Back to my roots.

I came home from uni on the 15^th after I finished all my exams, it was due to my exams that I wasn’t able to attend the Triathlon Ireland warm weather training camp in Aguilas Spain, which would have been another great opportunity if it was anything like my time away last year.

My plan for Christmas was to keep up my training as much as possible but also get some quality time with my family.

Just before I headed back home I noticed that the Irish Short Course swimming champs was being held in my pool on the weekend 16-18^th Dec, so I made the brave decision to enter the 1500m FC to get back to my roots. At the end of my solely swimming career this was my event, even though I had been a breaststroker for along time. The aim for this race was to enjoy it but also to see if my swimming had improved or gone backwards since becoming a triathlete. (after my swimming being a weakness to my racing last year I was interested to see)

December 2009 was the last time I had done a shortcourse 1500 in which I set my PB at 17.03.28 . Therefore my main aim was to at least go under 17mins but preferably aim for 16.45.

I knew going into the race that pacing would be key, so I decided to break it down into 3x500m; out hard, steadier middle 500 and a faster 500 to finish it off. My pacing went to plan and I managed to finish in a time of 16.42.72. I couldn’t complain with that, I hit my aims. It was a great confidence boost to let me know what standard my swimming is at. (9^th in Ireland isn’t bad when its not even my main sport) I still believe I can get it down closer to 16.30 so that would be a incentive to try another one in the future, partly because my turns where shocking; my turns were never that great when I was a swimmer and they have unfortunately got worse since becoming a triathlete. (easy time though)

With my time I was invited to race the invitation only 800m FC the next day, I decided to give it a shot. Not a great swim, very badly paced. I went a 8.54 two seconds slower than the 1^st 800 of my 1500 the day before. I did manage to go out in the 1^st 400m in a 4.19 which is actually my current 400m PB but it went downhill from there. Never the less it was a good opportunity to catch up with a lot of old friends and see what I was missing in the world of swimming, it also cemented the fact that I made a great decision to move into Triathlon.

It was a great experience and I have learnt a lot from it that I can take into my fast approaching race season.