Great Swim Junkie

Saturday was the Great North Swim, iconic swimming event, as it's billed, back in Windermere after last year's cancellation due to blue-green algae in the lake. 

The whole day is so memorable, starting with Park and Sail from Bowness up to Ambleside and the first sightings from the boat of the course at Low Wood marina

Then the one-mile walk from Ambleside to Low Wood, with glimpses of the swimmers through the trees

then onto the lawn in front of the hotel - normally so sedate and quiet but today unrecognisable - thronged with swimmers in wetsuits and spectators 

We were in the white wave at 4pm. This time I felt better prepared psychologically and physically but my time was the longest yet 1:7:39 - only a few seconds more than Salford but I'd hoped to manage the swim in under an hour. 

Everyone we spoke to said they'd found it relatively hard. Even the elites' times were also a bit longer than usual. There was quite a swell and the water was fairly choppy in the first half. Then on the return leg, to me it felt like swimming in treacle, hard work. But the main thing is I enjoyed it. 

And at the end, it's like being a child getting off a rollercoaster, after all the nerves and excitement, the immediate reaction is - again, again!

So now we're weighing up the Great Scottish Swim at Strathclyde on September 24th. Not just a mile, this time 2K down the middle of the loch. Hmmm, now there's a thought...

Dog Paddle

Back in Whitley Bay for the weekend. Last time we were here, Dash had his escapade on the prom. We thought we'd escaped relatively lightly - he had to have four small teeth removed - but no bones broken. 
However, at a follow-up check at the vet's a week later, the limp he'd developed indicated damage to the cruciate ligament in his back leg and required an operation. 
Three weeks ago the ruptured ligament was removed and replaced by a band to stabilise the joint, as the tissue around it heals. The bad news is that he'll be unable to have proper walks until July. He can walk 100 yards five or six times a day, but he has to be on a lead in case he makes any sudden movements which could twist the joint. Building up the exercise will happen very slowly. Already this walkless regime is agony for us all.
Then suddenly I thought about hydrotherapy - if racehorses can have it, why not dogs? It would give him an outlet for his energy and at the same time help him to exercise without  causing damage to the healing joint. The vet has confirmed canine hydrotherapy is a good idea and if we want he can start in a couple of weeks. 
I'm looking into the possibilities on offer near us and who knows - maybe he'll get a taste for it and join us on the Great North Swim! Or turn into a mer-dog like these guys

 

Get Back In The Pool

Yesterday entries opened for the Great North Swim -  Windermere on 18/19 June 2011. Before I went to bed last night I looked at the pool timetable for the aquatic centre. This morning I had some work to do, but beforehand I packed my swimming bag and put it by the front door. 'Hmm,' I thought. 'It looks like I'm intending to go swimming.' 

Sure enough, I did. First time since Sunday 26 September. I swam 16x50m lengths and came out buzzing, and buzzed for the rest of the day.

Although my swim bore no resemblance to this one described by Vicki Feaver, the title is just right.

Swimming in January
Because, like every new lover,
I want to enter the underworld
and take you with me, I lead you 
into the sea in January - naked into a sea
that flows round our calves and knees
like green fire: deeper and deeper -
feet off the shingle now - gulping half air,
half salt-water, drifting almost to the edge
where there's no returning
before we strike back
to the beach - past windsurfers
sealed in rubber wet-suits, struggling
to lift orange sails, past wading birds
dipping yellow beaks into a film
of mirrored cloud - emerge,
white legs moving like sticks over
oil-blackened sand, at the breakwater
where we draped clothes and towels,
rubbing each other back to life.


Vicki Feaver
(ps. she didn't select any of my poems in Mslexia's competition in 2010, but I bear her no malice.)

Great North Saga

Two options have been offered in the aftermath of the cancellation - not a postponement - of the Windermere swim: money back or defer entry to the 2011 Great North Swim. We've decided to go for the defer option. 

And we're now weighing up whether to enrol for the Salford Great Swim on 26 September...

In Lakeland in Spirit

So. 4th September and no swim.

I am disappointed and also, in truth, relieved. I don't feel in peak fitness (ha ha). What I mean is that, although the physical act of swimming a mile would have been feasible for me, I didn't feel mentally prepared for the event. Again, if I'd had to do it, I'd have been able to, but I'm glad to have been let off the hook. The organisers will be in touch before Tuesday with some options which are likely to include: an alternative date for Windermere in the next couple of weeks, transfer of place to the Great Swim in Salford Docks (hmm...that  just doesn't seem to have the same ring as Windermere somehow...), transfer of fee to next year's swim, refund of fee. 

Not sure yet which of those I'd go for. 

This week I've been reading Intimates by Helen Farish. This book won the Forward Prize for best first collection in 2005. She had a residency in Grasmere and lectures on the creative writing course at the University of Lancaster. I love the direct style of her poems which are also intriguing and somehow mysterious. I like poems which manage to combine those elements. Here's a poem from the collection which puts us in the Lake District, to mark the day.

Brathay

I love to see the symbols on the map -

the cross, the less-than-4-metres-wide road,

the pub (named even). And I love

to see us as symbols and everything 

we saw: the two men

chess-playing at Skelwith Fold

in back-porch sunshine, mark it

with T for tranquillity. Put a P

in the graveyard for picnic (teabread,

coffee). An A just there on the verge

for sapling (ash) - how much growth

that summer? And the bend in the road

a double S for smiles (the greengold

light, the veneer of wood-water,

the tilt). And a capital J for summer

(joy), and a D for don't

(let this end), and a G and T left behind

at the pub (empty) and a capital U

for God saying I and the entire

universe wish this walk well.

By the Brathay and the underwater

bubbles that began us, an M

for completion by moonlight.

And all over, write, in full:

The Dazzle of this World.

Helen Farish

Intimates (Jonathan Cape, 2005)

The Clue is in the Picture

OMG as the young folk write...

This afternoon I checked out the Windermere weather station and saw that the lake temperature was a balmy 19C. Mmmmm.....just like a warm bath.....The webcam showed marquees going up, carpets running down to the lake and marker buoys setting the course.....everything tickety-boo...

At 18.00 hours a text from Great North Swim HQ arrived : swim postponed due to blue-green algae.

6000 swimmers now making alternative plans for the weekend.....

Pre-Swim Cold Feet

The last time I swam in a 'wild' setting was in Bala a couple of months ago. So I feel a bit daunted by this Saturday's swim in Windermere. Last year I got ready for the Great North Swim gradually by swimming in lakes and the sea on a regular basis in the months leading up to the swim. For one reason or another I haven't done that this year. Consequently, I feel a bit out of practice and nervous. Will I exhaust myself? Will a pike bite my toes? Will I see a dead body if I open my eyes when I do front crawl? Might I have a heart attack? And so on......Today the weather has been beautiful. I've decided to calm down and just let myself take my time on Saturday and enjoy the experience. All will be well.

For inspiration, I spent the afternoon at the Victoria Baths, Manchester's wonderful Water Palace, one of my top ten, no - top five, favourite buildings. All the scaffolding has gone from the Men's First Class Pool to reveal the sparkling, brand new watertight glass roof. I can't wait for the day when the pool will be filled and the public allowed back in.

In the sunshine, the whole building felt so warm and welcoming and the guide who showed us round was very knowledgeable. For the princely sum of £12 I signed up to become a Friend of Victoria Baths. My son enjoyed the tour and would like to have a go in the Aerotone - a prototype stainless steel jacuzzi. I decided to appoint myself as unofficial Poet in Residence, so I'll write some pool-themed poems over the next couple of months.

At this Sunday's Open Day at the baths (5 September) a special new stained glass window in honour of Sunny Lowry will be unveiled at 2pm. I'll be thinking of her when I'm in the lake.

The Family that Swims Together.....

Family outing to Hathersage today as it's our middle daughter's twentieth birthday and we often go there for a swim in the open air pool as part of her celebration. Three generations ranging from 81 down to 6 months - not everyone had a dip, but I think everyone enjoyed the day.

It was a bit chilly, which kept the crowds at bay, but when the sun came out - heaven in a pool. And the water, as always, warm and welcoming. Best bit of course was when the heavens opened. When raindrops hit the water it's truly wonderful to witness and be part of it at their level.

Next Saturday it's the Great North Swim and all our documentation etc arrived today. I feel very unprepared. To paraphrase Scarlett O'Hara, I will think about that tomorrow...  

Winter Dreaming

In the depths of winter, people sit by the fire, browsing the holiday brochures and dreaming of summer. I've spent a cosy evening trawling the internet,  tracking down swim socks - now I'm all set for when the chance of a lake swim next presents itself

- I'll be toasty! And in the warm glow of anticipation, we've decided to enter for the Great East Swim. So the fun will start in June and build to a grand finale with the Great North in September. Bring it on!

Not Drowning But Waving

--We interrupt this blog with a news flash -- REGISTRATION HAS OPENED TODAY FOR NEXT YEAR'S GREAT SWIM ON 4/5 SEPTEMBER IN WINDERMERE!!! 
Woo hoo!!! Big news in our house - we are already signed up and in there! After the popularity of this year's event and the rising profile of open water swimming in the UK, I don't think it will be long until it's fully booked.


The picture is of me and our son on a training splash in Windermere in July. Behind us is the Low Wood Hotel - swim HQ. I like our synchronized wave and the speed limit sign with a 10 in the background. 2010 here we come! 

Cloudburst

It's now seven days since the Great North Swim - what a great swim, and a wonderful day! It's been a strange week without training for the event that's been like a lodestar through the whole spring and summer. That watery mile was the beacon that dictated pilgrimages to various lakes, pools, the coast - regardless of the weather. It prescribed the purchase of swimsuits, wetsuits, goggles and masks, swimming hats - latex and silicone, earplugs, anti-chlorine, anti-frizz hair products, books and magazines about wild and pool swimming. It put stroke technique on the agenda as a daily topic of conversation and stirred up a frenzy of internet activity - visits to aqua-related websites, forums and blogs. It stimulated the creation of this blog. Now I'm sad it's all over. Well, for this year at least.

Great North Swim

Today I did the swim! Woo hoo!!! I'll write more when I've come off my cloud!!!

Going the (extra) mile

Today for the first time I swam a whole mile! 64 lengths, not the usual 40. Many of them front crawl, which I'm now finding easier. It's like a switch flicked in my head, and instead of the customary panicking and huffing and puffing whenever I change from breaststroke to crawl, I launched into a rhythm and surprised myself as I enjoyed the variety. It will be different when I'm in the lake, but this morning I began to think that I might manage the Great North Swim in less than an hour.

And while I was counting lengths, steaming along with my new found confidence as a freestyle swimmer, I made the decision to set up this blog. Regular practice has expanded my swimming confidence and technique, so I'll apply the same theory to my writing. All the experts say that's the way to do it and I'm willing to believe them. We'll see.