Back in Tenerife

From wind and rain in England...to wind and rain in Tenerife.  Yes, that's right.  It was briefly sunny and warm as I stepped off the plane (ahhhh), but by the time we were putting our cases onto the bus, it was raining.  The wind yesterday was absolutely phenomenal; my friend Vicky who has come out with her bike did her ride yesterday...in the gym.  There were also some very heavy showers - and those people who said "at least it'll be warm rain" when I was moaning about the forecast beforehand, were wrong.  I think rain is universally cold and wet. Fortunately the weather is better today.  The wind is still quite blowy, so the waves are very big and we'll need it to die down somewhat for some openwater swimming, but it's not actually raining.

It is good to be back in Tenerife for the annual Tridynamic/Swim for Tri "Swim faster" camp.  Over the last few months, although my swimming volume has remained high, my pace and technique has dropped off.  Being as depressed as I am, I am pleased to make it to the pool at home, but don't have the energy to do any sprinting and although I do practise drills it isn't always very structured and I don't have anyone to give me feedback.  This was more than evident in our first swim yesterday, I have a very good endurance pace but nothing for going any faster!  I tried hard not to beat myself up about it.  By the second swim this morning, I am already noticing that having a few pointers, and some practice at "swimming along the black line" [this is a practice that makes you think about swimming nice and streamlined] and just knowing that someone is watching you swim, was making me swim a little better and feel a bit better in the water.  That said, we were filmed this morning and I'm not really looking forward to seeing the footage!

I have a nice room in the hotel, with a fantastic view of the sea which I am able to watch sitting on the other bed typing this.  With the wind last night I could hear the sea as I went to sleep which was lovely.  I'm trying hard to remember "self-care" whilst I'm here, which for me means adequate rest, but not spending all of the downtime in my room.  Today after the morning swim finished, I did a few more lengths in the sun, and then walked down to the beach on my way back to the hotel for a little paddle.  It was lovely to feel the sand between my toes.  Last night, I started to feel homesick and quickly realised this was because I was tired and hungry, so I went down to dinner early on my own and got some food inside me.  In fact I was actually too tired to speak to anyone so this worked out quite nicely, and I had the light out by 9.10, to sleep fitfully until 7ish.

Anyway, here are some photos, the swimming ones are from this morning and were taken by the lovely Charles who is here with his swimming wife Tracey.