A journey from fat(ish) to fit.

RonanP77

Wed 15th;

Swimming lesson 50 mins - 500m

I was moved into the lanes tonight, the instructor watched me doing a few lengths then told me to move over, she had told us at the last lesson two weeks ago that we weren't ready yet. The two classes are being joined together in two weeks and she said I'll be in the lanes from now on.


It was a very tough lesson, I was the only one there and after a week of overindulgence and a lot of activity, my body just wasn't able for it. I was gasping for breath at the end. At the same time I'm delighted with how the actual swimming went. I did a few different drills and all bar one went well. Front crawl is going really well now, I'm getting the breathing right 99% of the time. We did a little work on the backstroke and it went quite well too.

I'm absolutely exhausted now, a few good night's sleep and a rest day tomorrow should sort me out.

Tigerandahalf

You have had a busy week.
Is it 20m lengths you are doing?
Are you taking much of a break at each end?
Hope your ankle holds up now. You will at least have the swimming if the ankle gives you trouble.

RonanP77

Yeah, it's 20m lengths, there are times I only take a few seconds of a break but other times I'll end up chatting to the instructor about how things are going and what she wants done next so those would be fairly long breaks. Towards the end last night I was probably taking a 20 sec rest between lengths to try and get a few breaths.

I think I'm still swimming a little too fast most of the time so I'm probably just burning off too much energy. I'm not trying to go fast, it's just the pace that feels natural. I find it hard to slow down but I'll have to really try next time out.

ariana`

Well done on getting the breathing going. You may not be going too fast, it just feels very different to running, no matter how fit you are running getting the breathing and rhythm going for swimming is very different IMO. Keep at it.

RonanP77

ariana` wrote:

Well done on getting the breathing going. You may not be going too fast, it just feels very different to running, no matter how fit you are running getting the breathing and rhythm going for swimming is very different IMO. Keep at it.

Cheers, I'll try slowing it down next week and if that doesn't help then you're probably right. I find it odd that it seems to be a completely different type of fitness needed for running, cycling and swimming. I used to think fit was fit and it covered everything.

RonanP77

Sat 18th

5.4k (3.8k running)

I ran at around a 6min pace today and intend sticking at that now for a good while, I have no interest in speed for now. Felt good again today, a few little aches and twinges but that's to be expected.

My goals and plans for the year are constantly changing, mainly based on physio advice, but nothing concrete yet. I've decided to give Darkness into Light a go in 3 weeks. I'll most likely walk a little of it just to be careful. I'll give it 3 or 4 weeks then and chance a Parkrun.

Hannibal Smith

Yay! Delighted you're running is coming back. Fair play. What distance is the darkness into light?

RonanP77

Hannibal Smith wrote:

What distance is the darkness into light?

It's only 5k so it shouldn't be too difficult. I'll walk the first 500m until things thin out a bit and probably another 500m in the middle of it to give my legs a little break. I should be grand once I stay at a slow pace and do plenty of stretching at the end.

Hannibal Smith

RonanP77 wrote: »

It's only 5k so it shouldn't be too difficult. I'll walk the first 500m until things thin out a bit and probably another 500m in the middle of it to give my legs a little break. I should be grand once I stay at a slow pace and do plenty of stretching at the end.

Phew! I thought it was 10k. Best of luck with it. Must feel great to be back at it.

RonanP77

Hannibal Smith wrote:

Phew! I thought it was 10k. Best of luck with it. Must feel great to be back at it.

God no, if I can comfortably run/jog the full 10k in about 12-14 weeks I'll be happy enough. I think that's giving me plenty of time to up the distances without overdoing it. The idea is to do roughly an extra 10% per week.

I went from C25k in about a month last year and another 10 weeks later I was running 10k. I had absolutely no fitness base at the time. This year I have a much better fitness base from swimming, walking and cycling so I'm not starting from scratch. The bit of weights and core work along with adding swimming into the mix this year should hopefully be a big help with preventing injuries.

If this all sounds a bit too much then people should feel free to say so. It's all being done at a much slower pace than last year too, so hopefully that makes a difference.

It does feel great being back running again, I never thought I'd miss it so much. It can be torture at times and I occasionally questioned why I ever bothered taking up running in the first place (always in the middle of an actual run) but there's always a great buzz when a run is finished.

Hannibal Smith

Yeah i knew you were flying before the injury alright. Your determination to get back out is really great. Ive heard so many people to me that they used to run but got injured and never got back into it. Its really something to read your story.

Im sure people will tell you if you're doing too much. I wouldnt have a clue. What does your physio say?

Hah! Oh i know that 'why am i doing it' feeling, but a lot of the time its actually in the middle of a pretty decent (for me) run!

Do you know all about the pacing for training runs etc

RonanP77

Hannibal Smith wrote:

Im sure people will tell you if you're doing too much. I wouldnt have a clue. What does your physio say?

Physio says to step things up but take it slowly. She said there will be a little pain and stiffness in the ankle but not to panic, it's just because I'm starting to work it again after resting up for months. I'm expecting similar in other leg muscles, I'll be calling to the physio if anything feels a little too tight or sorry though and keeping in touch with her any time I decide to step up to each new landmark distance.

RonanP77

I've set up a new training log to go with my fresh start;

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95145838#post95145838