Looking back it was a weird situation, there were a group of swimmers all pushing each other on to get faster, really stretching the envelope.
Andy Blow was our coach, he was a great athlete himself. 3 other people in the lane KQd over a couple of years.
I was and am an adult onset swimmer and was always towards the back of the lane, but saw real improvements just by hanging on to their coat tails. Wouldn’t always manage to complete the session and was usually absolutely bushed by mid morning!
Edit: just remembered one of the guys was Mike Hoey who pulled off the triple: Kona, ITU worlds in Honolulu, and got married all in the same month- &did the races as part of their Honeymoon. Fortunately his wife Dawn was also a Tri club member…
Anyway guess the point I’m trying to make is that swimming with a club can work
Nice. I’ve heard of Andy Blow’s name before. (has he written for a magazine?)
Yes, AOS for me as well. I mean I’ve always been able to swim and at one point I was the youngest person to ever dive off the ‘top board’ at our old swimming pool (I was 6). I’ve always been pretty fearless in water, just not fast.
Moving to Oz was frightening, kids can swim before they can walk and they’re like fucking motorboats in the water! (that is changing though with the massive SE Asian and Indian influx and less emphasis on swimming).
When I came to the UK, my swim times didn’t improve at all but I did notice more bikes in T1 than I was used to seeing!
Cheers. Ha ha, no 2014 Cinelli. It’s been creaking for a few years I really should replace it but I rarely ride outside and only race on my Argon18 Tri.
When I went for my easy walk around the park at dinnertime there was a lad running when I got in, followed by his mate on a racer. He was obviously a good runner as you could see he was effortlessly cruising at some pace. It’s our local fast parkrun course, and the big loop is pretty much bang on 2K.
I saw him again a few minutes later and realised he was shifting so loosely timed him, looked like he was knocking out something like 6:15 for 2K! But making it look like a tempo session, then I saw him getting a drink off his mate but still keeping up the pace.
Once I’d left the park he’d done at least 4 laps and was still going.
Impressive watching someone run that easily.
Anyway, back to me, bit of a gym session tonight and 5K on the dreadmill, with 2.5K at sub 20 pace. Plan is to have a go at a parkrun course in the next week or two and see how close to 20 I am.
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