Managed a lunchtime trip to the pool. After my 4 length warm-up was surprised to meet Paul Turner who'd been pounding the lengths out. After a quick chat Paul made a move to the fast-lane then home.
My focus was rotation. Rotation seems to be my key to breathing. And when I breathe I stay calm and therefore hold onto my stroke. So drills focusing on full rotation will be my bread and butter for the coming months.
Sam Phelps was back. He was up for a chat so I got a few new drills to help with rotation and streamlining. He had me slowing my stroke so that the abs were engaged more, doing one arm "full-rotation" lengths and working on the catch.
As you can imagine, 2 lengths of that and I was shattered. The difference in using the abs to balance rather than arms was unreal. By slowing the arm stroke the balance is provided by the core. Mmmm, my minimal core strength means disaster for Scotland. However, it has given me something new to work on.
The evening was glorious, blue sky, 24 degrees, so getting the call from Adrian for a drafting session on the bikes was welcome. Adrian loaded us with lights and we headed off for Wheathampstead as a warm-up. On leaving Wheato it was full pelt all the way to Lemsford. Roughly 3 miles of 2 mins on - 2 mins off. We hit 33mph on the downhills and averaged over 23mph for the spell.
We then headed up to Old Welwyn as a recovery. On leaving there it was full pelt to Codicote. This was hillier than the first leg but we stayed respectable at 20mph average and neither of us fell off the back.
After Codicote it was a recovery back to Wheathampsted. Then from there the final leg to Batford. We steamed that and it was my most satisfying run with a very consistent pace of 23.1mph for just over 2 miles.
Drafting is really excellent training, while in the lead position it is full-effort, while drafting your getting 20% relief and manage to regain composure before the next effort. Really good and working it with Adrian is helping us both improve.
Overall it was 19.2 miles in over an hour. We finished in the dark but thankfully the lights Adrian had provided were up to the job.
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