Six Things about Me (the self-indulgence post...)

Instead of bizarre swim stories I am going to dip into the self-indulgence pool (see what I did there) and write a little bit about me…….besides if you get bored reading this you can always fill in time by counting the amount of times I is used

1. Each post takes me at least a week to write. There are several drafts before it gets to this. Here is a scary thought; you are reading the final draft. Can you imagine the first?

2. I used to weight 25 kilo’s more than I do now. In fact, I was a cheeseburger off the 100-kilo mark. How did I get that way? I used to eat bowls of melted cheese. As you can gather this was not my proudest moment (or moments)

3. I am not the greatest friend in the world – you would struggle to find someone who is worse at returning phone calls. Worst part is that afterwards I will feel guilty about it then get too embarrassed to call

4. I have no idea how many people read this blog. I am sure there is some fancy way to find out but I have no idea.

5. I was definitely NOT a child prodigy when it came to triathlon.

I almost drowned at a school swimming carnival; a teacher had to jump in and save me. To be fair it was butterfly.
I did not learn how to ride a bike until I was 13 (I spent one school camp making excuses as to why I did not want to bike riding)
You do not get to near 100 kegs by being a good runner....

6. My lucky number is six. Whilst wearing Six and playing football I have torn my cruciate ligament (twice), broken my nose 4 times and torn a heap of different muscles. Can you imagine how bad my injuries could have been without my lucky number??

Cheers

Greg

PS I was used 24 times (including at the start of this sentence)

Sniffles and softball

I am currently “battling” a cold and have taken the opportunity to spend some quality time watching the Olympics (even I am not that dumb as to try and take on a cold.....)

Talk about poor coverage.

I was watching the epic softball match between Australia and Japan complete with the heavy pro Australian commentary.

For a while Australia was struggling - the Japanese pitcher was striking out batter after batter. Now this was not the frustrating thing.

What really got to me was the Australian commentator kept on banging on that each swing “ was a good swing” even when it was a strike

I do not know allot about much, especially softball, but I am pretty sure a good swing would equal a hit

And do not get me started on the triathlon coverage. The most exciting finish in how long and the commentators are speculating about where the Australians are?

I am as patriotic as the next guy but come on!

Cheers

Greg

PS It appears as though when I do not train I tend to become a little angry.......

Silver Lining?

Apart from the one poor sucker who goes out on painfully slow (for him) rides with me, I pretty much train by myself. For some reason no one seems that keen to join me in the pool…..I wonder if it has anything to do with this blog…..

Anyhow on Saturday I tried a new swim session (Pyramid swimming - 50, 100, 150 all the way up to 400). After a good swim I was driving home when it hit me.

I had left my goggles at the pool

Anyway, it was a good excuse to splash (see what I did there) out on some new goggles. After trying on about 20 different pairs, I settled on a new fancy shmancy pair.

As you can imagine I was pretty keen to bust out the new goggles. My old goggles (RIP) were not the most comfortable piece of sporting equipment with a tendency to cut into my face and fog up after a couple of laps.

It was with much excitement that I dove in, new goggles slapped on my face, and started thrashing up and down the pool.

Wow. This IS swimming

As I swam up and down enjoying clear water something caught my eye.

It was a man swimming in skin coloured Speedo’s

Seriously. How many colours are there in the world? Why choose the skin? Why?

If only I had my old goggles!

Cheers

Greg

Is it just me.........

Or would you find the sight of a middle aged man sitting by himself in a communal spa a bit seedy?

Did I mention he was wearing goggles?

Or that he was sitting directly on a jet?

In case you can not pick it up I am starting to go a little chlorine crazy. Too much swimming not enough run or bike. I have constant waft of chlorine and have drunk at least 2 litres of pool water (this says a fair bit about my swimming style)

Last night I actually dreamt of going for a ride. It was a sweet ride, but to tell the truth I really struggled through it.

Only I would dream about going for a bike ride where I would struggle.

Cheers

Greg

PS Lets hope the hammy heals sooner rather than later - there are only so many pool based blogs I can write!

Well that's new

A quick training update - this week was all about the swim. My hamstring is still too sore to run or bike (if only it was a oneathan not a triathlon)

Apart from the hamstring I am now carrying another injury.

Each morning I walk around 3 kilometres from my bus stop to work. Being a some what brittle soul I do the secretary - take off my heels (work shoes) put on my sneakers. Now I can appreciate this is not the hottest look going around as I end up looking like a poor mans Jerry Seinfeld

but it works for me (actually looking at the picture you could make a case for me looking more like George)

The other day I had to get to the Opera House. Other people (i.e. smart people) would have caught a train or bus.

Not me.

This idiot thought what a good time to bust out a 4k walk. Regular readers will have noted that I am not the greatest planner going around. Of course this was a day that I forgot to bring my sneakers.

Again smarter people would have admitted defeat. No not me, and to tell you the truth by the time I got to the Opera House I felt great.
Later that night my shin's started to get sore। After a couple of hours I was in a world of hurt. As I sat there legs throbbing I could not figure out why I was so sore.


Then it hit me

My high heels had given me shin splints!

Well done Greg. Well done.

Cheers
Greg

Bugger

This week was a good training week with strong swims, light jogging and some gentle work on the bike. Today should have been the cherry on top, a swim to finish of the week.

I got to the pool (which is by far the hardest part) and started getting undressed. Now in case you had not picked up on it I am not what you would call an exhibitionist. Basically I am a shy guy who does not like taking his shirt off in public let alone stripping down.

So there I was in a freezing changing room, naked as the day I was born, ready to change into my Speedo's. I took out my towel, goggles, ear plugs and swimming top only to discover that I could not find my Speedo's. I was determined to swim (after all I had walked there) so I started to go through every part of my bag to see if the speeds were in a different section.

Whilst naked

I was taking things out of my bag, shaking my bag and looking in pockets that were to small even for Speedo's. I was a naked man possessed.

After about a minute of increasingly frantic searching it dawned on me

I was naked.

At that point I admitted defeat, got dressed and left the pool

Mental note

Unpack before getting undressed

Cheers

Greg