No surgery but 10 weeks with my new bionic leg
1 Like
Out of interest, are you wedged in the boot as well?
Yep. 30 degrees for 2 more weeks then gradual reduction
1 Like
Sounds like Willitās Protocol (or near enough).
1 Like
4 Likes
Completed my first Puffing Billy run today.
Was planning on running with a friend from work but couldnāt find her beforehand so I started at the back of the last wave and spent the next 7km catching up to her (luckily it was only a 5 minute head start).
Train over took us just before Emerald township so I ditched her in a failed bid to outrun it to the station, and ended up finishing the run in 1:14:13 (5ā26ā pace).
I must have misread the course map as I thought it followed Belgrave-Gembrook road the whole way, so I was caught off guard when it turned down a dirt road in Selby!
5 Likes
That sounds like a cool race to do. it was on my to do list a long time ago.
I have raced the train in Don, we get a mug if you beat it.
2 Likes
Any swimmers here?
Iām just getting back to the pool after many many long years of absence. As iām so unfit I can barely make it 50m before my breathing feels like itās going to drown me.
I was thinking maybe a kickboard, maybe some fins or a snorkel may help? Any tips?
Iāve been teaching myself to swim for about 18 months now.
Started not being able to do 25m freestyle and can now do 2000m without stopping (albeit a bit inconsistently) in a pool and Iāve done 1500m in open water.
Initially I made the mistake of just trying to swim laps and hope I got better.
Stripped it back and spent a month or two performing the following 3 drills every morning
(1) bubbling (once I moved on I was doing a 15 second hold with 5 second exhale for a good 10+ reps off a single breath) to learn to control my breath
(2) pushing off the wall and āsupermanningā as far as I could to teach body position
(3) a tester where after my Superman Iād go as far as I could on that breath (by the end I was making a full 25m pool length)
That took me from about 300m without stopping to 1500m without doing any more than that (and I mean that in a very little sense!)
These days my drills are:
(1) snorkel, Kickboard & flippers for 10 minutes (to cue body positioning and helps my HR + breathing to settle into a rhythm)
(2) Kickboard & flippers doing side kicking for 10 minutes (alternating sides each lap; again cuing body positioning!)
(3) Kickboard & flippers doing kicking + breathing for 10 minutes (normally just hold the board with one hand and breath to the opposite side swapping each lap)
Then Iāll do freestyle (with a buoy at the pool or straight up in a wetsuit in the open water - I find my lower body buoyancy with the buoy in chlorinated water about the same as in a wetsuit in salt water).
My next step is to improve my efficiency as that 2000m took an hour! And Iām about half as fast in the water as friends that have done triathlons but have similar bike & run times.
7 Likes
Oh my first ten minutes today I was on life support! Think the body was in shock. After it calmed down I actually moved a bit. I should preface that this was my first fitness on purpose move in over 5 years.
I was doing qualifying laps (I donāt know how to swim slow) with 3 cool downs (basically walking up and back).
These modern snorkels are very fancy.
4 Likes
Swimming IMO is the ultimate mainly because it is so foreign to most of usā¦.good on you for getting in there. Iāve been swimming consistently now for the past 6 years and itās totally transformed my health and fitness. Like you, i could barely swim 50m when i started, and now can easily freestyle 2km and swim all the strokes.
As far as any training goes, Iām no expert but definitely recommend swimming structured programs that include; warm ups, technique drills, endurance and speed sets. I use the swim coach app, which syncs to my garmin, and this has been invaluable.
All the best.
3 Likes
Man that is exactly my journey and same timeframe if about 18 months. But Iām too scared to try and open water swim as was really hoping to improve my time and was concerned I would go backwards in the open water. Like you it takes me over an hour to do 2km. I did improve but then went backwards and havenāt been able to get back to that level again. When I say improve, it would take me 45 mins to do 1500 and then Iām back to about 50mins now. I was thinking about doing stroke correction but Iāve just been doing laps thinking I would improve. Iāve tried to do backstroke but legs just sink.
2 Likes
You might be a bit ahead of me as I still feel like Iām making ānewbieā gains on speed (eg just before I went on holidays I randomly hit a 1 minute 400m PR).
Right now just spamming my drills then cutting laps with my own internal cues seems to be working, but once that stops Iāll invest in more structured training and some eyes on coaching.
Swimming in open water is definitely a different kettle of fish. My time in there atm is practicing directions and turns as Iām still a bit too inconsistent to put in any meaningful distances eg planned to do a 1km the other week but it was cold enough I could never quite settle my breathing properly so I just practiced running into the water, swimming maybe 100-150m, then running back out of the water (forming a bit of a box pattern) like I would in a tri.
3 Likes
Yes Iād overlooked a very important component of swimming - being comfortable with being under water and not being able to breath whenever I wanted!
Before I could swim 100m ānormallyā I had the endurance to swim 1500m with a snorkel.
1 Like
Recently my son mentioned he wants to get into running.
Perhaps even enter for a Marathon at some stage.
I said Iāll train with ya, not knowing if I could even still run for kms.
He asked me the last time I did.
Had to think for a good while.
It was 2009 and a lap of The Tan.
Anyhow, weāve done a 5 kāer and my hammies are aching.
I can go on 20k walks no problems, this is entirely different though.
My cardio vascular fitness is pretty poor, but at least I have a starting point now.
6 Likes
Now at 3km in 1:19:11 in the pool. Thatās a pretty cruisy pace (2:37/100m and Z2 HR) but I donāt really have a gear between that and when I do my speed sets (I did 40x25m last weekend which were at around 1:30/100m with 15 seconds rest).
I think I still have a little bit of playing around to do to find my RPE for any given time then I think Iāll go get lessons as Iād still be giving up 5-10 minutes a n a sprint distance triathlon swim against my friends lol. And despite my cycling and running having improved a fair bit in the last couple of months I donāt think Iād be able to make up that gap (at least until I get a new bike!).
1 Like
How old is your son? Good work getting around a 5km!
2 Likes
Heās 22.
Itās not a real 5km, as I alternated between long strides and walking after the 2k mark.
To be fair, my legs were still fatigued after climbing Bogong earlier in the week.
2 Likes
Either way itās good work. You have to start somewhere and run walk is the way to do it.
I reckon Parkrun is good for run walk as thereās heaps of people around at all sorts of places.
Hopefully your son grows to love it.
6 Likes
Can anyone recommend a sunscreen for swimming?
Are the cancer council ones good?