and want to. Which is a bit of a flippant attitude. I sat thinking today that what I have managed to get through with coming to terms with an eating disorder, nearly loosing my life 9 years ago, learning to understand who I truly am. I can say I am doing the swim to show that I can recover for a mental illness that I still carry with me but am recovering every day further and further. To know I am seeing my weight gain as a truly positive aspect of my life and that I can share this with other girls and women to see that being skinny isn't what its all made out to be.

I have managed to drop some of my attitude barriers as I call them, by not being so independent that never let anyone help me, even though there are times when I still feel that I am more than capable of doing so much, but are less resistant to peoples offer of help. The one thing growing up that I was actually taught, was to think about yourself and to be able to do a lot of things on your own. We all go through different things in our lives and its up to ourselves to understand why, what and how to deal with what we go through. These I have found to be the biggest lessons in life that we are to learn from and if we get the chance to share and help others.

Training is going really well for the swim, with upping the anti to six days a week of pool swimming and some open water swimming and yes being stung by stingers (jellyfish), its all part of the training process to a degree, but not one of the most pleasant parts, especially when you have stingers all over you face and leaves you a stunning red mark on your cheek. I have a giggle when people look at the stings on me and then question "why?" I say because I enjoy it, not the stingers but the feeling of being free in the water, going with the waves and seeing the sand below you patterned by the water and then stirred up by the waves that are above the sand. Some days are calmer than others and no matter you feel like you are one with the ocean at the time.

Learning to relax in the water is a special part of swimming in the ocean, people tend to be on guard thinking a shark will come by, or something else that might hurt them. I always go into the water with such a deep seated respect for the water and the ocean life that is there. If I am to be nibbled on by a shark and not survive then so be it, I can say I would go doing something that makes me happy and free, though I am more likely to be involved in a car accident that be taken by a shark, even though Perth has had a large number of sightings up and down the coast over the past few weeks.

We all have dreams, some of us are prepared to chase them and make the true, others might sit back and wait for the right time, I am a chaser, and always will be. I ask that you to be a chaser of your dreams and make them come true, because we are here to live our lives to the fullest, and make our dreams come true, or we would not have be given them in the first place.

Have an awesome week, and dream big...

Hayley xx

Our Path Way is Never Straight!!!

This is one of my most favourite photos I have seen on facebook, walking down this pathway could lead in so many directions. Straight into the ocean, you could turn right or left and not know what will be ahead of you.

Life is full of so many twists and turns that our pathway is never straight. I think if we had life pathways that were straight we wouldn't learn the lessons that put before us, no matter what sort of lesson they are. Unhappy lessons are where we learn the most, whether at the time or not we will see those lessons when we need to and understand and be thankful for them. Happy twists are awesome, we still learn the lessons and understand them probably a little quicker than those of that are hard, or unhappy.

Would you walk straight into the water and swim, or would you turn to the left or right, and walk up or down the beach...what would you be seeking, what would you find? If you were swimming, how far would you swim out? How would you feel, unsure? scared? relief? happiness? Its your choice to which way you want to go, its your choice to how you deal with the lessons put before you. You are strong enough to take what the universe puts before and around you. No one else can walk your path, they can walk next to you, but at some point you will go in different directions and others will come into your life for lessons to learn and experiences to be had.

Are  you the one that needs to know what is at the end of the pathway, are you the one that needs to see what lays ahead before you make the decision to which direction you want to take. Are you the cautious one that counts all the steps in front of you, are you the one that is a free spirit and swims so far out to sea that you feel like you are one with the sharks, seals, fish, whales, or do you stay close to the shore for safety and not ready to let go of what scares you and holds you back?

Are you ready to walk into the direction your heart pulls you towards? or do you still want to stay safe and in your comfort zone, are you prepared to take on what ever the universe has to throw at you and learn the lessons that you are meant to learn?

No matter which way you go, take each day with both hands and an open heart!

Hayley xx

Quietening the Mind....

 Finding the time to sit quietly and read or think can be hard to do, I myself have always, for as long as I can remember always had a active mind and sometimes a little over active. These days with technology always with us pretty much 24/7 we don't seem to get that time to just shut down, or we do and we choose not to or its just so hard.

I have found over the past year that when I have been swimming longer distances in the pool, my mind would seriously run a muck, then I got a water proof iPod for Christmas (2014) and that made a huge difference, I either had a fast paced playset on, or something a little lighter and slower. I found the iPod really helped me with all the noise in my head, the negatives that ran wild and the noise that just wouldn't go away, which made my swimming unpleasant and frustrating at times.

 It became necessary to have my iPod on for pretty much most of my swim sessions, and then mid 2015 I was finding that the sound of music constantly play in my ears was getting annoying as well. I felt like I was going around in circles. Either have music or negative thoughts. Then I decided to play in my mind certain parts of my favourite kids movie...of course...Finding Nemo.

This seemed to help as well, and as I felt myself relax more with my stroke I was getting to a point where I could almost go to sleep while I was swimming, ah yes that meditative mind set, the body is relaxed enough while doing what it needs to do, and the mind has gone all quiet. I have had moments like this while swimming and am sure that I have closed my eyes and drifted off for seconds, which feels so much longer.

When we give ourselves the chance to quieten our minds, I deeply believe our souls do speak to us. We find new ideas, answers to long lost questions, guidance and so much more. We also allow the creative sides of ourselves to come forward and show what is there, if in thought and in more.

Lets take some time to just be silent and listen as closely to your inner-self to see what its trying to tell you...you might be pleasantly surprised.

Have an amazing week where ever you are in this big wide world of ours :)

Hayley xx