Update on my training
My training programme looks much better, but it is still tough. I decided to do two out of the three sports a day and focus on that day’s training.
Some of my fellow swim athletes invited me to join them in a spinning class on Fridays. Ever since then, I have never missed a class. It is so much fun! We spin for ninety minutes, but it feels like thirty minutes. The trainer uses music to which we must keep pace. The pace varies from ‘every’ beat (easy), to a second beat, to half a beat (fastest). Many times, the class has to stand up and cycle; here, I just remain seated. But a week ago I decided to stand up and cycle and I got it right, but I don’t go as fast as the rest. What makes it more fun is that the music is well known so I can sing along.
I’ve learned to love running! I can run for six kilometres nonstop. On the 18th of March (four weeks from now) there is a night race at our local mall, Vaal Mall. There are fifteen, ten and five kilometres fun runs. At first I thought to do the five kilometres, but then I looked at my program and realised I can do the ten kilometres! So I made it my goal to complete it.
Swimming … Hard work! It is not as easy as I thought it would be! Sometimes it’s really difficult, but in between the hard work there is always some time to laugh at myself. The pool is twenty-five metres long (a lap). But the coach doesn’t say how many laps we must swim. She says: four hundred meters.
Uhm … Four hundred? How many laps is that? Before I could calculate the laps she counted us off and we had to go! So I just swam and stopped with the others.
I calculated it once I was at home and memorised it:
200m = 4 laps
400m = 8 laps
800m = 16 laps
Now I understand!
By Deon Labuschagne
