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...

We Are The Champions!

Blowing my alias...what the hell...blame the adrenalin high!! 

Self with warthog, gazelle and Eve's young man. Strange item between my legs is woolly hat. Too doolally still to put it on head. 

What an afternoon! Traffic diversions (because of Manchester 10K ) so long-winded I thought we wouldn't get there in time. But we did.....

I was third last to come in at the end of the day, so I had a personal escort of kayakers - who were all totally lovely and encouraging - thank you so much guys and gals

Thrilled, but too worn out to say much this evening, so here are some pictures

next time, my goal is to build up the front crawl

from the canal into Ontario Basin and the final section

always time for a chat. This guy will be kayaking again at the Windermere swim in a month's time

Dock 9, Huron Basin, the starting area - just about dismantled

Imperial  War Museum and The Lowry

Media City

view to a bridge

the BBC's new home

What a wonderful day despite grim weather and low temperatures. My time: 01:06:51. One month now to train towards shaving off some minutes at Windermere.

Sporting Heroes

Just dropped Pete, Eddie and Eve (husband, son, daughter) in town as Pete and Eddie are running the Manchester 10K at 12.10 before doing the swim this afternoon. Gluttons for punishment!  Eve is the communication link and support team.

Eddie is a lovely, lanky 16-year-old, so Pete said it would be like watching a warthog and a gazelle.

I think he's being just a bit hard on himself!

And now I'm watching the coverage on BBC2, they keep flashing across to Salford where the first wave has just completed the course.

The commentator is saying the water is absolutely freezing and he'd need two wetsuits to even consider it......

The participants all look quite cheery though.....oh my god, that's me in three hours twenty minutes.....

Getting in the Zone

Where did all the hot weather go? The blazing sun that should have been warming up the water in Salford Docks this week? 

Tomorrow is the Great Swim and we're in the last wave at 3.20. The cameras will be rolling, and broadcasting live on BBC 2. Ulp! No pressure then.....

This is my cap - you'll be able to spot me bringing up the rear and staggering over the finish line. 

I swam 3/4 mile yesterday, and a mile on Thursday in 45 minutes - a great time for me. I'd be very impressed if I managed a time like that tomorrow. 

Here's the all-important chip that'll keep track of me

and here's that great poem from Sharon Olds, that seems to sum it all up

The Swimming Race

Noon, Orinda Park Pool, three girls

in rubber caps sculpted with rubber

roses, and they had put our fathers

at the far end of our lanes. We curled

our toes over the edge, the gun went off -

they dove cleanly, as I jumped. By the time 

I had surfaced, and started to dog-paddle, they had

finished the race, their fathers had drawn them up

dripping and were handing them sateen ribbons with

rosettes, a red and a cobalt blue,

I held up my head as he'd taught me, and swam

like a dog toward his end of the pool. The day

was temperate and cloudless, live-oaks

in a large cluster full of yellow-jackets to my left,

the lawn to my right, and there before me, 

at the end of my lane - black lines

on the bottom of the pool, where the drowned would lie -

was my father. I paddled, I felt myself approach him,

I was grinning because of the prize I would win

for coming in third, a Big Hunk bar -

the milk and honey on the other side -

and because my father was getting bigger,

leaning toward me, his arms open.

He pulled me out, and held my hand

up by the wrist. My sister sneered, she said

Why did you lift Shary's fist

when she was last? and he smiled, a smile almost

without meanness, one of the last

times we saw him smile, he said

I thought she was winner of the next race, and his

face flushed with pleasure and the shade of the yardarm.

Sharon Olds

from The Wellspring, 1995

Oh bring on that yardarm!!

A Local Swim For Local People...

...well not really - but it was great to be only minutes from the venue!

Here is the medal awarded at the end of the swim - yes!! we made it!

And here are some happy people who have just had a workout to Lady Gaga before entering the water to Oasis Roll With It - fantastic!!

Book us in for next year - wonderful course! And take a peep in the Manchester Evening News tomorrow!!

On the Shoulders of Giants...

Sunny Lowry - cousin of L.S. (painter of matchstick people and after whom the Lowry Arts Centre is named) yes she of cross Channel fame - ate eight-egg omelettes before her Channel swims. 

I've had one egg, two rashers bacon, two slices bread and butter (Warburton's medium white) half  a sausage and two cups delicious coffee.

Here we go...

On Your Marks...

Another bad night's sleep - a combination of pre-match nerves and knowing that I needed to be up early. Anyhoo, we woke to a crisp, clear morning, bright but very chilly as we made our way down to the docks. There were fewer people in than last Saturday, only about a dozen, and as we approached the dark waters (14 degrees C  and barefoot this week, I decided to leave the socks off) I would happily have turned round and gone back to bed. But I am made of sterner stuff, so in we jumped! 

Ohhhh, that initial shock, physical, physiological, psychological, - mind and body shouting danger, get out of here fast. But gradually the breathing calmed down and off we went. One lap, chatting about Roger Deakin, sidestroke, dog paddle, breaststroke and finally crawl...with the face underwater... just enough to take the edge off tomorrow's fear...

(yes, if you're looking closely - that is a shopping trolley in Fisherman's Wharf...!!!)

  And tomorrow, if anyone's in Salford Quays, I'm in the 2.30 wave, you'll recognise me by my wetsuit and green hat, oops, just like 199 others. Well, my number is 5085 - please come over and wish me luck!

It's the Salford Countdown

Last weekend the temperature in Salford Quays was a balmy 18c. 

There's a distinct autumn chill in the air today. Over the last few days, texts and emails have been arriving from the organisers to inform swimmers that the water temperature has dropped to 15c and is still falling.  So wetsuits are now compulsory for everyone.

This morning we popped down to see how the venue is shaping up.  There was a swimming session in Ontario Basin, boats were out surveying the scene, marquees being bundled out of vans.....an air of purposeful preparation. 

Up above is the start area - a little pool for adjusting to the cold, and the start enclosure with plenty of space all round for spectators.

And here's the first stretch - Huron Basin up to the bridge, Erie Basin beyond it.

Tomorrow morning final practice - all finished by 9am, then a simple matter of keeping nerves in check till Sunday!

Preparing To Take The Plunge

The weather is changing - blustery and autumnal but still with a warm wind - and Rainy City is living up to its name. However, we've committed to swimming in Salford Docks on the 26th, so we signed up at the watersports centre for Saturday morning's open water swimming session to familiarise ourselves with the water and a part of the course.

Saturday's session will start at 6.30am!! so we nipped down to watch the Monday evening session to prepare ourselves (didn't have time on this occasion to jump in).

The training takes place in Ontario Basin, which is where the Great Swim finishes

 and here are some people getting in ...ulp... look at those hardy souls in shorty wetsuits and those brave boys in their trunks...eek! I will be in full wetsuit, possibly two hats and at this point I'm wondering whether I'll wear the swim socks I bought in January. I do like the feel of the water on my feet though, so maybe not, we'll see.

I hope the organisers will have cleared these guys out of the way

they were looking a bit territorial...

Niamh from Words A Day visited my blog and mentioned The Handless Maiden by Vicki Feaver. There is a poem in this collection called The River God which is a great poem, but here's one by Stevie Smith which I believe Feaver was nodding to when she wrote hers. 

He is another character I'm hoping not to meet while I'm swimming...

The River God

I may be smelly and I may be old,

Rough in my pebbles, reedy in my pools

But where my fish float by I bless their swimming.

And I like the people to bathe in me, especially women.

But I can drown the fools

Who bathe too close to the weir, contrary to rules.

And they take a long time drowning

As I throw them up now and then in a spirit of clowning.

Hi yih, yippity yap, merrily I flow,

O I may be an old foul river but I have plenty of go.

Once there was a lady who was too bold

She bathed in me by the tall black cliff where the water runs cold,

So I brought her down here

To be my beautiful dear.

Oh will she stay with me will she stay

This beautiful lady, or will she go away?

She lies in my beautiful deep river bed with many a weed

To hold her, and many a waving reed.

Oh who would guess what a beautiful white face lies there

Waiting for me to smooth and wash away the fear

She looks at me with. Hi yih, do not let her

Go. There is no one on earth who does not forget her

Now. They say I am a foolish old smelly river

But they do not know of my wide original bed

Where the lady waits, with her golden sleepy head.

If she wishes to go I will not forgive her.

Stevie Smith

from Modern Women Poets ed. Deryn Rees-Jones

...see what I mean?!

To Swim or Not To Swim?

that was the question.

To help us make the decision, I thought it would be a good idea to go down to the docks this afternoon and check out the course for the Great Salford Swim. After puzzling over the geography of the route, we asked at the water sports centre and suddenly it all made perfect sense...

Starting in Huron Basin between The Lowry and Media City - the new location for the BBC...

 ...the course for the swim goes down to Erie Basin

hooks round and left into Fisherman's Wharf...

where the water was clear with the sun on it...

and into Ontario Basin for a final triumphal circuit 

The course is varied and we felt excited enough to sign up, without further ado.

So tomorrow's task is a mile in the pool to get the next two weeks of training off to a cracking start...

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)