Mark’s Marathon Swim, an Amazing Challenge for Charity

Mark’s Marathon Swim, an Amazing Challenge for Charity

...Relaunch of the Marathon Swim Challenge...

2009 was not the year for the swim, so now 2010 is the commitment.. and as the purpose of doing the challenge is to raise money, I've moved the blog onto Facebook. Search for 'Mark's Marathon Swim Challenge' and join the group..!!

See you there..

Mark T.

OMG....How long..??????

OK....I may not be the best blogger on the scene, but that doesn't mean that I've dropped off the planet.. Lots of things have been happening and my HIM is only 5 weeks away... WHAT THE..?!!?!

Now, I've been folowing the training plan and things are going good - no injury and no difficulties... and I think that I have got the balance right between the training, work and family life.. Ok, so I have only hit about 60% of the planned training sesions but I feel good on it..!

So let's see what happens in the race - game plan..? To run my own race and get to the end with a smile on my face.... (and I'll settle for a grimace..!)

Have a good weekend people..!

Time flies when you're training hard..!!

Ok, so it's been a while since I posted, but I have not been slacking - just being a bit more systematic about my training and my rest.... and I have taken a bit of a decision about the timing of the swim - Namely moving the date further away which might mean that I set the date for early next year.

This decision wasn't taken lightly, but with a sense of realism, due to my impending Half Ironman on June. I have seen too many people fall to the perils of overtraining and injury - something I'm tyring to avoid. If I set out to do the swim as planned, this would mean an extraordinary amount of training which could lave me unfit to do either of my goals.. Not sure what hit me to make this sensible decision, Must be my dearly departed mum talking to me from the afterlife.... That's a nice thought....

As far as my HIM training, I have taken a plan from one of my many Tri books which seems to be going very well - 2 weeks into it and it's going great! No sign of injury and the dreaded asthma is well under control. No sign of it on the bike or the swim but VERY active on the run...!

The only one time I forgot to take my medication prior to the run resulting in an instant end of play after 2 km... Not good... If I take it before I start... No problems at all....Sorted..!

One thing I discovered is that a regular plan does not go well with procrastination... maybe this will be good for other areas of my life where putting thing off leads to little being done..!

Anything else...? maybe get to posting more often - others push me to shame eh TriT..??

OK... fitness is officially bad for you....:)

So... After a really good swim session on Tuesday I settled into bed for a good night's sleep only to be woken up in the early hours with a tight chest and a reall struggle to breath. This is starting to get tedious as it is really getting in the way of things. So, after a visit to the Doctors and the usual raft of questions, most of them not getting any closer to finding the reason and typically all of the symptoms having gone, I left the surgery with a prescription.

I am now the proud owner of an inhaler medication and a loose diagnosis of asthma... bummer..

Thursday's team run was, I must admit, taken with a level of apprehension that the breathing would start to play around again and, sure enough, part way through the warm up, things started to get a bit difficult again. I'm not really sure if it happened because I was half expecting it or because the weather and temperature were very cold... so after a blast of the inhaler things really took off and the training went really well..!! yay..!!

Not how I wanted the week to turn out, but some things you can't control... Just means that I now have an extra bit of Tri kit..!!!

I have the feeling that this problem will subside as the weather gets better....hopefully..!

Out tomorrow for a 2 hour ride with the crew...

Calf Pain and Asthma..?!?!

Ok, this week has gone a bit strange for me... I always thought that the point of childhood asthma was that it was a CHILDHOOD thing.... but maybe I was wrong.. The running has been going really well but I have begin to experience a real tightness in my chest - but not every time I run...Hmmm what's that all about..??? I have experimented with the run training at different times of day but the tightness is hitting at random times... Need to keep an eye on this I think...

Now to the calf pain - again, came from nowhere.. and well, it's more of a deep ache that can't be massaged out. Now I think I've spotted the problem and it's a stupid reason - in my keenness to get the 6 days a week in I have inadvertently doubled the distance over the last 3 weeks - just goes to show that my body won't be pushed quicker than it wants to be..!

Now, early research has shown (otherwise known as a quick look up on Google!) that the problem lies in my soleus muscle... not that knowing that actually helps, it just makes explaining the injury sound like I know what I'm talking about. So a recommended 10 days off the running is the treatment plan I'm having to follow..

Lesson learned..? Keep a good eye on the mileage and don't be too keen to ramp it up.. and dont get too freaked when blood clots in the muscles are mentioned...

Well this has given me the opportunity to replace the running with swimming - Oh no, I'm not taking the time off - Not my style.....

Getting to really like the smell of Chlorine anyway...

Training must be paying off..!!

After another week of '6 days training and 1 day off' (my new year commitment rather than the 'nah.. not today' routine!) I found myself at my Tri club weekly swim. Oh joy.. coach had another TT session planned to check our ongoing progress. Actually, I was quite pleased as I wanted to check if my new found commitment was having any benefit.... and I'm happy to say that it did - added good distance to the timed trial. Now please don't get too excited (as I am reading that you guys (and girls *ahem*!) are packing in some high distances... alas, I am a little behind you in volume and endurance, but I've made the mistake of trying to play the 'catch-up' game only to be dumped down with injury. Now, I'm more inclined to do the 'I'll get there in my own time' thing - much safer. Anyway, the 20 minute TT - I added another 100metres to the time - not bad for me and a good indication that the speed work and technique drills have produced what I wanted them to. Oh.. and I lapped two of my team mates...twice...!

More people are starting to ask about the swim and I'm getting that familiar 'are you mad..?' look. To be honest, it just makes me laugh...!

It is really interesting that some people can't get the idea that the swim is about the challenge and a test of my own endurance - yes it's going to be hard, no, I'm not guaranteeing that I will complete it. yes, my mind might turn in on itself and I might go slightly psychotic at the boredom of 1400 lengths of he same pool, But in some ways I want to have an experience that will take some work to get through. As I said before, this event will be for the Eve Appeal, a charity that is looking to find a cure for women suffering from gynaecological cancer and I really feel that I should experience some level of pain and discomfort during the event.

Does that sound slightly wierd...?? Hmmm.... I know what I mean anyway...

Plan for the next week? step up the training as per my program and move another week closer to the start of my 1/2 Ironman training schedule... and lots of swimming...!!

I think my family are starting to forget who I am.... maybe I need to plan something special to do with them..!