I'm back and determined to blog every day...

I did my 1st ever open water swim last evening in Fordingbridge. 
was quite scared. and it was soooo blinking cold. 

luckily I had socks, my fancy "new to me" wetsuit, swimming hat and wetsuit swim hat so it could have been a lot colder.

the 4 blue buoys mapped out a rectangle of about 350/400m. I was a bit freaked out when treading water at one buoy knowing that I had the equivalent of 4 laps to swim to get to the next buoy with no opportunity to stop and rest by either holding onto the end or standing up in the shallow end.

i did 2 laps

1. 1st lap 11:59.17
2. 2nd lap 11:11.86

then Muts and I timed ourselves getting out of the wetsuits as we need to practice for the Eastleigh tri on 30/6/13.

• I look 1:20.97
• Muts at 3.30 had got both her arms out.

Run Camp - my first run since the half marathon...

oooh blimey - talk about stiff/sore - was fine by the end of the session but struggled at first big time. Plus I'm certainly feeling the session in my calves and thighs!

Run Camp on Facebook

Run Camp's website - definitely worth checking out, plus I've signed up for Ant's blog - really interesting and a great read.

Run Camp's blog

125 days till the Eastleigh Open Water Triathlon!

On Sunday 30th June 2013 I will be participating in my first ever triathlon.

1. 400m open water swim
2. 20k bike ride
3. 5k run

I'm very excited - Eastleigh Triathlon details

I've had a quick skim back at some of my posts last year when I'd just joined tri club. After week 3 I excitedly wrote that I could swim a whole THREE lengths - 75m without stopping & then in mid August - I wrote how I could now do 300m in FOURTEEN MINUTES and how amazing was that!?

well... Lizzie "elite athlete" Carter can now do 800m in twenty mins and today dear readers - Lizzie "awesome swimmer" Carter did a length in TWENTY NINE SECONDS!!!!!!!!!!

I reckon I'll be doing 100m in under 2mins which means 800m in under 16 minutes. OMG. How awesome would that be? I'm not there yet but i reckon I will be by June.

• Cycling - 20k is miles - nearly 13 miles in fact. That would take me over an hour at the moment.
• Running - 5k - my fastest on the treadmill at the gym was about 31 minutes - I'd like to be doing sub 30 mins 5k's on a regular basis.

So lots to aim for in season 3 of OF&H. 

FUN!

Brighton Half Marathon 17th Feb 2013

Did it! 
2:39:26 - knees were struggling by the end though...

• 6mile - felt fabulous, chatting with Bernie and Sarah, feeling all cocky and confident.
• 10k - fine
• 8mile - eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek, not feeling good at all - been running for 90 mins
• 9mile - little knee wobble, start of a lot of walking
• 10mile - quicker than the Great South Run - under 2 hours but hurting
• 11.5mile - OMG - if ever an athlete was in need of the support from her support team, it was yours truly.  Luckily for me i had my team of Cliff, Clare, Elizabeth, Karen, Toby, Rufus and Esme whooping and hollaring. They gave me the strength to carry on... (i feel like i may have nicked that phrase from a song...)
• From 800m we had a countdown 700m to go, 600m, 500m, 400m, 300m - in the home straight, can see the finish line, bit tearful, lots of pumping of clenched fist while squawking "i've done a half marathon" to anyone & everyone in the crowd. 
• FINISHED!

foil blanket, pics taken, crisps and mars bar scoffed.

Hoorah. My 2013 season has officially begun. 


http://www.everyclick.com/brightonhalfmarathon

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas!

Heading up to sister's - have packed my running gear. 

I intend to retrace the Ashtead 10K route round the common - can't wait. Remember - back in Sept I fell off my bike 48 hours before the Ashtead 10K race so ran the 10K on a badly bruised leg? 

Will probably have a run Christmas Day before eating so much my stomach lining starts to loose its structural identity - FUN.

Cheers x

She's back!

My big sis has asked me to restart OF&H...

• I've signed up for the Eastleigh Triathlon 7th July 2013.
• I'm doing the Brighton half marathon on 17th Feb 2013
• I will be signing up for the Winchester duathlon 17th March 2013

I go swimming at least once but usually twice a week as part of Southampton tri-club. We have a coach. My swimming is now amazing. When I started I could barely manage a length maybe 2 without having to have a little rest. I'm now doing 60-72 lengths in an hour. 

Running - I'm now going 3-4 times a week - got to, my half marathon training schedule tells me to! I seem to do approx 4miles in about 45mins but I need to up my mileage and time out running.

Cycling - still mainly cycle to work, to friends - to go somewhere/do something as opposed to going for a cycle ride for the sheer pleasure of it. Mabes when I get my new bike - still to order but I'll def have by the new year, I'll go out for a cycle every week just for the sheer fun of it.

So there you have it - a quick update as to where I am with OF&H.

ooooh forgot fat club...

Since the end of April 2012 there is 20lbs less of me. My new swimming costume for tri club is a TWELVE!!!!!

I'll try and update this regularly - not sure if I'll manage every day like last year but I'll certainly give it a go.

Cheers

Liz "elite athlete" Carter xx

Seriously considering the 26th August Triathlon...

Tri club was great - Coach Peter said that "people" have noticed that I'm improving loads.

I did 12 lengths = 300m in 14minutes. Which for me is amazing. It has made me think i could do the triathlon on 26th August...

• 400m swim
• 11.5mile cycle
• 5k run

I'll decide this w/e but heck, I should just give it a go. 
I've got 6 weeks to get be able to do a 400m swim in less than 16minutes. And... seeing as 5weeks ago i couldn't even manage 50m without dying, I reckon I could do it!!!