Balancing act going well so far!

I’m now into the third week of a normal term-time for work and so far, work/training life is going reasonably well, with of course the odd challenge.

In the last blog, I had a pretty good idea of what work commitments would crop up and so far, so good. I’ve only folded once on the work front and taking on another shift, but with a pretty good excuse for the person, I’m covering and fingers crossed, it’s only temporary.

My biggest challenge has been the weather. Yes, it’s summer down under but the extremes have been exactly that, extreme. First, we had months of bush fires, which whilst we weren’t directly affected resulted in very poor air quality and lots of additional work for TRT World News. Now we have flooding and torrential downpours, that I can’t avoid. So far only one tree down directly on top of the car which gave me an additional workout chopping the smaller bit up so we could get in and out of the driveway.

As for training, the wet weather, whilst much needed, has impacted my new-found confidence on the road, it’s just NOT safe to be out there and not because I’m afraid of getting wet. Many of the flatter bike paths and trails are completely flooded and even when they clear the debris is mountainous, that then gets washed onto the roads and you have a recipe for disaster on a bike which I’m just not prepared to entertain.

I’ve been enjoying trail running to take the load of the legs on longer runs but went over on my ankle which resulted in a minor tear to some ligament. Normally I’d ignore it but when a lovely blue bruise appeared it was off to the physio, so now it’s elliptical, walks and the occasional short run on the flat with some strapping. I’m desperate to get back running I was enjoying it so much, but the boss says ‘no’.

The next set of bloods were taken at the end of last week and there’s been some improvement in white blood cell count and cholesterol, but the ferritin levels have dropped again. It’s been five months since we started on iron supplements and I’ve taken them religiously with a small rise in ferritin so we’re upping the iron slightly for the next six weeks to see if anything changes and tried to improve absorption because that looks like the most likely cause of the problem, if no improvement then we’ll look to an iron infusion.

Jan’s study with Dr Stacy Sims indicates that too much iron for post-menopausal women might have adverse effects rather than help the situation so it’s softly, softly for the time being, but I’m not going to mess around any longer, I need that iron to be able to arrive on race day in the best condition I can be.

On the mental side of things, I’m feeling pretty good. I’m motivated enough to train, but happy enough to rest. I sleep well, more often than not a good eight hours sleep a night with the prescribed nanna naps in the afternoon which come with ease.

One thing I have noticed is that I’m less concerned with what other people are doing around me. I’ve joined Balmoral Triathlon Club which is huge for me as I’ve only ever belonged to my beloved Hibiscus Coast Club over in NZ and they became our surrogate family so it didn’t feel like triathlon, although most of the time that’s all we talked about.

Making the move to join any group is a biggie for me as a practised introvert. I might be a journalist and able to talk the hind legs off a donkey professionally, but in a social situation, I really struggle. Joining this new tri club is quite painful. I don’t know anyone and apart from Kelly the president I haven’t spoken to anyone else. It’s not that they’re not friendly, I just find it really difficult. I’m happy to get stuck into the swim. I don’t even care about being one of the slower ones. I have enough confidence in my swimming to know it’s not about ‘balls to the wall’ stuff, but getting what I want/need out of the swim. But the social stuff is a struggle. So, this weekend, if the weather plays game I’m going to help set up their club tri early Sunday morning before work to try and push myself socially, get out of my comfort zone – all good mental training.

My work as a swim coach also tests my mental strength. I don’t pretend to be some hot-shot coach, much of what I do is what some would call ‘learn to swim’, but it’s very much coaching in the true sense of the word.

“Put simply, coaching is a process that aims to improve performance and focuses on the ‘here and now’ rather than on the distant past or future. “

Saturday morning’s session largely consists of coaching screaming three-year-olds and over-anxious parents to trust me, and that’s exhausting, physically and mentally. It often feels like an Ironman training day where from one half-hour to the next I have to deal with yet another problem, stay calm, soothe and cajole the kids, parents and myself to keep going.

The other extreme is Tuesday evening where I coach squads and adults. Whilst I do get satisfaction from seeing scared toddlers and their parents overcome the fear of the water, the squads and adult sessions are so rewarding. The youngsters are brimming with enthusiasm, mostly and when you push them gently to try something new their delight in their achievement is like gold dust. Adult swimmers are the same, they come to me with very ingrained ideas of what a ‘good swimmer’ is and the perception that they can never achieve such a status, so when they do, or simply get over their fear of the water, again it’s just amazing.

I’m driven to be the best that I can be, but the reward of seeing others overcome fear, challenge themselves, achieve things they never dreamed they could, how could I not feel mentally buoyed? And I get paid to do it!