Weekly Update: 16-22 January 2017

I'd intended to post again during the week but I was too busy to post anything between the weekly updates. I'll do better this week.

In addition to my standard routine, I had a swimming meet on Saturday. 

Outfit
Here is a flatlay of the outfit I wore to tennis this week. I'd never thought to pair the leggings and top together even though they now seem made for each other. I like the way the other colours stand out. 

Running
Once again I completed three runs. It was easier this week because I had a working from home day so I didn't have the struggle of fitting in the third run on a Thursday night right before early morning Friday swimming training. I was reasonably happy with my 8km run at an average pace of 5 minutes 24 per kilometre because it was a training run and had a couple of hills each lap of the track. 

I was very happy with my Parkrun time this week of 23 minutes and 49 seconds. It's my third time under 24 minutes and two times in a row. I wasn't planning to go out too hard because I had a swimming meet later in the day but once I got started in the race it just happened. I'm so shocked I'm able to run 23 minute three times now and it's becoming more consistent rather than just a one off. I think because my background is not in running that any success in running shocks me. I'm looking forward to seeing what can become of this. Also this week a few more of my friends came to Parkrun for the first time. It made the event much better and I look forward to more weeks like this. 

Swimming
This week I completed five training sessions and Wednesday night swim club, in addition to a Masters Swim Meet. I missed my usual Saturday training because of Campbelltown Masters but added another session on Thursday. I reached a total of 14km. I completed three of the long distance swims for the Masters Swimming Australia Endurance Program. It's a year long program which involves 62 long distance swims. This week I finished the 400m backstroke, 400m breaststroke and 400m individual medley. I usually don't like to do so many on the one day because it hurts but I pushed myself. I wanted to make a good start this year because last year I didn't start the Endurance Program until April and it was hard to fit them all in. I was pleased with my time for the 400m individual medley but disappointed with the others; luckily it doesn't matter for the purposes of the program. In addition, I was happy with most of my times for Wednesday night swim club especially the 200m backstroke and 100m breaststroke. For the first time ever I got under three minutes for the 200m backstroke after being extremely close and just missing it the previous time. For the 100m breaststroke I swam a personal best time. That  meant a lot because I've had almost no improvement in breaststroke for almost 6 months and for a period there it seemed to get worse. I've been very frustrated and disappointed for so long; this time really means a lot. 

Saturday this week was different because I raced the first Masters Meet for the year in swimming. I was not looking forward to it. I majorly struggle with the anxiety of racing especially at Masters level and I cannot find any way to feel better about it. It's ridiculous because adult swimming isn't supposed to be like this but I'm always so nervous because of the expectations I place on myself. I learned to race swimming when I was nine years old but it's never become easier anxiety wise. I know if I do a bad time I will be incredibly disappointed and angry at myself for a long time. I had reason to be worried because the meet wasn't particularly successful. I had one good time, one average time and two terrible times. The event I'm happy with was the 50m backstroke where I swam 39.91 seconds. I'd had a goal for ages to swim under 40 seconds long course (I've done it plenty of times short course but always miss long course) so at least I achieved this. The 200m freestyle was about what I expected with 2 minutes and 45.34 seconds. If it was a short course pool I would have been disappointed but for a long course time it's acceptable. I think the conversion would be about three seconds faster so it would be my second best time ever for the event. The last two events were terrible. I had three events too close together and don't ever want to be in that situation again. I know that's a convenient excuse but when I was on the blocks for the races, I was still out of breathe and my arms were burning from the previous race. I want to be easier on myself but I can't get past the disappointment right now. It's hard swimming in a long course pool because all my training and most of my racing has always been short course; I can't believe how much of a difference it makes. Fortunately I won't have to swim long course again until April. 

Tennis
This week I played tennis for a couple of hours at tennis club. Not much to say this week but it was a lot of fun and I think I played better than the last couple of weeks. 

Improvements
- I didn't make much progress on my goals from last week yet again. My diet was a little better but not as improved as I'd hoped. I'll try again this week.
- I need to improve at breaststroke. I've been saying that for about six months now ever since I realised it wasn't up to the standard of my other strokes. I had some improvement in the 100m on Wednesday night which was significant but with the terrible time in the 50m at Campbelltown Masters it feels like a number of steps back. Not really sure what can be done here. 

Weekly Photo
This picture is from the Campbelltown Masters Carnival on Saturday. It was such a warm day, I even got surburnt! It was a stressful day for me so I'm glad it's over. 

What did you achieve this week?