Back to school..

Well this week I went back to school.

Bondi Fit School...

Monday was my first training session with the new team. I snuck into the pool 20mins before my planned stroke correction session to say hi to coach Paul and have a bit of a warm up. Felt good in the water. Spirits were high.
Come stroke correction time I quickly learned that I wasn't as great a swimmer as I may have expected... Sure, I could get through the laps and all, but as far as technique goes, tit became clear there was work to be done!
After a series of drills to start the correction procedure I felt like I had done some foreign activity rather than swimming... Change is good. Even though it was a weird good at this stage...

Oh, and coach was less than impressed with my choice of swimwear... Speedo's or the road was the interpreted message... So off I went to get some sexy shorts... Be fucked if I was going to don the budgie smugglers, so I compromised with the shorts...

Wednesday (at 6am and in my Speedo's if you don't mind!) I joined the squad swim for my first full session 'with the big boys' as Paul so politely put it as I was scratching for breath halfway through a 400m set with my feet tied together... "I'd hate for you to miss out" was his quirky comment as he threw me a tied up bike tube to ensure my legs were as useful as an anchor each lap... Thanks...


Friday squad session was the first time I got to meet Spot. Nice guy. Loud voice. Don't argue. Three key points. Got banished to the slow lane, guess I'll have to spend more time in the pool...!
I had my first chance to try out my new Garmin watch in the pool Wednesday. For the most part it seemed to work alright. There were a few laps that didn't register correctly, but apart from that it seemed ok...
Just have to work out how to get it to vibrate on laps, as it was hard to keep a track of progress lap by ;ap while trying to breath and stay afloat...
The data that it spits out is great though, being able to analyse each lap, stroke count per lap, efficiency, etc
Next squad swim I think I will use the interval feature to decipher between the different drills (normal, bands, bouys, etc). Hopefully that will help soothe my craving for data and help improve across the different drills!

It was Wednesday that Ironman Australia, Port Macquarie, opened for entry... within 58mins it had already reached 70% capacity. A sure sign that I would have to be on my game to get an entry to the Cairns event in a few weeks.

Speaking of Cairns, a lovely course preview appeared on the Ironman Asia Pacific facebook page... Just in case I wasn't totally aware of the stupid distances involved... Scenery looks nice though!

I also got a call from my new coach Spot. He mentioned that I should consider entering the Port Macquarie event as he thought the Cairns 2013 event may be a red hot favourite with rumours of Lance Armstrong being a starter...
I thought about my options, but decided that I would stick to my plan and aim for Cairns. Hell, it would be great to be competing with the great Lance Armstrong in an event like this. If I miss out, then another mate is looking at the Busselton 2013 event, and that would be my back-up race. Plus that would give me the chance to pump through a full Tri season before starting to train for the Ironman... To much to think about... I have about a month to make a decision...

Well I'm locked in for my first bike session in the morning, and potentially getting roped into a run session straight after (which will no doubt lead into a surf swim session just for fun after that...) Better get some sleep tonight, thinking a session on the couch watching Geelong try their best to get up over the Doggies is on the cards.