A welcoming club on the North West of Edinburgh
A Novice View – 2015
By CoachKev | Published | No Comments
After recovering from a prolasped disc in August 2014 and only being able to swim 2 lengths front crawl in January 2014, 2015 was going to be a challenge for me in improving my swimming, getting my fitness back, and trying to run with a nerve damaged leg!!!. After having to move my Peebles come and tri place to 2015, I could now set myself a goal and aim for doing the come and tri early June 2015.
Sunday 6th June arrived, now at Stirling, after signing up so my son could take part. An early start at 0530, with Scott bundled in the car with his pillow. My nerves started to kick in with a few trips to the toilet before leaving!!. On arrival at Stirling there were all these fancy bikes, a huge amount of competitors, but great weather. With the competitor numbers I was thinking I cannot be last out of the pool!!. The time came, my luck was in, I had the lane to myself, my first competitive 400m swim doing the dreaded front crawl. I completed it, and I wasn’t out the pool last!!. I was so happy to be on the bike, lovely cycle, plodded my way round my run to the finish, it felt great, with my wee boy congratulating me at the end. The swim was not as bad as I thought, I think the competition actually had a positive effect on my swimming, not making me faster but keep my breathing right and getting me to that last length.
Then we moved into August I entered my first team relay tri – great fund, I was happy as it was only a 200M swim, and I wasn’t on my own but in a team. We had a great time, nice short distance, and a fab set of team mates – we are entering again next year.
Then my final event of the year, Eyemouth come and tri on Saturday 19th September. What a fabulous day for it. Again, the swimming nerves appeared and this time there was five in a lane. I had an OK swim but confidence got the better of me and I let some breast strokers overtake me!!. Never mind, not last out of the pool!!. Fab cycle, great views, run OK but still a struggle with a dodgy nerve damaged leg!!. In fact I broke the 1 hour, in a time of 58 minutes, and was the second fastest female on T1 ands second fastest on the bike.
So, for all those novice’s out there in the club, and for those who swimming is the achilles heel, stick at it, it is a huge achievement when you have done it. The come and tri events are great as it is a wide range of abilities and the training does not take over your life, so there is no pressure and you won’t be last out of the pool. Go for it.
My goals for next year are to improve my 400M swim time, and not stop at the end of very lane!!. Here’s hoping!!.
