Gotta see where your going?

I never thought much about sighting before I started focusing on Triathlon training. Actually, that implies I thought about it atleast once, when the actual truth is that I never thought about it at all. I mean really what was the need, I had goggles and the pool water in which I trained and competed in was always crystal clear. And I think the few times I did do open water swimming as a child, I always just stuck close to my brothers and they guided the way. Now as an adult and having competed in an open water competition and having done my first triathlon I see the importance of learning correct sighting technique whilst still maintaining efficient forward momentum.

The aim of the game is to still move forward right! But unfortunately what I noticed when I first started trying to use this technique in the Tri Club squad sessions, was that my lower limbs dropped slightly in the water and I felt like I slowed down heaps. I also fatigued quickly as it it not an easy thing to perfect and when I got tired my arm stretch started to shorten to - totally ineffective. We would do sets of 100m with the first 25m consisting totally of swimming with our head out of the water and the remaining 75m being Fr/s. I also noticed when I would swim at the other pool that the water polo squads also used this technique so I have been making sure that I try to incorporate this type of swimming regularly.

I think I have gotten better at it. I don't feel fatigued and I tend to maintain the same head height throughout the 25 m. I was also reading in an article today from active.com about the differences they have found in beginner triathletes and elite swimmers when using the sighting technique. My aim will be to mimic the elite swimmers technique so as to maintain a much more proficient style in the water over the course of my 1.9km swim course in the 70.3 next year.

So even though this was never a blip on my radar, sighting now holds a whole new meaning. Do you use sighting techniques in your training?

Panther's Tri Club Swim Squad

I woke up yesterday half expecting to feel in immense pain from the previous days spin class, but lo & behold no pain was to be felt. Not even a little bit of tightness or discomfort anywhere. I am extremely impressed in how my body held up and this has given me a renewed sense of motivation. It's not that I had lost any of my "mojo" but I was wondering if this new activity would make me aware - and not in a good way - of what level of fitness I was at. I am happy with how I am progressing in the leg strength department and feel the massive benefits of my weight training, swimming, cycling and physio exercises. I am not going to pretend that it hasn't been a long slow arduous journey especially in the running department and it's extended hiatus, but I can finally see some really good progress being made.

I especially feel this strength in the pool, even though I felt strong before I am now able to maintain those harder longer sets with much more ease. My kick stays fairly consistent throughout which is great when my arms start to fatigue. The Tri Club "Panthers Triathlon Club"that I am a member of held a squad session at the local pools with TopNotch Performance & Health Coaching. What a great session, I learnt drills I had never learnt before and found out that with all of the people that had turned up I was the fastest girl there. That's not to say that that is how it is, maybe the fastest girl didn't turn up but for that hour and a half I wore the badge of honour. Quite a humbling and slightly embarrassing experience as I was asked to perform a couple of the drills to show the other squad members.

This was the session we had:

• 300m Fr/s Warm up
• 3 x 100m no arm Fr/s kick with fins
• 3 x 100m one arm Rock n' Roll with fins
• 6 x 50m Fr/s counting arm strokes - 30, 29, 28, 28, 30, 31
• 10 x 100m Fr/s on 1:45. I did them all on 1:20

What a great afternoon. This will be held for free for the next 3 Saturdays and I look forward to attending all the sessions and learning as much as I can. They will also hopefully be holding other sort of sessions such as a swim session directly followed by a bike ride or track session. Sounds like fun.

Get excited and enthusiastic about you own dream.
This excitement is like a forest fire
- you can smell it, taste it, and see it from a mile away.

I love the SPIN

BEFORE SPIN

AFTER SPIN

Can you tell the difference, other than the first one has a slight look of trepidation about it, and the other has a "oh yeah, I rocked it" feel about it.

I attended my first spin class today and I must admit even though I was terribly excited about it, I was extremely nervous too. I felt like I was going to a race and I don't really know why, other than it was just "first time jitters".

So as I got there and signed up I met the instructor and I held up my learners plates. He was very helpful in helping me set up my spin bike and explaining a couple of things about the 45 minute class that lay ahead. He said in a fairly matter of fact way "today's class will be about 7 songs long with alot of fun stuff mixed in". And naive Barbara was like "Oh cool, can't wait", that was until the lady sitting beside me said "It's hard, and you could possibly have trouble walking tomorrow". Okay, I thought to myself, how hard could this be. I have done alot of hard stuff but really looking back now, this was quite hard. Fun but hard.

So good things about the class:

• Instructor- great guy but a saddist. He loved hearing me grunt & moan, and would just smile.
• Small class size. There was only 7 or 8 of us. Didn't get all hot and stinky.
• Music. Good mix of high end tempo stuff. Really good to keep your cadence up.
• Intensity. Good mix of intervals, sprints, hill climbs interspersed with recovery periods.
• Bike seat. Not too hard or too soft. Just right said "Goldilocks".
• Cardio. I felt like my chest would explode at times. My jugular vein was pumping so hard I could feel the blood swooshing in my ears.
• Legs. I am proud of them. They held up really well even though at times they pretty much were pushing such a hard resistance it felt like they were barely moving.

Things I didn't like:

• NOTHING, I loved it all. What's not to love about a good workout. I challenged myself on yet another thing and came up trumps. I know I may ache tomorrow but I have found another love "Spinning".

Thing's to improve on:

• Posture. When I am hill climbing I lean too far forward when I am out of my saddle, so I need to be a little more upright and closer to my seat.
• That was really the only thing he said he could see that I was doing wrong.

This is definately going to be my Friday ritual. I love it, can't wait to do it again.

My new cossie.

The speed at which my cossie was delivered was just sheer amazing. Thanks Jo from Speedo, you rock.

My style.

Second time around.

After Sunday's hill climb I decided yesterday to go out and do it again, only this time I wanted to do 2 loops. And guess what, the second loop did not happen. My legs were cactus from Sunday and I barely made it up the hill the first time. I struggled big time and was sucking up alot of O2 in an attempt to make it up the top without getting off my bike. It worked but boy it was hard work. I finished the loop and as I was passing my home something in me said just to try for the second loop, but I knew that if I did I would be disappointed with the outcome - so I veered left and went in my driveway and retreated gracefully.

I retreated to a nice hot shower and loads of stretching as well as my usual daily routine of physio stuff. You know, I'm a little confused - even though I feel like I am getting stronger and more in control of my exercises given all the work I do, it's not the same with my stretches. Doesn't matter how much I stretch or for how long I am always supremely inflexible. It's driving me totally nuts and even Lisa shakes her head in disbelief as she can see how much effort I am putting into my exercises, so she knows I would be the same in the stretching department. Not quite sure what else to do.

So physio today proceeded like it usually does - me squeeling like a big baby and Lisa having a giggle because of all the noises I make. I should get award though because today I found out that "I, Barbara Hughes, have the tightest glutes she has ever felt in her physio life". I have knots on top of knots and with all those knots I have formed my butt. Everytime she goes to touch one of those knots I see stars, Mother Mary and all the saints. We were laughing today saying maybe they need to supply physio clients with a shot of valium or some scotch to ease the pain. It's just horrendous, I think I would go so far as to say I would prefer to give birth again. My poor little toosh is battered and bruised again.

And over the last 10 tens my back has started to play up again and I can feel the twinge of sciatic nerve pain rear it's ugly little painful head. With everything I have at stake here I will not let this take hold again so I have re-booked myself back in with the Sports Medicine Doctor for my second lot of shots. And this time I am not scared, I am ready - bring it on.

I have also been in search of a really good training cossie, but the knee length style. I absolutely love how they look and it also comes with the added benefit of not having to shave as often. I know "women's business" but it's truly annoying. The girl from the Speedo Shop in Bondi has been truly helpful an sent me an email with an image of the cossie. What do you think? It's row three and I will have the black one thanks.
Fingers crossed I get it by Friday as I have a swim session booked for Saturday with the new Tri Club coach. Gotta look the part.