When I was young, and I mean late primary / early secondary school, I was a good swimmer and loved swimming! I competed once in a charity event where you could swim as far a distance as you felt able with a few hours. A friend of mine sponsored me ‘per length’ where I think I said I’d only be able to do maybe 25. 

I ended up swimming 3km, which is about 120 lengths of a 25metre pool. And my friends mum had to explain that they simply couldn’t afford the resultant money her ‘per length’ total came too. I never expected entering that swim that I would swim such a distance!

I have that 3km badge somewhere but the only one I could find whilst looking for it was this 1,500 metre badge. 

1,500 metres is not far off the mile this challenge will see me swim! I can’t remember what year it was I achieved that, but this badge is another reminder of how well I used to swim.

I bumped into an old friend a week or so back, and she’d taken part in a channel relay some time back. We laughed at how nowadays we think we can swim, but actually we’ve just maintained an ability to tread water! That is so true when I think of all the cold water ‘dips’ I’ve done over winter 21/22.

The training plan we’ve been given has started to focus on technique, in terms of breathing, head position and rotation. 

I went into my local swimming pool, and thought I was doing wonderfully well when my watch said I’d done 3,200 metres! How could this be, as it felt quite easy! It turned out I’m not very tech savvy and I’d set my watch to think each length was 200 metres (the distance the training plan asked me to do that session) rather than 25 metres which is the length of the pool. So the 3,200 metres was actually 400! 

I reset my watch, and started to work on my breathing in front crawl. Having watched a few swimming videos before I’d gone to the pool, I started off breathing on each arm rotation. That didn’t feel comfortable, so I moved to a breath every 3rd stroke. I managed about 18 metres of front crawl before I ran out of breathe, having swallowed some of the water enroute! 

The pool was also a bit busy that day and I realised how much harder it is to swim with others splashing about alongside you. This was another learn for me, as the Henley Swim won’t just have us 6 ladies in the water!

Mentally I got a bit low after that session.. how on earth am I going to swim 1,600 metres, if I can’t even do 18 metres with ease?!

My 6 year old daughter has level 1 swimming lessons, and I’ve been watching how they are taught to breathe. They have to blow bubbles as they swim with a float, bobbing their heads in and out of the water.

As the tutor swam across the pool doing front crawl, I made a mental note of how far she rotated to take her breath! It was really far round! And that’s where I was going wrong.. I was opening up my mouth to breathe and enjoying a semi mouthful of water instead of taking a productive breath! 

On our way out from her last lesson, I purchased a float. I’m taking my breath training right back to the start, as well as building up some strength in my kick, which has been lost in my many years of breaststroke / treading water.

One of my objectives in taking part in this challenge is to be an inspiration to my daughters and to show them that This Girl Can Swim! But right now, they are showing me a bit of how it’s done, so this blog post is a thank you to my daughter Olivia for inspiring me to learn from you!