17th April 2022

The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, it was the perfect Easter weekend for an open water swim. But I was nervous, this was my first open water swim EVER. I swim regularly in the pool, now something that I will use for training, working up to the big moment in July. My time to try was now, I was high spirited, and the mood was lifted by the perfect conditions.

I had strategically chosen to do my first swim with a paramedic friend, and I knew being at a lake there would be safety crew. I always have the health and safety aspects at the forefront of my mind, one of the reasons I’ve not tried open water swimming before. I have an irrational fear that even as a strong swimmer I will get into trouble in these waters, which is why it is important I face this challenge to overcome it.
Entering the 10-degree lake I had an overwhelming sense of fearfulness, the threat of danger, cold water shock, weeds entangling around my legs, drinking polluted water, irrational feelings. But the cold numbed my brain, all I could focus on was my breathing, whilst quickly I sank into the water. The ‘pain’ of the cold on my skin slowly passed through me and my core quickly warmed like a furnace as my limbs took the cold. I was off. Stroke after stroke, concentrating on keeping moving and not letting the cold freeze me. It was like ice-cream head all over my body passing with every movement. It was exhilarating.
Before I knew it, I was chatting and swimming, head above water, modified heads up breaststroke which is slower than my regular swimming.
Nothing in my body grumbled, it was too busy acclimatising to this new challenge.

Once or twice, I submerged my face and took a few front crawl strokes, but this was a step too far, for now. I couldn’t appreciate how hard it was going to be to manage breathing in open water swimming and here lies the challenge for me. To master it so This Girl Can achieve a mile, mostly front crawl, in the river. I knew that the length of time in the water depends on fitness, body size and the conditions that you were swimming in (I’ve been reading a lot of open swimming articles!). The experienced swimmers escorting me suddenly announced it was time to get out, whilst you still feel good and feel like you can go on. Not when you are tiring and becoming more vulnerable to the cold. There was more science to this that I want to learn about.

I managed it, my anxieties, the risks. Swimming in cold water became a safe activity and I loved it. The initial dose of uneasiness quickly faded away and now post swim I was left refreshed and invigorated. In high mood I stood at the waters edge soaking in the scenery, this was short lived as I was hurried out of my wet suit and encouraged to wrap up and wrap up quickly to not to come down suddenly from the cold. A sociable 15minutes with a coffee and euphoric chat was the icing on the cake and already I was running my diary through my head to work out when I could come again.
It took some hours for my body to thaw out completely, a nice reminder of what I had achieved. I felt like my body had worked hard (heart rate still 120 at rest drinking coffee) whilst I wasn’t experiencing the typical aches and pains, stiffness or hurt that higher impact exercise causes me. My mood was uplifted, and I had an unforgettable sensation that something good had started.