8th February: I went swimming, and hoooooly brown cow, I have never struggled so much! I only did 16 lengths (25m) in half an hour, and I had to take breaks every 50m cos I was feeling lightheaded and dizzy. I felt like I couldn’t breathe properly.

It was so frustrating, especially since this was my first training back after 6 weeks off over summer.  Surely I can’t have lost all water fitness that fast! I also didn’t get enough sleep the night before which probably didn’t help.

So that was a pretty discouraging start.

9th February (yesterday):  I went running, and ran 6km in 30 minutes which I’m very happy with (that’s 3.7 miles for my American followers). It’s true what they say - it gets easier!

I remember when I started running, and if I managed to run non-stop for 15 minutes, I was stoked with myself lol. Shows how easy it is to build up if you just persevere!!

10th February: Gah, swimming again. Was totally dreading it. Lying in bed arguing with myself “ahh I might skip today… no you can’t skip Denyse.. but it was so hard.. so try again! Everyone has bad days”.

So, with the help of Mum, I got myself out of bed and down to the pool.

I swam 28 lengths of freestyle in 30 minutes. :O Whaaaat? For some reason I had a really good day! I bought a swimming cap which helped keep hair off my face (don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner), and I focused on my breathing. Google told me that when you swim, focus on exhaling rather than inhaling. Made a huuuuuge difference!

I’ve swum 28 lengths in 30 minutes in the past. But I always did a combination of styles - 12 freestyle, 8 breaststroke, and 4 backstroke. Today, I did entirely freestyle. I stopped every 100 m, but I kept on going. It was surprisingly easy.

Shows what you can accomplish when you stick with it!

So my advice to you is keep on persevering. You probably hear this alot, and also hit stages of “argh, I’m not getting ANYWHERE” but trust me, you will. I used to think the same way. Just keep going!