I've always admired, envied even, the people you see at the pool powering effortlessly up and down the lanes. Sadly, I've never been one of them.
Even though the swim will be the smallest part of the triathlon, it's the part I'm dreading the most. It's fair to say that I am not, and have never been, a good swimmer. In my younger days (a long time ago!), although I played in school netball, rounders and hockey teams, I was never, ever picked for swimming. In fact, the only time I was chosen for anything swimming-related was for neat breaststroke in the inter-house competition ... and obviously that doesn't count!
At the beginning of last year I started to teach myself front crawl. Until then I couldn't even manage a few metres without coughing and spluttering. However, knee surgery to fix a torn ACL meant I wasn't allowed to do breaststroke for a while so off I went to the pool armed with a kickboard borrowed from my seven year old and a strategy to copy some of the drills I'd seen him do in his swimming lessons. Sure enough, as the weeks and months went on, my front crawl technique began to improve and my breathing started to get a bit easier. It's taken a while but I'm quite proud of the fact that I can now swim front crawl. I'm not brilliant at it, but it's a start.
I have now decided to take it to the next level and have started coaching sessions with S4 Swim School to improve my technique and stamina. I've had three sessions so far and (I never thought I would ever say this) I'm actually really enjoying them! It's £12 for an hour-long session which is definitely money well spent. The sessions are tailored to each person's individual needs and goals and there have never been more than two swimmers to one instructor so it's pretty much like having private coaching!
In my third lesson I did a timed challenge to see how far I could swim in five minutes. I was exhausted at the end of it but I managed 200 meters. It might not sound much but I was happy with it and it gives me a benchmark to work from. The aim is to double this to 400 metres in five minutes by the end of the course. Ha ha! Perhaps a little ambitious but it's something to work towards!
Even though the swim will be the smallest part of the triathlon, it's the part I'm dreading the most. It's fair to say that I am not, and have never been, a good swimmer. In my younger days (a long time ago!), although I played in school netball, rounders and hockey teams, I was never, ever picked for swimming. In fact, the only time I was chosen for anything swimming-related was for neat breaststroke in the inter-house competition ... and obviously that doesn't count!
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| The open water venue on a February morning ... brrrrrrrr |
At the beginning of last year I started to teach myself front crawl. Until then I couldn't even manage a few metres without coughing and spluttering. However, knee surgery to fix a torn ACL meant I wasn't allowed to do breaststroke for a while so off I went to the pool armed with a kickboard borrowed from my seven year old and a strategy to copy some of the drills I'd seen him do in his swimming lessons. Sure enough, as the weeks and months went on, my front crawl technique began to improve and my breathing started to get a bit easier. It's taken a while but I'm quite proud of the fact that I can now swim front crawl. I'm not brilliant at it, but it's a start.
I have now decided to take it to the next level and have started coaching sessions with S4 Swim School to improve my technique and stamina. I've had three sessions so far and (I never thought I would ever say this) I'm actually really enjoying them! It's £12 for an hour-long session which is definitely money well spent. The sessions are tailored to each person's individual needs and goals and there have never been more than two swimmers to one instructor so it's pretty much like having private coaching!
In my third lesson I did a timed challenge to see how far I could swim in five minutes. I was exhausted at the end of it but I managed 200 meters. It might not sound much but I was happy with it and it gives me a benchmark to work from. The aim is to double this to 400 metres in five minutes by the end of the course. Ha ha! Perhaps a little ambitious but it's something to work towards!
Some open water practice sessions in the Spring will hopefully help dispel some of my worries but I will need all the encouragement I can get to conquer my fears. Please consider sponsoring me to give me a boost - click here to go to my fundraising page. Thank you.
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