Sunday, July 1, 2012

Weekend update

So how is everybody's weekend going?

On Friday I asked Val to record me during my swim lesson.  Hmmm, I look a bit different than I thought in my head I must be looking as I'm attempting to do the technique she teaches us.  She has definitely stepped things up and at the start we would do 2 lengths at a time, but now she makes us do 6 or 8 lengths at a time of whatever takes her fancy.  In a session we must probably do about 40 lengths.  Started off the session by working on our kick and using a board to hold on to and I managed to catch up with Denise who was quite a bit ahead of me and beat her in the end.  Wasn't really a contest, but when you hear Val on the side going "kick, kick, kick" then you kind of have to push it harder.  Val was very impressed so I'm pleased.  With me wearing glasses all of the time I usually wear contact lenses for swimming as I can't see without my glasses.  Well I can see, but absolutely everything looks like blurry blobs.  Only down-side with this is that as soon as a tiny little bit of water gets into the goggles then it affects the contact lenses.  And this is exactly what happened.  So much so that I had to leave the pool, go to the bathroom to try and sort it out.  What a mission. In the end I took them out and did the rest of the lesson without contact lenses.  Was rather interesting to find that when I have my face in the water everything is super clear so maybe I need to find a way to keep my face permanently in water :-).  At the end of the lesson Val told me that I have made so much progress since I started and that she is very pleased with how I'm going.  It is nice to get this feedback.  Sometimes it is hard to see or feel the progress, so when somebody tells you then it is amazing!  Anyway, here is the little video clip of me swimming, just in case you thought I was making up all the swimming stuff :-)


While I'm on the topic of swimming, I wanted to share this clip of Caitlyn.  She has just come so far since she started and it is really cute seeing her working on her swimming:


Yesterday Bianca had netball and it was Terence's turn to take Bianca to the match.  Her team lost by only 1 point and she had a great time!  Caitlyn and I went along with Rose and Mike to Porirua as Rose needed to do some party shopping for her son's birthday and Caitlyn went with Mike and their kids to Chipmunks for a bit of a play.  Bianca was pretty disappointed she would be missing out so we promised her that we would take her to Porirua today (Sunday) so she could spend some of her pocket money at one of the shops we don't have by us. 

This morning was a beautiful sunny, but rather freezing day.  No chance for a sleep in as we had our bike training with Lynley at 9am.  Today we worked on going around corners, doing some bunch riding (where you are meant to ride pretty close to other riders - pretty scary I have to tell you) and she took us to a hill on the way back.  With the hill training we have to focus on getting up to a good speed before we hit the hill, then gear down as we go up.  It was amazing!  When I first looked at the hill I thought I was going to get pretty tired, but before I could get tired I was at the top.  Lynley said I did really well and that my bike is a pretty fast bike for the type of bike I have.  Of course doing the hilly route I normally do, it won't be quite as effortless I'm sure, but it was really nice managing well today.  I did learn though that I really have my work cut out for me as Lynley told me that by November I need to be able to do 120km distances during my rides if I am going to attempt this 90km ride the end of the year.  Eeek!  That's pretty tough I think!  Will need to ask Paul to help me figure out some other routes around here as I don't know many options around here.

Tonight Terence and Bianca are at a games evening and Caitlyn and I will be watching a movie.  Then after she has gone to bed will be reading some of the Joy Division book I am borrowing from Paul.  I recently saw a bit of the movie, so it is really interesting reading up on the lead singer and his life.

Tomorrow and the rest of this coming week the kids have their holiday programme which will mostly be doing lots of crafts and other activities.  Not sure which of their school friends will be there, but I'm sure they will enjoy it.  Both girls are also very much looking forward to the following week when they will be doing lots and lots of cheerleading.  So hopefully this means I will have a bit of extra time to work on this massive distance I am meant to be able to cycle by November.

Well this is it from me for tonight.  Hope your weekend has been going well for you!

8 comments:

LatteJunkie said...

Your weekend sounds really active.

Mine was very relaxed in comparison. We wandered the Underground Market yesterday and today I got some time to work on my writing while the boys went to the park and on adventures.

Then this evening we watched Matilda. :)

Hayley said...

Agree with LatteJunkie :-)

I am back at gym this week,, so you are inspiring to get motivated again :-)

Paul said...

You and Caitlyn are naturals in the water. Looking forward to showing you some more cycling routes!

Paul said...

You and Caitlyn are naturals in the water. Looking forward to showing you some more cycling routes!

john bain said...

That looks like Olympic standard swimming to me. I can only do half a length!

blackhuff said...

You all had a busy and active weekend. Well done and well done for that swimming you've been doing. I wish that there was a swimming pool I could use here in SA.

Ellie said...

You look like a really strong swimmer. You certainly sounds as if you are getting a lot better and faster.
It's good to see Caitlyn enjoying the water too.

Buttons Thoughts said...

Oh you are a very busy Mom. I am so impressed with your swimming I am not a very good swimmer but have always wanted to become one.Maybe there is hope for me yet. Thanks for inspiration Lea. B