May 2006 – Zoe completes the hard yards.

May has been a hard training month for me. I have dedicated this month to doing more background work in the pool and getting really fit again. Covering up to 8km in the pool some days and still fitting in 3-4 solid gym workouts. I have not done this type of volume and metres for a long time, well, since 2000/2001 so I figured it was long over due. This is not the type of thing sprinters enjoy or feel happy about as the gym work makes it so hard to do longer swim work outs and when the weights get heavier and the intensity in the pool gets higher. The body is constantly sore and tired!

It’s been great spending a longer period of time at home in Christchurch though. Feeling a bit more settled and enjoying normal life again, without living out of my suitcase. It’s also good to spend more time with my dogs, but by saying that, 2 walks a day now its getting cold and rainy here isn’t that much fun sometimes! I am also trying out a 3 week course of SIMULATED ALTITUDE TRAINING (SAT) at bodyO2 here in Christchurch. Visit www.bodyo2.com for more information on this. They have sponsored me a course of this to see how it helps me racing overseas next month. I have found this hard so far and found my body is very sensitive to the loss of O2. I am hoping my aerobic capacity and O2 transportation will benefit from this, I’ll keep you all updated.

Towards the end of this month I will have an easier week in training before I head of to Europe racing as I don’t want to risk getting sick. Long Haul flights put extreme stress on the body and I want to go there fully fit and healthy ready to race. The easier week will cut back the metres swam and drop the longer repeats of intensity, and include more repeats of shorter distances, like 15m-25m Max efforts. The gym will remain the same although more medicine and speed work will be introduced.

I leave Christchurch 31st of May and arrive in Monte Carlo on 1st June. The races begin on 3-4th June for Competition 1. I will join fellow kiwis there, Backstroker Hannah McClean and butterfly/backstroker Elizabeth Coster. We then head to Canet on the 5th and Kiwi i/m swimmer Helen Norfolk joins us for the 2nd and 3rd meet of the series, with Canet racing starting 7-8th June. We complete the series in Barcelona with meet number 3, on 10-11th June. I’ll keep you posted on how I get on and the results and usually be found on www.swimnews.com, or www.swimmingnz.org.nz.