About Me

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I'm a 45 year old mother of 3 boys. I live in a beautiful old house that needs a lot of TLC with my youngest son and 2 dogs. I am working hard at keeping myself healthy and fit by working out and doing a spot of running. I'm a creative person and am passionate about keeping traditional skills alive. I cook, knit, bake, garden, preserve, read, write and am now learning to spin and quilt. Oh and I sometimes swear.....

Friday, January 7, 2011

It just got serious

Don't faint with shock but this post actually has info about my training!  No spreadsheets though ;-)

I survived my first proper swim session for 32 years.  Survived being the key word here.  Thankfully I had been warned that it wouldn't be easy so I went with an open mind thinking at least someone will be telling me what I'm doing wrong.  Let's just say there's scope for massive improvement.

The good bit first.  Actually there was no good bit.  I'm not kicking from my hips, my feet are too close together, I'm lifting my head out the water to breath instead of turning, my head is too high in the water, I swallowed half the pool and could only manage widths not lengths.  And we didn't even start on my arms!!

But it was really good.  It's the first time I've ever seen a swim coach actually in the water.  She was right beside me the whole time and was really encouraging.  I'm starting to believe I can do this :-)

So what else did I learn yesterday? 

*Training twice a day is a killer.  I can barely lift the kettle this morning.

*Don't get my hair highlighted on a swimming day as chlorine can turn blond highlights into a lovely shade of green.  Fortunately I did not need to try the ketchup remedy!

*Take 10p coins for the hairdryer (very important) and a 50p for the locker

*When wearing swimsuit to pool remember to take underwear for afterwards (rookie mistake!)

*Need industrial strength body lotion as my poor skin is already suffering with the cold weather and now it's going to be bathed regularly in chlorine

*Remove all traces of mascara even if it's supposed to be waterproof before entering pool or risk looking like Courtney Love coming out

Yep, the tri training just got serious :-)

6 comments:

John Kynaston said...

Good start on the swimming Ali.

I've found teaching swimming that if you listen to your teacher you'll see improvements quickly which will encourage you.

Have you started on your bike yet??

allybea said...

John, prob is remembering what she says and then putting it into practice! Clark calls me a goldfish cos I can't remember what he says 5 secs after he says it. I'm always doing the wrong thing!

No, not started on the bike yet!!

Jane said...

Well done Ali. Your first lesson was obviously a great success, judging by the photo....! x

allybea said...

Lol Jane!

(and people can click on your name and find your new blog!)

Davie said...

Well done Ally. It could be worse, you could be doing breadths on a treadmill!

Subversive Runner said...

Courtney Love has that chavvy yet quite alluring look. Mascara in the pool is a good thing.xxx