Loch Ness Monster Swim 2011

5:30 start this morning – off up the A9 to Inverness and the inaugural Loch Ness Monster Swim. Long drive up, but worth it for the opportunity to swim in Loch Ness. Got there at 8:30, registered and looked down to the shore to see something more like a sea than a loch. Big waves. Boats bobbing around all over the place. Sun shining though. “It’ll settle…”

The Sailfish wetsuit guys were there with their new range. My wetsuit is pretty goosed – at least a size too big for me, baggy and saggy around the midriff. It’s a big like swimming whilst pulling two buckets along with me…. So, I chatted with the guys, and they suggested I borrow a suit. Their Vibrant suit is their entry level suit, and available for a £10 trial – so I plumped for it. Encouragingly when I suggested I’m a “Medium tall”, they scoffed and told me that I’m a “Small long” – quite a change from “Large” of 18 months ago. Anyway, once I’d got the suit on, I realised my old suit really is a terrible fit. Really terrible.

In the tent were two ladies who were after suits to do the swim in. I offered my old suit to either of them if they wanted it, given that it doesn’t really fit me. One of them was of suitable girth to fit it, so £50 changed hands (Not too bad for an 18 month old suit). Of course, once I’d sold my suit, I realised I didn’t actually own a suit. And the Monikie Tri is tomorrow. So, I asked them how much for their midrange suit. They didn’t have the right size, of course. But they did have the top of the range G-Range suit in my size. Tried it on – it’s amazingly comfy, incredibly flexible; a second skin. So I bought it. Once you’ve tried silk, why have cotton? Exoensive? Yes. Worth it? We’ll see tomorrow…

The swim today – rough. Very rough. And cold too. It was a very difficult swim. The way out was very rough indeed. I was rolled over by a wave, had to stop, catch my breath, swim 25 metres of breaststroke, and get back into it.

Into the waves for 500m. With the waves for 500m. Across the waves for 500m. All different challenges, all tough. Total time on my Garmin was 36 mins. A good 10 minutes over what I was hoping for, but in the conditions, not bad at all. The suit performed very we’ll, however. Very flexible, so not the same stresses on the shoulders as the old suit.

Perhaps not the best preparation for my first ever standard distance triathlon tomorrow, but the suit should be great tomorrow, if nothing else.

Jane Tomlinson’s Swim For All 2011

Jane Tomlinson died in 2007 having raised £1.85 for cancer research. She was from Wakefield originally; her family still live there, and they continue her fund raising efforts. Although Jane was known for her running, she was a keen swimmer also, so the Jane Tomlinson appeal now organises a Swim For All in Pugney’s lake, near Wakefield. I registered to do the 1 mile swim, and registered Emma to do the 500m swim.

Emma had never done an open water swim before, not even a practice swim in her wetsuit.

She did very well – 16th out of 50 entrants to the race. She managed the first 1/3 doing crawl, but the cold got to her face, and she reverted to breast stroke. Still, she finished, without stopping, and was the 8th fastest female.

My swim went well – usual steady start from me with everyone thrashing off like mad things. I kept my line, and made it to the first buoy in the top half. Round the first bend, and onto the end of the lake I overtook maybe a dozen swimmers, and pushed on for a pretty good finish – 25:27 on my own watch to the finish line, 26:29 to get to the timing mat 100m further on. The reeds/weeds were a particular nightmare for the last 1/3 of the race, but other than that, it was nice and warm (19 degrees), not too much fighting for space, and it went well.

One thing is that I seem to have one pace – I felt as though I could have swum the same pace for another mile, but when I tried to pick up the pace I could lengthen out, and slow my SPM, but kept the same pace with less effort, rather than speeding up. I shouldn’t worry, really – 33rd out of 318 isn’t bad, given my short experience with swimming.

Loch Ness swim in August to come.

Silver Sands

Outdoor swim again today. Coach suggested Loch Leven. PW pointed out that Loch Leven is a heritage site, with no swimming allowed, unless you’re a dog. So no swimming in Loch Leven. Perhaps he meant the other Loch Leven….

So Aberdour, instead. Silver Sands is an award winning beach, with a car park just up the hill. The beach is steeply enough raked to be chest deep by about 20 feet out. It’s about half a mile wide, once you get out a bit, and it was calmer, less salty, and less exposed than Elie last week. We were much more used to it this time, being able to just get in, and get on with it. it’s still a little bit of a shock putting my face in the water, but it’s getting much easier.

I still set off too quickly, but that’s an allegory or my life, isn’t it?

The nicest thing is settling into a rhythm, swimming alongside the other Delphinidae, and just getting into synch. I really feel like I start to cut through the water, some of the time. It’s cold, and it’s, well, cold, but it’s GREAT. When I swam back into the shore, sighting the bouncy castle, just flowing along, I really felt like a swimmer. Lovely.

Seal has gone on the goggles, and my eyes were really, really sore afterwards. Cloudy vision. Need to get an ophthalmology opinion, I’ll e-mail JE. New goggles ordered.

Next week is going to be a challenge, a really big challenge. Swimming 1 mile in the pool is straightforward, but doing it in the outside… A real challenge. But I’m relishing the challenge. Check back in 7 days to find out how sweet the relish is.

First Outdoor Swim of 2010

Two novice swimmers, two wetsuits, hats and goggles, and one wannabe channel swimmer. Fife in May. The North sea. Bemused onlookers. My kids pointing and laughing.

It was cold. Very cold. The wetsuits do the trick, keeping the torso nice and warm, and to be honest, my feet weren’t complete icicles. My hands felt quite numb, but the worst of it was putting my face into the water – the diving reflex stops us breathing when our faces get cold, and when we started swimming, I turned my head, opened my mouth, and….. nothing.

It all settled down after a while, and we swam, in small fits and starts. We really didn’t swim far, a few hundred metres total, I suspect, but acclimatisation is a slow and steady business.

Everything is different in sea water, all the senses are the wrong way around:
Touch – cold
Taste – salt, not chlorine
Smell – salt, not chlorine
Hearing – constant sploshing, no plinky plonking
Sight – sometimes it’s just the sandy bottom, sometimes it’s just sandy swirling around

It’s a bit like being in a sensory deprivation tank, but turned onto full reverse. Back in the “big pool” later in the week.

Session 6, and some 50s

Session 6. Moved on from 5, having done it a few times.

Yet more spear-switch. I’m managed to learn how to snatch a breath between sets of 4 switches, so I don’t have to stop every 6 strokes down the pool. The trip wire, and Race Timing are coming, and I feel it’s integrating into my normal stroke a lot more now. I just need to relax more at the front end, and take my time with the breathing. Half goggle. Half goggle. Half goggle.

It’s interesting that revisiting the basics can make such a difference – today’s “reboot” was the skating focus on pointing the fingers down at the front end. It’s too easy to forget about it, and have a “knife hand”.

The 50s were fine. 42, 43, 44, 43, 42. I could have done more. Slightly slower than Wednesday, but the “fast” lane is definitely slower than the “slow” lane, due to the currents. I reckon 2 secs slower. But the issue is consistency, and those 50s were pretty consistent. I was kicking too much, but hey.

Definitely Kaisen today.

PW has bought his wetsuit, it should arrive tomorrow. Elie on Sunday!