Ta Saffers - I love big river swimming now because you can go so much along faster with the current. Not scared of it any more. I even actually dived off the ferry today!
Oh you lot are brave!! Well I have bitten the bullet and joined a tri club!! Working shifts til end of June then I will be on regular hours so will be able to train regularly and properly! I have warned them that I will be irregular for a few weeks but after that I will give it my all!! Happy days!! One day I will be doing events like this
Big river swims are brill, the current is sooo fast you get to the finish much much quicker than in a lake or pool swim. I was scared in my first one, but now I love 'em. And they don't come much bigger than the Rhine! Lots of breakers coming at you because of the shipping travelling on the other side of the river, I swallowed quite a lot of water today. I was following the swimmer ahead of me and as we swam alongside a moored boat the guys in the safety boat yelled out "turn left at the end, you're home". Got there quicker than I thought.
Ta Saffers - I love big river swimming now because you can go so much along faster with the current. Not scared of it any more. I even actually dived off the ferry today!
Ooooh see, another thing that scares me....diving!!! I know that it's all down to just getting on with it though and that fear will go.
Well done Tri Chick on joining that club. I'm sure you will see a difference within a few weeks, I know I did.
Definitely will Tri Chick. I joined about 2 months ago and have found I'm faster already.....although I am still slow. LOL It's good to get that feedback on your technique though. Good Luck.
LOL....I know what you mean.....I come from a running background but when it comes to running at the end of a tri, boy that's hard going. Jelly legs take some getting used to.
I've got a free diving workshop at the lake next Sat. I never learned properly when I was a kid. V excited about this. Off to the lake again tomorrow too.
Well I made the lake today - 20 mins in my cozzie before I felt lightheaded and got out. Only did 7 x 100. Was hoping to do a mile but I was concerned I was going to pass out. Combination of cold water and needing to eat more beforehand I think. I'd also cycled there so that had burnt up some energy. I'm living between 2 houses so that's why I haven't got my usual stash of portable snacks. Should be better next week when I'm back at house-sitting place. I met some people I knew down there in wetsuits and 2 little girls jumped in not long after I got in but got straight back out again after some shrieking. My legs were a lovely shade of purple but on the plus side, my aching piriformis from running the day before has eased off after the cold dip.
EDIT: Some inquisitive moorhens plopped in around us to see what we were up to and I had to weave around them. Moorhen, less speed.
My swim coach had warned me about the lightheadedness Soupy, so I was prepared. I just floated on my back until it passed then breast-stroked gently back in.
I didn't feel too hard done by - I was the only one in there in a cozzie and there were only 3 other swimmers. It was quite overcast. A kill's a kill ..... (I keep quoting Ninja!)
I think I'm going to take a flask of soup for after my pre-work swim on Friday.
Thanks Mister W. I think 20 mins will be my limit in this sort of weather. It was much colder than on the day I did my test. I'm keeping an eye on the lake's notice board for a cheap wetsuit.
Parklife - Don't know if you receive notifications from the PSOF forum but Meldy is selling a small wetsuit. More details would be on the site. Also, think about posting a wanted message. You never know if a Pirate has an old one lying around they haven't got rid of yet.
It was OK up to 600M - that was when I felt heady but not really cold at any point. It probably wasn't helped by the fact that one of the wetsuited people started chatting to me when I paused at the pontoon. Next time I'll just be rude and say I need to keep moving. I imagine I'll get used to it too and HTFU. I used to do a lot of open water swimming as a kid - you couldn't keep me out of it.
88 - I have a limited weekday membership while I remain on the waiting list for full membership, so I can go Mon-Fri and in theory Sunday with tri club. They are also letting me join the diving workshop on Saturday.
I go to tri club at the pool fortnightly (my compressed hours day off) and am planning to go pre or post-work on the other Friday at the lake.
in February, I couldn't (or rather, wouldn't) swim out of my depth in the pool and so couldn't get in a full length. Last week, I swam more than 5000 metres to take May's total to 10,000 metres.
Today, I managed the first 300 metres of my swim unaided and non-stop before my sprained ankle started niggling a bit again so I resorted to the pull buoy for the rest of the session. A total of 1250 metres in 35 minutes.
It looks like something has finally clicked with my swimming so months of persistence has really, finally, paid off
@Durham Dawdler -1250m in 35 minutes, I reckon, is really good. I made my first 1000m non-stop this morning (previous best being 300m last week) in 29'51".
I'm still not a good swimmer, and need to mix up distance with some speedwork I guess, but I'm pleased with today's effort. On Friday I'll try some sort of interval routine for a change.
Only problem being for 10 mins or so some fookin ijut thought that the middle lane (lane I was swimming in) was the lane to lie on your back and float aimlessly around like he was in his holiday pool
PL - Brrrrrr, I can't imagine swimming at the mo without a wettie - my feet were so cold on saturday I never noticed I'd cut my foot quite badly!
DD - well done! Sounds like you're really getting the metres in and making good progress
Tri club was REALLY hardwork tonight. I felt like I was swiming through treacle, and didn't manage to complete the main set - this is the first week the coach hasn't adapted the session slightly for me.
Warm up 3 x 200m (FC/drill/choice)
Main Set 6 x 100m 15s rest (100slow/100med/100fast x 2) 6 x 50m 10s rest (25mfast/25mslow alt with 25m slow/25m fast) 1 min rest repeat above (I had to skip the last 4x50m as out of time)
Cool Down 50m easy
I'm a bit disappointed I didn't finish it, but then I still managed 2300m in 1 hour, which is a massive improvement on pre-tri club swimming. Onwards and Upwards eh?
Comments
Ta Saffers - I love big river swimming now because you can go so much along faster with the current. Not scared of it any more. I even actually dived off the ferry today!
Thanks LN, really enjoyed today.
Big river swims are brill, the current is sooo fast you get to the finish much much quicker than in a lake or pool swim. I was scared in my first one, but now I love 'em. And they don't come much bigger than the Rhine! Lots of breakers coming at you because of the shipping travelling on the other side of the river, I swallowed quite a lot of water today. I was following the swimmer ahead of me and as we swam alongside a moored boat the guys in the safety boat yelled out "turn left at the end, you're home". Got there quicker than I thought.
Ooooh see, another thing that scares me....diving!!! I know that it's all down to just getting on with it though and that fear will go.
Well done Tri Chick on joining that club. I'm sure you will see a difference within a few weeks, I know I did.
I've got a free diving workshop at the lake next Sat. I never learned properly when I was a kid. V excited about this. Off to the lake again tomorrow too.
EDIT: Some inquisitive moorhens plopped in around us to see what we were up to and I had to weave around them. Moorhen, less speed.
Now diving is something I CAN do! Just haven't had the opportunity for xx years. Re-phrase, diving is something I COULD do - will have to try again.
Hard lines about your swim PL. I got that light-headed feeling on my first OW session and its quite scarey. But good going on 700m.
I didn't feel too hard done by - I was the only one in there in a cozzie and there were only 3 other swimmers. It was quite overcast. A kill's a kill ..... (I keep quoting Ninja!)
I think I'm going to take a flask of soup for after my pre-work swim on Friday.
Thanks Ninja - I will take a look.
Hey Parky,
You mentioned a swim post work on a friday, I thought the lake was only open to non-member on a sunday? Or have i missed something?
I keep ducking out of taking the dive! But determined to do some open water this week.
Thanks
It was OK up to 600M - that was when I felt heady but not really cold at any point. It probably wasn't helped by the fact that one of the wetsuited people started chatting to me when I paused at the pontoon. Next time I'll just be rude and say I need to keep moving. I imagine I'll get used to it too and HTFU. I used to do a lot of open water swimming as a kid - you couldn't keep me out of it.
88 - I have a limited weekday membership while I remain on the waiting list for full membership, so I can go Mon-Fri and in theory Sunday with tri club. They are also letting me join the diving workshop on Saturday.
I go to tri club at the pool fortnightly (my compressed hours day off) and am planning to go pre or post-work on the other Friday at the lake.
something has really happened to my swimming.
in February, I couldn't (or rather, wouldn't) swim out of my depth in the pool and so couldn't get in a full length. Last week, I swam more than 5000 metres to take May's total to 10,000 metres.
Today, I managed the first 300 metres of my swim unaided and non-stop before my sprained ankle started niggling a bit again so I resorted to the pull buoy for the rest of the session. A total of 1250 metres in 35 minutes.
It looks like something has finally clicked with my swimming so months of persistence has really, finally, paid off
@Durham Dawdler -1250m in 35 minutes, I reckon, is really good. I made my first 1000m non-stop this morning (previous best being 300m last week) in 29'51".
I'm still not a good swimmer, and need to mix up distance with some speedwork I guess, but I'm pleased with today's effort. On Friday I'll try some sort of interval routine for a change.
Excellent swim this morning in the main.
Only problem being for 10 mins or so some fookin ijut thought that the middle lane (lane I was swimming in) was the lane to lie on your back and float aimlessly around like he was in his holiday pool
PL - Brrrrrr, I can't imagine swimming at the mo without a wettie - my feet were so cold on saturday I never noticed I'd cut my foot quite badly!
DD - well done! Sounds like you're really getting the metres in and making good progress
Tri club was REALLY hardwork tonight. I felt like I was swiming through treacle, and didn't manage to complete the main set - this is the first week the coach hasn't adapted the session slightly for me.
Warm up
3 x 200m (FC/drill/choice)
Main Set
6 x 100m 15s rest (100slow/100med/100fast x 2)
6 x 50m 10s rest (25mfast/25mslow alt with 25m slow/25m fast)
1 min rest
repeat above (I had to skip the last 4x50m as out of time)
Cool Down
50m easy
I'm a bit disappointed I didn't finish it, but then I still managed 2300m in 1 hour, which is a massive improvement on pre-tri club swimming. Onwards and Upwards eh?