Strokes of Hope

I had a great time at the Melville Aquatic centre this morning with Jason (the coach), Shan, Brianna and a girl i hadn't met before Bec. Melville pool is really nice and i found the oval Len Shearer where they train on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I learnt a few exercises i want to remember to get fitter using the pool, our session today was:
- 300m warm up any stroke
- Running drills in the shallow water (small feet, A skips, B skips, high knees and butt kicks)
- 100m swim any stroke
- 6x 10 second horizontal 'runs' in the water so you are basically making a big splash running keeping your legs and body horizontal holding onto the edge on your back! with 10 sec rest between each (i was surprised how much these hurt :))
- 5x4 squats in the deep end pushing yourself to the bottom, half squat and push off the floor as hard as you can with your arms out and palms up to get more resistance. Do 4 in a row and rest a minute and do 4 rounds in total.
- Swim as far as you can go while holding your breath - we started underwater and freestyled with no breathing until we couldn't anymore. Then turn around immediately and swim back breathing as fast as you can manage so when you touch the wall again you take ONE large breath only and repeat it. Have a break after each 2 swims and do that 4 times... make sure someone is with you doing these as you can easily give in to your breathing reflex and gulp a whole lot of water or even pass out but it is a great way to build up your VO2 max!
- 1km: I did an extra km swimming of freestyle with some fast 50's, it felt so good and i was able to release some frustration at not being able to run :)
- Running drills again but in the shallow warm/walking pool

Another thing i could do in another session is 10x10sec running in shallow water but upright on the spot.

Shan and Jason also gave me some drills to do to strengthen my hips flexors, glutes and calves for hurdling in the future.
1. Snail crawling - only over a meter pull your whole body cm by cm only using your toes to grip the ground, these will increase the strength in your feet
2. On the ground in the position of hurdling i.e. one leg tucked under your butt and the other 'lead' leg out straight as though hurdling - lift the back leg off the ground 10 times (like hip flexor drills) then lift the front lead leg 10 times keeping your knee straight. Repeat on other legs.
3. Calf raises (if foot allows!!) Normal 10x raises on steps, down, mid, up and down to up. Same but pointing toes inwards, same again but pointing toes outwards.

It is so encouraging for me to have these guys understanding how important running and fitness is to me and helping me to improve!! Shan and Brianna are national hurdlers they are passionate about their running and so dedicated. But to have people willing to go out of their way to teach you new drills and exercises to benefit you as an individual is amazing and i value everything they are teaching me even when i am only able to do a few sessions with them. (He didn't even want any payment after all the session saying the pool entry was enough for us!!) It makes me think i would almost love to stay in Perth next year to keep training with them, it has taken years to find a great group to train with, ones with similar interests and determination. I could definitely see myself reaching those goals i have always wanted with them. But we will see what the future holds, i have faith that what ever happens it will be the right path and i will make the most of it.

Maybe one day i will make it to the official squad page :) http://jmeathletics.com/squad/