To Swim or Not to Swim….
Well, I’m hoping to have a matching photo for this shot – by the end of the day. This is Fergal Sommerville or ‘Chanimal’ to his friends. Fergal swam the English Channel last November in a super time, and he’s taking me out swimming today at Malahide. I’ve swum with Fergal and the High-Rock swimmers before, quite a few times. Fergal had dared me to swim in the Irish Sea, and I said I would, if he swam the channel.. at the time I didn’t know that was exactly what he was training to do!!! You could say, he snookered me!
Anyway, I may have swam with them before, but never like today. I’m a in a different frame of mind and I’m ready to change the stakes. I’m probably motivated by the prospect of my triathlon swim in Roscommon on Sunday, when I have to swim 750m in a lake in under 30-mins or risk disqualifying the rest of my relay team from the cycle and running laps. Today in Malahide I want to push the envelope a bit.
The pressure’s on, and for the first time I want to put myself to a bit of a test. On previous swims, I just swam out with the pack for about 10 minutes and then struck back for home. Today I want to try and put a bit of distance under my belt. I’ve never swam long enough to get tired, so I have no idea what will happen if I swim a decent distance – but run out of steam on the way back.
There’s lots of questions in my mind; will I get cold, will I get tired, will I make a fool of myself, should I try it without a wetsuit?
Should have a few answers for you by tomorrow! Fingers crossed……
Weight to Go…
Enjoyed a lovely weekend in Sligo when the most adventurous thing I did was walk past the pool to the restaurant! I did eat well across the Bank Holiday though and drank lots of water, because I’m determined to get back on my weight loss plan.
Today – I was back on the bike and back in the gym. I did a 30k round trip cycle in and out to work and I spent an hour weight-training in the gym. Lots of my ‘gal pals’ are nervous about using weights, in case it builds up too much bulk, but seriously – that’s not going to happen. Small weights with high repetitions won’t turn you into hulk-ella… and I think they’re a really fast way to burn weight and work out, while building strength and stamina.
I spent an hour with various weight-lifting drills, including some core-work and a reasonable session with kettlebells, like this one here. I did 4 sets of 10 reps on ‘snatch and grab’ with one of these 16kg bells, followed by the same number of sets and reps – on ‘squat presses’ with a couple of 12kg bells.
I cycled too and from the gym, and did some stretches, so I warmed up and cooled down pretty well, and hopefully won’t be walking too carefully tomorrow. Ouch…
Clients
