I finally got to use my new goggles. They are freaking awesome! I won’t say that they improve my swimming by being more aerodynamic or some such shit, but it does help your lap times if you can swim more than 75 metres without having to empty them of chlorine water.

I did a few laps and then got out to dig around in the foam things box at the end of the pool, and found a pull buoy. I’d never used one of them before, but they are fun! It’s so nice just swimming along without having to keep my legs up – I am very much not buoyant sometimes, so this helps hugely.

Running has hit a bit of a snag – I have (self diagnosed) shin splints on my left leg. I looked around for information on the web about them, and worked out that it wasn’t tight calf muscles. I suspected that if it was a ‘conditioning’ thing, then it would probably be more even in the soreness – with both legs instead of just the left one.  On Saturday morning I stopped my run halfway through because I was in too much pain to continue; I suspected that I would do myself further injury.

I called The Running Centre for an appointment to get my gait looked at. They booked me in for lunchtime.  When I got there they put me on the treadmill and videoed my movement when I ran barefoot. Sure enough; my neutral stride when I walk turns into a pronating stride when I run. They had me test two sets of shoes – New Balance on my left leg, Asics on my right, and then to do a quick test run down the street and back to see which ones felt better. The New Balance felt solid, like they would help, but on their terms. The Asics felt more comfortable, so I put on the other shoe and had another dash. Bought the Asics and went back home.

I tested them out last night, and while the soreness hasn’t gone completely, it doesn’t feel as bad as it did on Saturday morning, so I think I should be OK. Crossed fingers.

The training course started yesterday morning. It was the bike session, which I expected to not really need in comparison to the other two legs, and I think it might be an accurate guess. I suspect that I might learn a couple of things over the next five weeks, but not a great deal that I didn’t already know. For a novice, however, the course would rock.

I have my first running session tomorrow (Tuesday), or I can do the Friday session, which was the one that I am actually signed up to, but Friday morning has 90+ participants, and the Tuesday evening session has only about 45+.  Depending on whether I get a strata meeting notice tomorrow for tomorrow night, and whether my legs feel like I should do the run, I think I’ll aim for tomorrow night.