Most of my summer weekends this year have consisted of a swim at Salford Quays and sometimes a Fartlek-type run up one of the hills where I live, and a Sunday rest day when my dear other half usually goes out for his longer run. This weekend we're visiting my in-law's, though, so it's all been a bit different.
I waved goodbye to my wetsuit rather sadly a few days ago - there's not much of the season left and I'll be going back to working Saturday mornings soon anyway. Yesterday it was overcast but not particularly cold, and the girls and I (K, 6 and D, 2) grabbed our swimsuits, their grandad and dad, and headed down to the beach about 4pm. It's been 20C in the Quays for the last few weeks - so warm I really didn't need a wetsuit and I've been seriously thinking about not bothering with it. My "what the hell, let's do it" attitude surfaced and the kids and I took the plunge - literally - into the North Sea. It was about 16C and amazing - yes, yes, it was cold to start with and the girls decided playing in the sand was much more their sort of thing. But I was pleased with how quickly I acclimatised and swam for about 20mins or so. It was flat calm, gorgeously clean, tide coming in, very peaceful...just me in the water, a few birds screaming overhead, and the girls giggling on the beach. I could get addicted to sea-swimming very quickly if there was anywhere near to home I could go.
Today we took the kids to a waves-and-activities-type pool, which they loved - but lordy, it was warm at 30C. Really quite difficult to swim in after the sea! Didn't get much done in the way of fitness swimming as it was so busy - maybe 400m or so and had a go at some kick drills. Kicking is probably the next thing I should concentrate on to get faster.
Later there was running. A and his dad, both 10km+ runners, headed off along the beach and I lumped my sorry backside along the coast road, aiming to try out a flatter course than home. It was rubbish. I'd gone out with the right attitude but made the mistake of running into the wind, and after 1km or so I got bitten by the Can't Be Arsed Fairy. I quite often get a "runner's high" at about 2km, but today was a "runner's low". I was so bored! Maybe it was the flat, maybe I just took too much of a break (haven't run for a week or so as I've been bogged down studying), maybe it was the wind and rain, but...meh. Did about 2.5km all told and at least half of that was walking. At one point I looked down at my feet and they barely seemed to be moving. I felt like a cartoon pudding. So I'm disappointed, but hopefully I'll be able to attack a run on Monday with a bit more vim once I get back to my hills.
Gotta get my arse in gear - City of Salford 5km is in two weeks. Eeek.
