5:30 am race starts: Now, I’m an early bird but a 5:30 am race start is very early even for me. Thankfully though, the sunrise was stunning, the wind was calm and the atmosphere was good – nervous but it felt good.
After a good meal of carbs the night before, I was ready. The event had a feed pontoon where you left your own drink and food (preferably whatever you have used in training) labelled with your name on it. In my wisdom I tried something new on event day; you never should try something new on event day…I really should follow my own advice from time to time! I put a gel down the front of my wetsuit. This was a huge mistake as it literally chaffed my neck to pieces. The pain was so bad and it looked awful afterwards. I also got chaff all around the back of my neck, which was sooo painful. My neck felt like sandpaper.
But how did the swim did go? The swimming itself went well and the weather was perfect. But a big issue was that the loops were not quite the 2.5km each that we had been told they were. They were slightly over, resulting in an 11km swim and not the 10km swim I had planned. In theory, this should have been no bother as I am training for Windermere after all, so it should have been ok. But no, not to my grumpy self it wasn’t as I’d set out to swim 10k that morning. I like a plan and structure, not an extra 1000m. I’m over it now, but I was about to get out the water early on the day as I was set on 10km.
Peeing when swimming: In any event, running or triathlon, toilets always seem to pose a bit of an issue with the queuing or time it takes in transition. When swimming, I’m quite happy wild peeing and peeing in my wetsuit normally. But no, not on this swim: here I am swimming my heart out in what is the longest distance I have ever swam and I’m bursting for a wee. Could I wee? No…! Too much information I hear you say, but what I am trying to say is something that shouldn’t take any time at all in a swimming event was not the case. I had to stop mid-lake and pee – “are you ok” another swimmer said as they approached me. I nod and they pass me by. What is that all about!! Only me.
Moving on 10km, well 11km, completed and a medal gained and I was happy with that. Don’t get me wrong, it could have been faster but we always have a “it would have been better if” after every event don’t we?
Recovery from the 10/11km swim: I was exhausted, which I think was mainly due to the sleep that I needed to catch up on, but my shoulders certainly needed a few days rest.
Niggly left shoulder
My shoulder was niggling after the Summer Solstice swim, nothing major but a niggle that would hurt swimming 10.5 miles. The first step was stretching it out (lots), and then I started to think about my technique: am I swimming off balance? Is that maybe why I’m getting chaff?
This then leads to an honest evaluation of my own strength training, I advise my clients to do this twice a week – strength & stretch well as well as rest & recovery. I’m not actually doing this consistently and I need to. I’m writing PT sessions for clients but not doing my own and I can’t neglect this. Dipping in and out occasionally isn’t enough, so my weekly schedule gets another re-jig (pass me another juggling ball please).
The next phase of training is to keep building distance, and as I have found out this takes TIME. Lots of times, when the family is wishing I was “just” marathon training and your house hasn’t been cleaned in forever, that kind of TIME. Instead of opting for a long distance in one day, I opt for the back-to-back 3 days in a row, with 4 days of swimming covering 10.5 miles in a week. Figuring this out between commitments and lake/pool opening times is a juggle but off I go. I am now swimming regularly. It’s my focus, I have officially become Nemo.
I did my pool Wednesday session then headed into the weekend with 3 long swims Friday evening Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. This is when mates become invaluable, the kind of mates that will follow you in a wild lake on a paddle board whilst you swim for 2 hours to keep you safe, and of course fit in the swims around the kids’ football matches and other weekend commitments. This went well, don’t get me wrong my shoulders ache but that’s to be expected. Luckily the previous scarring and mess on my neck from chafing was easing thanks to sudocrem and BIO OIL.