OUR FIVE THOUSAND METRE Swimathon for Sainsbury's Sport Relief:
In all honesty, our motivation for doing it wasn't in the spirit of charity; we decided pretty last minute to get involved and I wasn't even sure if I would be able to get any sponsorship money. We were using the Swimathon as a "C event" for our anticipated Lake Coniston end to end swim.
(TAKE A LOOK, especially if you're looking for some good, long, hard, chilling swimming; it's EPIC http://www.chillswim.com/the-swims/coniston-end-to-end)
Despite my less than angelic intentions, I did take the sponsorship form to work and between some of my colleagues and clients have raised about £100 including a little on Justgiving, which I think isn't too shabby.
If you've not done Swimathon before,enjoy swimming and have been waiting for ways to drag your friends into the sport then THIS IS IT. There are hundreds of pools to chose from all around the country but I think your experience of the event does depend on which one you choose and of course who you bring with you!
The Pool in question gets sent a CD, various coloured hats, lap counting sheets and of course the most important thing; medals! If the managers are on the ball they'll appoint lap counters for each lane, or make sure that people are willing to volunteer on the day and will designate lane direction properly; clockwise-anticlockwise alternating.
During the signing up process you get the opportunity to state how fast you think you are so don't worry if you feel intimidated by those sharks that race past or concerned that the slow ones might inhibit your personal best.
After the first kilometre I started to develop what turned out to be a raging headache that lasted the rest of the day. I did think to myself "crap, not again, I'm not sure I really want to carry on". The thing is, it's not really a triathlete's mentality to give up (no matter professional or amateur) and even though the thought of doing four more of the same daunted me with this headache I decided that a massive percentage of training is attitude- train your attitude and you can conquer anything!!!
I thought of nothing but stroke technique for that whole hour thirty eight minutes- a great meditation and essential for learning about the way your body works in the water. I would definitely recommend dedicating a long swim every few weeks to check off a head-list of swim components: kick pattern and speed; pointed toes; rotation; stroke length and speed; hand entry, head position and breathing. Think about it all individually then two things at once, then three and so on...
I was the first to finish out of my lane so got to cheer Sarah on and take some good photos of her finish.
We both topped our PBs so all in all a good morning's work.
A fuzzy photo of my f/c
Sarah's tired but happy finish and us showing off our Pool Mates
Our supportive friend, Farrell, carrying out a makeshift awarding ceremony. Thanks Farrell!
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