Just 9 Weeks to go...

With just nine weeks till we take to the start line of the Rottnest Channel Swim 2016, it was back into the water today in the pool. This past week has been more of a rest week for me, I have felt very tired and needed to rest the body more than swim. I have learnt this the hard way before and realised listening to my body is so very important when it comes training for endurance sports. Mind you it is extremely easy to get lazy with your training, but I just knew this week I needed to rest more.

So with another good solid five kilometer pool swim done between shifts at work, I felt great in the water and my stroke rate and turnover showed good consistency as did my interval averages. This gives me a good feeling that I am on target for our next five kilometer open water swim next weekend (27th December). This swim might be a little more nerve racking only for the fact that there have been a few shark sightings up and down our coast, so here is hoping for no sharks and very few jellyfish...

Jellyfish...not my favourite sea creature

 As our pace is going well with our pool swims I hope that it will stay good and consistent in the open water and making sure the body becomes used to good strong and consistent arm turnover. This is part of my swimming I have had to work hard on, and stay focused on when I swim, and today was one of those swims that I could swim almost in a hypnotic state but stay mindful of what my arms were doing and feeling, so as I felt the slow down I was able to speed the turnover back up, and after each break to feed an drink I have always felt myself become slower, but today I managed to keep them turning over at a higher pace.

There is more work to do before we tow the start line in February, with more speed work to be done and lots more kilometers. In between now and then we have Christmas and New Year which can be a busy time at work, and time with the family. Which also allows time in the water, building the body's strength and mental strength as well.

Have a great weekend everyone...

Hayley xx