Thanks to crappy scheduling on my behalf.. I'd written my post all ready to go and thought I'd published it only to find out I hadn't. Doh. So this week is gonna be another two week recap.

I think it's safe to say that I've managed to find my mojo again going by the past few. The week before last was a good week, I found myself gravitating towards swimming, purely because the Great North Swim is coming up and I want to keep up the swimming in prep for the event. I did manage to run and get out on the bike too so I'm pleased.

WEEK BEFORE LAST:
MONDAY - SWIMMING LESSON - 925m
Usual Monday swim. The first half of the class was doing front crawl drills, we did some tap drills and tombstone drills(holding a kickboard in your hand like a tombstone half under the surface of the water to create resistance).

The last half of the lesson was 15 minutes continuous front crawl, which kinda gave me a bit of a boost! I found myself overtaking some of the guys who are usually the fastest in the class, so I can definitely tell that I'm getting quicker.

TUESDAY - REST DAY - BIRTHDAY
It was my birthday and I took a well deserved rest.
WEDNESDAY - EVENING SWIM - 1100m
Wednesday Evening Ladies Swim.. started off great, front crawl was going well, until 1100m and my goggles snapped right off my face. Queue eyes full of chlorine water and a pissed off Laura. I'd only bought the goggles 2 weeks before.. must have been a product fault.. I'm getting a replacement :)

THURSDAY - RUN 3.15 Miles
A veeeeeryy soggy run! It was absolutely pouring it down. I had supposed to have gotten up early in the morning to run but I was feeling particularly groggy so I was going to do it in the evening with the hopes that it was dry. No chance! It actually wasn't so bad once I'd gotten out though.. Waterproof jacket helps!
FRIDAY - OPEN WATER SWIM - 1.21 Miles
A better swim in the lake, the temp had rose to 15.6 degrees so it was practically tropical. It wasn't as sunny which helped too as the sun glare in the water wasn't disorientating me. Did 4x450m loops of the lake.
aaand I got a Dryrobe for my birthday so I ended up being comfortably snug when I got out, otherwise it would have been a whole different ball game as the air temp was a couple of degrees lower than the water temp which sucks!

SATURDAY - OPEN WATER SWIM - 0.66 Miles - RUN 3.06 Miles
Only did 2 laps of the lake in the morning, I was a little groggy with the early start. We decided to do parkrun afterwards too which we haven't done since last season. The good thing about the lake is that it's at the same park as parkrun, so we swim and then straight after parkrun starts. The run felt pretty good but started to tire towards the end.

SUNDAY - CYCLE -17.81 Miles - RUN 3.1 Miles
My first brick session of the year. Phillip and I headed out for a cycle early in the morning, it was already pretty warm! The cycle went really well. We did 18 miles and I averaged 16.5 mph which is good for me!
We got back.. had a slightly longer transition to rehydrate and put our bikes away and then we both headed out separate ways for a run. I wasn't sure how it would go or how far I would go. I felt like Bambi on ice for the first part of the run but it slowly eased off. I ended up doing a 5K so I'm very happy with that following a cycle!

LAST WEEK:
MONDAY - SWIM - 650m
Not the best of lessons on Monday. We did all backstroke in this class. Alot of drills. Backstroke is definitely my worst stroke to do now and I was actually knackered by the time I was finished. My shoulders were aching too.

TUEDAY - RUN 3 Miles - CYCLE 17.6 Miles
Headed out in the morning for a 3 mile run, it was very muggy out. There hasn't really been any transition in the heat for us here, we've literally gone from one extreme to the other, so the heat when running is totally draining me.
I have been taking advantage of the warmer, lighter evenings though and Me and Phillip headed out for a cycle. Got some decent mileage in which I'm happy with.

WEDNESDAY - SWIM - 1850m
My swim was a little off in the evening, my shoulders still felt pretty achy after all the backstroke on Monday evening and it felt much slower. Managed to cover a decent distance in the pool though, so not all bad. Was totally knackered when I got back though!

THURSDAY - RUN - 3 Miles
uuuuugh.. the heat! I really struggled on this run in the morning, I need to head out a little earlier in the morning to beat the heat. hopefully I'll adjust to the temperatures over time. The first 2 miles were OK, a little sluggish.. but then I got overheated and had to run/walk the last mile home.
FRIDAY - OPEN WATER SWIM - 1.21 Miles
We actually managed to find another OWS location after we saw some local Strava peeps going to it. We had no idea it existed. I really loved it though! The water was really clear, no weeds at all to get tangled in and not too busy. Did 1.21 mile in total which is 5 miles of this lake. Not sure on the temperature but it was lovely!
On the not so positive side of things, I chafed my neck again.. I'm not sure whats going on, I think it may be the hat as that is the only thing I've changed recently.. but it's really sore and looks really nasty. Hopefully swapping my hat back will stop it. We will see!

SATURDAY - OWS 0.86 Mile - RUN 5K
Another OWS session. I forgot my bodyglide so ended up continuing to chafe up my neck. It is in a pretty bad state now.. I hadn't figured out what it was by this point. Bodyglide should have helped if I'd have brought it.

The swim itself wasn't too bad, I was feeling pretty tired after the previous days swim and all the work throughout the week. The lake was full of weeds and they're now getting to the point where they're so long under the water in points, that you're touching them and getting tangled.

Our next two swimming sessions at the lake are cancelled for some weed cutting, thank god! I don't think I could put up with them too much longer!

We did parkrun straight after the swim, managed to roll my ankle twice so I knew it wasn't gonna be a good day, I was already off to a bad start. The run was really hot and really busy. I was fed up by the time I'd finished. Managed to chafe under my armpits too.. I'm getting it all over the place!


SUNDAY - CYCLE 19.94 Miles -  RUN 1.57 Miles
A brick session, we headed out for a cycle.. my watch isn't easily accessible to look at.. otherwise had I known I was gonna end just before 20 miles.. I would have added on a little loop, so annoying!
We re-hydrated and headed of for a run, I decided I wasn't gonna try and attempt the 5K I did the week before based on the heat, so just had a very leisurely run around the block. My legs felt really tired and felt like they were dragging, but my pace wasn't massively far off my normal which is a good sign.

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All in all, two very good weeks of training. The only thing I need to be wary about is the fact that I don't seem to be resting much at all, which may actually be a reason for me not feeling at peak performance, so I'm taking a rest day today and will be taking extra care of listening to my body.

In other news, I have decided on a Triathlon that I'll be doing, I'm just waiting for payday so we can get that all booked, I'll update once it's definitely confirmed but it's all very exciting and I'm sure that the training I've been doing has got me fully prepared for it, so I'm not too nervous.

I've got the Great North Swim coming up in just under two weeks which is so exciting! Hopefully I can figure out the chafing issue before then though!

Question: Do you suffer with Chafing? How do you minimize it or treat it?