Can small swims be Fun?
As the season progresses and the bigger swims are becoming harder and harder to find, I have switched my focus a bit to coaching a few people who are taking an interest in Open water swimming. Got to get them to lose the black condoms, otherwise get a sprint one that offers a lot less buoyancy. Watching Audra swim, with her legs spending a lot of time flailing in the air is hilarious but pretty useless as a form of propulsion.. I think she enjoyed it as she
1 - Did not drown.
2 - No monsters from the depths came up to eat her.
3 - She actually swims in a straight line.
4 - She is actually thinking about coming back!!
Paul, who has been a training partner of mine for most of the season is already a fairly accomplished swimmer but has asked me to train with him through the winter to work on his speed and it will also help me make the transition from Hippo to Dolphin.
It is always nice to see someone taking up a different sport and enjoying it. All That I can do to promote this is a good thing. I might need the references in the future!
So What have I been up to?
Today was a 3 km race that I had entered. It was in the lovely town of Marlow and was between the two bridges. Marlow is a bit of a trek from where I live and they do love have obscene start times in this sport. My wave of the all male 3km swimmers was at 8.35am. Registration is 7am. This meant that I had to leave the house at 6am - ON A SUNDAY!! Luckily I do not worry too much about lie ins. In this sport, starts are usually pretty early. So my alarm went off at 5.30am, I woke to the sound of rain outside. I was a bit confused and was thinking, Who the hell set my alarm for 5.30am? I was about to roll over and go back to sleep, when the fog started to lift from my Champagne impaired mind - Champagne and Canapes the evening before is not a particularly good idea, even if I did not drink too much and left at a reasonable time
Well I diligently got out of bed, thinking, why do I do this to myself? The early morning swims, not the champagne and canapes. The fight of the sofa vs the pool springs to mind. I force fed myself some fruit salad and some cereal - my stomach was not awake- or happy for that matter. I left at 6 and was on my way for the hour trek across to Marlow. I travelled through rain most of the way. Visions of my channel training came flooding back, sitting in the car until the absolute last moment before running down the beach into the water.
By the time I parked, the rain had subsided a bit to render it nearly ineffective at getting me wet. At least I would not suffer from bad hair. I went and registered for the event and was about to go into the holding area for swimmers when I realised that it was a bit cold out there and there was no way of warming up - unless I jumped into the Thames and swam around for the next hour. The water temperature at that time of the day is a fair bit warmer than the outside air. I headed back to the car to keep warm as I had about an hour till the start. It had also started to rain again.
The Start then got closer so I went to the start and waited until we were called for our briefing. I thought I would be the only nutter out there without a black condom on but was pleasantly surprised to see that the "Balmy Budgie smuggler brigade" is growing, long may it continue. there was a thought of splitting us up as there were about 180 of us but in the end all the males set off together. We entered into the water and I did a bit of swimming up and down to try and get the old bones and muscles moving.
As per usual, I started at the back and on the edge of the group, not being very fast at starts, I tend to always start like this to avoid getting my face kicked in and losing my goggles. I generally get into a rhythm very quickly which is no good for mass starts but serves me pretty well as the race progresses. This means I generally start to overtake people after about 300m. Staying on the side I do not end up swimming over people.
There was a break away group that stormed off and then I settled into the middle of second group of swimmers and there were a couple of non wet suited swimmers amongst this. We rounded the first set of buoys and I then started to make my way through this group and finally made my way to the front of it after about 800m. Here I paired up with a wet suited swimmer and we matched each other stroke for stroke for most the race, when I tried to get the upper hand he followed, when he tried to make a break, I followed him and we toyed with each other like this, pulling each other along until we were catching the group in front. As I was taking the inside lane we had a few reprimands from the kayakers trying to keep us from swimming directly into the ladies 3k swimmers who had started later than us.
Me and this swimmer matched each other all the way until the final turn around the buoys where I was on the inside so he had to go a bit wider than me, after negotiating these buoys I came out leading him with him tapping on my feet. At this point I upped my pace a bit and we had now caught the tail enders of the leading group. This is where I thank my lucky stars for my endurance. for the last 4 -500m I just kept edging my pace up and overhauling a few more of the lead group with toe tapper keeping on my heels together we managed to overhaul about three more people and I managed to take it home and lead through the finish line.
the results are are follows
the one thing that that results page does not show is that I was first in the men's non wetsuit category but second in the overall Non wetsuit category, being beaten by a female swimmer. Must be my impeccable manners, always letting the ladies go first - I really have to get over that!!
All in all not the best time I have done for that sort of distance but considering I have not really trained properly for about 3 weeks, I think it was a fair result.
So in answer to the question at the beginning of this Blog, Small Swims can be fun. I am so used to training and swimming on my own and at my own pace, to have someone push me along the way is pretty cool. I must admit, that for future big swims it is unlikely that I will have someone to do big swims with me but someone to push you is very comforting at times. I still struggle with the Starts as I am NOT a fast swimmer so struggle to get up with the big boys. Hopefully this winter I will get to do some LONG OVERDUE work on my speed, rather than my endurance. Speed has always been my weak point.
I still prefer my marathon swims and I will always focus on them above the small swims but it is nice to have a bit of a change along the way.
This is the first swim that I have ever done where I just went on my own, not one supporter and I must admit I felt a bit out of sorts not having my friends around. But i cannot ask anyone to join me at 8.30am on a Sunday, in the rain just to watch 500 silly swimmers float around the thames.
So where to Now?
Another month or so of the season and there are a few small swims that I will be taking on, to add to the Poole one and maybe one in oxford, I may do a 3km swim at the Vachery 3km. This is not one that I have done before and one of my training partners is asking me if I can do it with him to help pace him - I honestly do not think I need to as he is a faster than me but we do swim at a similar pace and I think my endurance bodes well for a faster finish that he can pace with.
Well that is about all for the moment People, sorry I do not have anything more worthwhile to write about but keep the faith,
My saying for this week is:-
Action trumps inaction every time.
So, as long as you are moving,
know that you are moving forward.
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