In my last blog, I wrote about wanting to find out how far I could swim, where I’m at now and how far I have to go.  I was a little unsure which swim lake to book my session in initially as all my options are an hours’ drive away.  However, thanks to the unfailing friendliness of the swimming community, I was given plenty of advice to help me to choose.  Gosfield Lake it was to be!

The lake has a 300m loop and a 1200m loop – the marker buoy for the latter appeared alarmingly far away….  The water temperature was 14.5 degrees and having had an unpleasant experience getting wheezy swimming in my wetsuit earlier in the week, I decided skins was the way forward.  After a little briefing, I was off, absolutely sure I could definitely swim the short loop at least once with my newly found front crawl improvements and I did! Sort of…  My problem was maintaining focus, feeling like I wasn’t getting any closer to the buoy and losing the rhythm of my stroke.  It was a bit stop/ start.  I need to remember the advice I was given when training for a running event – ‘run the mile you’re in’ meaning focus on the now, stay relaxed and moving efficiently and the metres, or miles, will take care of themselves.

My second lake swim this week was at Queenford Lake with the rest of the This Girl Can team (minus Jill as she was sadly unwell). It was so lovely to meet the others in real life and to receive our goody bags of course!  Among our gifted items, we got a silver lined, thermal swimsuit from Zoggs – what a great idea!  I put that on straightaway.  Also a Zone3 Aspect wetsuit, designed specifically to make mixing breastroke and front crawl easier.  I was adamant in my own mind that I would only put the wetsuit on for the photos and that I wouldn’t actually swim in it – my wheezy experience still fresh in my mind.  When it came to it though, I kept it on and the swim was wonderful!  The water was beautifully crystal clear, the coaches were calm and encouraging and the swimming felt easy.  Just what I needed.

Swimming legend Cath Pendleton joined us, and over a coffee I asked her what her tips were for keeping focussed over a long swim.  She had lots of suggestions, but the one I’m going to try at my next lake swim on Friday is singing to myself.  Who knows what my internal playlist will produce?!  I’ll keep you posted.

I have lots to feel happy about and lots to look forward to over the next week of this journey – I now have the kit to keep me warm and comfortable, I’ve found a friendly lake with a marked course where I plan to swim weekly to gradually increase my distance, I’m feeling more confident in my stroke and I have tips to help me to keep going.

I won’t pretend that it isn’t difficult to find the time to swim, write blogs and update social media (I’m entirely rubbish at remembering to take photos) in amongst work and family commitments, but by focussing on one week at a time and doing the best I can, I’m hoping that everything will fall into place in time for the Big Swim.