Sea Swim v Pool Swim

This week I have done more swimming in the sea and only been to the pool on Friday to train with Bayside Tri...I have to admit that when standing on top of hot ovens at work, the idea of a sea swim is far more appealing than getting into a crowded pool full of lane rage. It just has a feeling you cannot match in the pool and that is the freedom. Come and go as you please, plenty of space...beautiful view...what more can you ask for? The only thing is, I just swim, I don't practice anything I have been taught as my stroke depends on the state of the sea...sometimes the waves crash over your head and bilateral breathing goes out of the window as you can only breathe on one side, unless you want a mouthful of sea water each time. The benefit of the pool is that you can train in a controlled environment, albeit constrained into one length roped off..walls each end..lol. I think they both have benefits and I have always believed that I should learn it in the pool and then bring it outdoors to the sea, lake or river.

Today I intended to go for a sea swim, but my Grandson decided he didn't want to go at the last minute...but there was time to get to the pool for the final session...so that's what I did. Fortunately there wasn't many there and I got a whole lane to myself! Brilliant..! Only wish my stats were as brilliant though! :(

Linda has completed a 1650m swim at Gosport Leisure Centre with SWIMTAG

Swim Time: 41min 45sec | Ave Pace: 151.8sec/100m | Ave Stroke Rate: 27strokes/min | Calories: 433 kcal | Ave DPS: 1.43m/stroke

I just can't see any improvement in my swimming at all..the only thing I have improved on is the distance I can swim now...ie the two 5k swims I have done, but other than that, I haven't improved my times at all. Perhaps I am just feeling a bit demoralised with the way I have everything recorded, times, strokes, DPS, and it's taken all the enjoyment out of it...perhaps I'm being negative!!

This evening I went for a walk along Stokes Bay...very pleasant, had my friends dog and he went running up to a young lady who came out of the toilet block..she had just been swimming, but I hadn't noticed her earlier as I walked from one end of the beach to the other...but anyway, we had quite a conversation in the short time I was talking to her....she was lovely to talk to, I gave her a lift home as she was staying just around the corner from my friends house. Hopefully I meet her again, her name was Anne. 

Which brings me to the other side of swimming...I had always felt fairly lonely swimming, particularly as I was doing it mostly at the pool and any interaction ended at the nods and hellos from the regular swimmers. This year I have changed that and joining Bayside Tri was the beginning..training with like minded people is so much fun...we all have the same goal..to get better, faster and win medals..lol...moving on from that came The Shack Sharks at Hillhead and then came the lovely people at Shore Road..it doesn't have to be lonely at all..thankfully! 

8th July...another swim at Shore Road

Another practice swim at Shore Road for just Mark and myself. Suffered terribly today...my neck from last nights swim is extremely sore...so much so I ended up taking the wetsuit off in the sea and putting it into my borrowed chill float. I was amazed how cold I immediately felt despite the fact I thought it had filled up with lots of water as I didn't have the neck done up! I was freezing and moved into shore and almost walked all the way back...not a good day for swimming!

Swimming at Shore Road with Beyond the Blue

What a great bunch of people to be swimming with. I met these wonderful people in a facebook group called Beyond the Blue...a group of people who swim at Shore Road. One of them with the grand name of Marisa Aqua Nut (Channel Swimmer!) organised some practice swims for the Bournemouth Pier to Pier. Unfortunately I ws working during the three she arranged, so posed the question to the group about me doing one myself and Marisa came straight back and organised one for the Sunday I was free.

So today I set off with my grandson Adam to Shore Road to swim with them...

 

Why the pensive look? Well it did seem that the building we were swimming to was so far away!!

It was a 2km swim and I completed it in roughly one hour. The big day next week will be just over 2.25k. Definitely left Shore Road today feeling much more confident....and with a VERY sore neck :(

Stokes Bay sans Wetsuit!!!

Haven't done any swimming since Monday..and tonight I am swimming at Stokes Bay with Bayside Tri..lets hope I can see a lot of improvement from two weeks ago..when I sadly brought up the rear. I have been searching for a 5k training plan online and the only one that is appealing is the one I can't see! It's the 2014 swimathon 10 week training plan to a sub 1hr 40min 5k...! Now I know that I won't be reaching those dizzy heights by the 21st September, but it would be intense which as a fairly experienced swimmer is what I need!

My entry pack arrived yesterday for the Bournmouth Pier to Pier...this brought about an OH MY GOD moment, which passed quite quickly as I remembered I did have a swim buddy...but even so there is always that fear in the pit of your stomach, which surfaces every time I think about it...lol...Still nerves are good!!

I put a message on facebook last night in a group I belong to called Beyond the Blue based in Bournemouth....a real bunch of characters...their posts make me laugh so much!! Anyway my post was asking for advice about swimming a practice run for the Bournemouth Pier to Pier with a friend on 8th July...but they are happy to do one on the Sunday the 6th...so I will go to that one and then do a repeat on the Tuesday...well then I will be very experienced won't I ?? No excuses on the day :)

Just got back from my sea swim at Stokes Bay...it was a wet one tonight, not actually raining when I got there, but it had rained just before arrival. There were only four of us tonight, Erika, Eric and Stephen. I was horrified when I went to put my wetsuit on and found I hadn't brought it!! Immediately I visualised it hanging on the back of my bedroom door...decisions, decisions...do I go home and get it, or do I go without it? In the end I decided to go without it!!

We walked down to the waters edge and then off came the flip flops...for those who don't know, Stokes Bay is a pebble beach and they hurt your feet!!! The walk into the sea really hurts your feet...so the lesser of two evils was to just get in and boy did it take my breath away!!  Wetsuits really do keep you warm...I just wanted the comfort of my wetsuit enveloping me, like a pair of arms, giving me a big hug...lol...never felt like that before, I can assure you!! So no time for chatter, had to keep moving in an effort to warm up..we swam about 1200m and I brought up the rear yet again...but then I felt it was time for me to get out....

The upside of no wetsuit is that you keep moving, so my sea swim today was no stops! LOL Took me about 35 minutes I think!

I am still cold now, but came home to a lovely salad...why did I choose salad today of all days???