Day 1 – Kick Start.
Warm-up
200m freestyle
Main set
100 m freestyle pool with paddles
10 x 50 m freestyle kick
100 backstroke
Cool down
50 m walk
So waking up this morning my bed felt extremely comfortable and I didn’t really want to get up. It was 6 a.m and I just realised the reality of having to start swim training from scratch. I haven’t done any sort of formal training for swimming for at least three or four years. So I drove myself into the pool but forgot my drink bottle which I went to the trouble of preparing the night before. I just realise this as I was walking through the front doors. I’m a big believer that you’ve got a straight hydrated in training and I had to give myself a massive face slap because I forgot to take it with me.
On the Edge
Sitting on the edge of the pool with my feet in 
the water psyching myself up to dive in, all the old memories of those early morning swim training sessions and how much I hated getting into the water but loved the feel of that nice streamline glide once you hit the water came rushing back. So I slipped into the water and did a nice streamline push off the wall I went straight into a 200 freestyle. The first 50 was pretty easy and then the next 25 little bit harder. By the back end of the 200, I was really starting to struggle. This is going to be really hard.
I then moved into 100 m freestyle pull which seemed a little bit taxing on my chest but overall not too bad. I didn’t use a pull buoy for this because I wanted to just try and drag my legs without any kick. It seemed to work out alright. However, I need to really focus on my turns as I was struggling to make the turns with these but that will come with fitness I’m hoping. I then went into my 10 x 50s freestyle kick these were done on about the 1:45 to 2 minutes. Happy to say my legs stood up to it pretty well, but my fitness is definitely lacking.
After that was a nice 100 m backstroke and I really noticed my pull on the water felt pretty good, so hopefully, 
the technique hasn’t fallen away too much. Then it was a nice easy 50 m walk and that was about it for the swim training session. All up just under a kilometre and it’s now an hour or so after and I’m feeling ok.
So why am I starting swim training again?
Well in a couple of years it will be 20 years since I represented Australia and competed at the world transplant games in several events. Now 20 years older just over 40. I thought to myself alright let’s see what this middle-aged, overweight, swim coach is made of. My goal is to go back overseas and represent Australia again in 2021 at the world transplant games in Texas. Next year is the mid-term goal which will be to compete at the Australian National transplant games in Tasmania. However, my current goal is to just make it to the pool three times a week. I will also try and do some other sort of other cardio three times a week.
Currently, with a 5-year-old daughter, a very supporting wife, a full-time job, plus the coaching I do on top and a backyard that needs a lot of work. I think getting to the pool will be the biggest challenge of all.
So I’m going to record as many of my swim training sessions as I can. So that you guys can follow my progress and hopefully motivate and push me along as well. On top of that, I thought it would be a pretty cool idea to log my swim training for my daughter to possibly one day read and reflect on what her dad was able to achieve.
It’s going to be a long ride but I hope you enjoy it. For the rest of my blogs click here.